Rest In Peace, Mrs. Bhutto
As most of you know already, Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto was assasinated today, most likely by bullets to her head and neck during a pro-democracy rally on the “bad side of town”, followed immediately by a terrorist attack, which took out “scores” of others. Mrs. Bhutto was only 54 years old…
From CNN:
Benazir Bhutto assassinated
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (CNN) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday outside a large gathering of her supporters where a suicide bomber also killed at least 14, doctors and a spokesman for her party said.
While Bhutto appeared to have died from bullet wounds, it was not immediately clear if she was shot or if her wounds were caused by bomb shrapnel. …”
(Snip!)
“… President Bush, vacationing at his Texas ranch, has been “informed about the situation in Pakistan,” said the White House. “We condemn the acts of violence which took place today in Pakistan,” said a spokesman. …”
(Snip!)
“… Bhutto had been critical of what she believed was a lack of effort by Musharraf’s government to protect her.
Two weeks after the October assassination attempt, she wrote a commentary for CNN.com in which she questioned why Pakistan investigators refused international offers of help in finding the attackers. …”
I’m sure I’m not the only one who had this feeling deep inside; a feeling we might have been watching Mrs. Bhutto in her final days when she suddenly appeared out of the woodwork to end her self-imposed exile from her home country to espouse democracy. In fact, I have to say I’ve had this sickening thought it was only a matter of time before she was taken out.
So, who holds the smoking gun? No question, it is the self-imposed, so-called “President” of Pakistan who, via some “sleight of hand” worthy of accolades from any good Washington politician, who was either directly behind the assault upon Mrs. Bhutto’s life, or indirectly as a result of his refusal to ensure her security as she roamed her homeland, espousing words of freedom, liberty and democracy; a challenge to the “good ole’ boy” system in Pakistan today. Oh, and I would NOT rule out the former either. Whichever the case, this episode brings shame to the doorsteps of Pervez Musharraf. He doesn’t look very good right now despite all of his “emergency meetings”, three-day “time of morning”, etc., etc., etc.
On the other hand, the mayhem sure to result from this assasination also highlights a great flaw in the foreign policy of President “Surge” W. Bush, who has spent many of his years in office building a great alliance with Pervez Musharraf versus an ally in the country of Pakistan. As a result, a nuclear power in the Middle East, once thought of as a “friend” to the United States, risks falling into the hands of terrorists and Ilamic extremists who view America and we Citizens as “The Great Satan”. Not good, should they succeed in taking those reigns from President Bush’s good ole’ buddy, “Hugo Chavez Junior”.
And, what does President Bush have to say about it? I just watched a soundbyte on FoxNews and he was blasting the “extremists” and calling for justice. In other words, Mr. Bush has already ruled out any involvement by Musharraf. Take off those blinders, Sir — take a look at the “big picture” and stop jumping to conclusions based upon your sometimes admirable, but almost always deadly “blind loyalty” to anybody you consider a “friend”. Some of your “friends” are murderous, third world THUGS, Sir, and pose a great threat to our own homeland.
***
Lots of blogger reactions, of course — H/T (in part) to MemeOrandum: The Newshoggers; Democrat Taylor Marsh; Donklephant; The Moderate Voice; The Heretik; Crooks and Liars; Drudge Retort; The Left Coaster; Poliblogger
Loading ...
8:28 am on December 28th, 2007 1
With all her faults, this is still a moment all liberals and believers in liberty should be saddened by.
A democratic reformer has been killed by the forces of reaction.
8:53 am on December 28th, 2007 2
GTL,
What does Musharaff gain from it? She was going to work with him and stop calling for him to resign (granted that was under pressure from the US, but was still the case). That way he’d get the veneer of democracy back, the West could go back to pretending their ally wasn’t a military dictator and Ms Bhutto got her old job back and a canceling of several outstanding corruption charges.
He actually loses more than benefits as the election is now unlikely to go ahead, for which he’ll be blamed. Now, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t questions to be answered about the security provided but the motive for Musharraf to do this is rather lacking. Bhutto would have been his best case for Prime Minister because if she would know that he could always find more corruption to charge her with. And she’d been far more conciliatory with him than the other candidates.
You might want to check your own blinkers aren’t malfunctioning. Sometimes, it is Islamist terrorists’ fault. This might be one of those times.
10:46 am on December 28th, 2007 3
Paul, as I stated:
“… either directly behind the assault upon Mrs. Bhutto’s life, or indirectly as a result of his refusal to ensure her security… ”
If the latter ONLY, he should have done a much better job.
11:28 am on December 28th, 2007 4
I think it’s time to seriously consider sending Rice over to instruct Mushareff to either hand over those nucs before the country melts down or we take them out. That bastard is practically protecting the Taliban from us and will end up giving them those nucs they have been lusting after all these years.
Hey, it might be presumptuous of us, but it’s a damn sight cheaper than trying to hunt them down after the fact. If we can’t find an old fart like Osama, what makes us think we can find warheads?
11:42 am on December 28th, 2007 5
I’ve talked to three people who immigrated from Pakistan and one from Kuwait. All four of them had the same first reaction… “Musharraf is behind it.” I just found it interesting that it was the first thing that came from them when we spoke.
2:54 pm on December 28th, 2007 6
GTL,
Sorry. Must have missed that in my eagerness to argue.
10:15 pm on December 28th, 2007 7
NP, Mr. Watson