Exit Wound.

By Aryn Baker

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf once referred to his general's uniform as a "second skin." On Nov. 28, yielding to pressure from his own people as well as from his strongest ally, the U.S., Musharraf finally shed that skin. In a ceremony at military headquarters in Rawalpindi, a tearful Musharraf handed the baton to a loyalist, saying "I have loved this army."

It is just a strategic retreat, however. His departure from the military clears the way for him to take up a second five-year term as President and wins him points at home and abroad. But regardless of what outfit he wears, Musharraf has left Pakistan with a tattered constitution patched with amendments and filled now with so many loopholes justifying his rule that it resembles a crocheted doily, ready to be thrown over whatever ugliness the next ruler creates in pursuit of power.

In recent weeks, Musharraf has restored some of the rights he snatched when he declared on Nov. 3 what amounted to martial law. He even let former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif return from exile; he pledged to hold elections soon. But democracy is about more than casting a vote. It's about building lasting institutions such as a free press, an effective legislature and, most important, an independent judiciary.

Pakistanis realize the difference. It was Musharraf's sacking of the independent-minded Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on March 9 that launched Pakistan's largest genuine people's movement in decades. Pakistan's local affiliate of Gallup International recently posited a mock presidential poll between Musharraf and Chaudhry. Among those who participated, 70% voted for the Chief Justice over the President. "It is not a choice between two persons," said Gallup Pakistan's Ijaz Shafi Gilani. "[It's] a massive preference for the rule of law, as opposed to martial law."

When Musharraf took power in his 1999 coup, he quoted Abraham Lincoln, saying sometimes you need to amputate a limb to save a life. On the day he imposed emergency rule, he repeated the reference to justify his actions. The only problem is, amputated limbs don't grow back.