Turmoil In Pakistan: Bhutto Assassinated

[Joemailman]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapc...tto/index.html

There have already been calls for Musharraf to step down. That won't happen. The biq question is whether the upcoming elections will still be held. Cancelling them could just lead to more unrest.

[Tarlam!]

OMG. I was expecting attempts on her life. I never thought they would succeed.

I am crying while I type this. The world lost agreat democrat tonight. Yes, she had scandals that haunted her, but she would never have condoned the randsom the Pakistani People are being forced to pay.

[oregonpackfan]

I cannot help but believe that Musharrif had a role in this assassination.
this tragic death will give him more justification to continue his military dictatorship and impose nationwide martial law.

And to think the United States has sent billions of dollars to this dictator.

[the_idle_threat]

Upon hearing this distrurbing news, I believe my reaction speaks for the majority of Americans, including our fine President ...





"Who?"





But seriously, folks, it's a sad thing. I actually did know a little about this woman, probably from articles posted here in the RR. I'm concerned about what this might portend for the future of Pakistan.

R.I.P.

[Joemailman]

I cannot help but believe that Musharrif had a role in this assassination.
this tragic death will give him more justification to continue his military dictatorship and impose nationwide martial law.

And to think the United States has sent billions of dollars to this dictator.

Not sure if Musharraf had a hand in it, but he certainly has been criticized for not executing a more robust investigation into the attempt on Bhutto's life in October. The question is whether an election now will be seen as legitimate, since Musharraf has something to gain politically from Bhutto's death.

[the_idle_threat]

I also read that he continually refused to provide the security that Bhutto and/or her supporters were asking for. This is one reason I've heard as to why some beleive he's responsible, even if not involved directly.

[Rastak]

I cannot help but believe that Musharrif had a role in this assassination.
this tragic death will give him more justification to continue his military dictatorship and impose nationwide martial law.

And to think the United States has sent billions of dollars to this dictator.

Not sure if Musharraf had a hand in it, but he certainly has been criticized for not executing a more robust investigation into the attempt on Bhutto's life in October. The question is whether an election now will be seen as legitimate, since Musharraf has something to gain politically from Bhutto's death.

If it wasn't Musharraf, it was one of his pals and I'm sure he didn't shed any tears. Would I be guilty of stereotyping people if I said "those people are a bunch of friggen nuts"?

[Cheesehead Craig]

I also read that he continually refused to provide the security that Bhutto and/or her supporters were asking for. This is one reason I've heard as to why some beleive he's responsible, even if not involved directly.

When this was brought up to him at that time, Musharrif said, "What, it's not like someone is going to go up to her, shoot her and then blow himself up when she comes out of a rally or something."

I fully believe that he was hoping for something like this to happen though.

[Freak Out]

It's highly unlikely that Musharrif was behind her murder..as much as he thinks he is the only leader that can handle the situation in country he knew her killing would only make his job tougher.

The Legacy of Benazir Bhutto

By David Ignatius
Friday, December 28, 2007; A21

Try to imagine a young Pakistani woman bounding into the newsroom of the Harvard Crimson in the early 1970s and banging out stories about college sports teams with the passion of a cub reporter. That was the first glimpse some of us had of Benazir Bhutto. We had no idea she was Pakistani political royalty. She was too busy jumping into her future to make a show of her past.

I saw this effervescent woman many times over subsequent years, and I never lost the sense of her as an impetuous person embracing what was new -- for herself and for her nation. I remember encountering her once when she was a graduate student at Oxford, shaking up the august and occasionally somnolent Oxford Union debating society as its president. She was wearing a Rolling Stones T-shirt, the one with the sassy tongue sticking out, and I recall thinking that Pakistani politics would never be the same once she returned home.

In later years, I would see her during her periodic visits to Washington after she assumed her family's mantle of political leadership and became prime minister in 1988, at age 35. She changed in her outward appearance, wearing a head scarf and traditional clothes as she matured, but not in her inner passion for change.

Bhutto was fearless, from her college years in America to her cruel assassination yesterday. She had an unshakable belief that Pakistan should embrace the modern world with the same confidence and courage that she had. She believed in democracy, freedom and openness -- not as slogans but as a way of life. She wasn't perfect; the corruption charges that enveloped her second term as prime minister were all too real. But she remained the most potent Pakistani voice for liberalism, tolerance and change.

A less determined person would have backed off when her conservative Muslim enemies tried to kill her after she returned home in October. But Bhutto had crossed that bridge a long time ago. She was a person who, for all her breeding and cultivation, ran headlong at life. Her father and two brothers had died for their vision of a country where Islam and the modern world made an accommodation. Her only real fear, I think, was that she might fail in her mission.

Her assassination was, as President Bush said yesterday, a "cowardly act." It was a defining act of the politics of murder -- a phenomenon that we see from Lebanon to Iraq to Pakistan. If we forget, with the passage of time, the face of the Muslim extremism responsible for Sept. 11, 2001, here is a reminder: Bhutto's killers targeted her because she was modern, liberal and unafraid.

In the immediate aftermath of Bhutto's killing, many people feel an instinctive anger at her political rival, President Pervez Musharraf. We will have to wait for the facts, but my first reaction is that blaming Musharraf is a mistake. He has battled the same Muslim extremists who appear to have taken Bhutto's life. He has faced nine assassination attempts himself, by CNN's count. He angered Bhutto and her liberal supporters in part because he argued that Pakistani politics was still so violent and volatile that the army should impose emergency controls.

Bhutto's death is a brutal demonstration of the difficulty for outsiders in understanding -- let alone tinkering with -- a country such as Pakistan. The Bush administration attempted a bit of political engineering when it tried to broker an alliance between Musharraf and Bhutto and sought to position her as the country's next prime minister. Yesterday's events were a reminder that global politics is not Prospero's island, where we can conjure up the outcomes we want. In places such as Pakistan, where we can't be sure where events are heading, the wisest course for the United States is the cautious one of trying to identify and protect American interests. Pakistanis will decide how and when their country makes its accommodation with the modern world.

I think Bhutto was right about the future -- that the path to a more stable Pakistan requires precisely the democratic reforms she advocated. Musharraf and the army have tried to govern from too narrow and unstable a base; that's their mistake and their weakness. But the assassination of this brave woman is a warning that the path to the modern Pakistan she dreamed of creating won't be easy.

The best memorial for Bhutto -- and the right transition for this nation in turmoil -- is to go ahead with the elections set for early January. Bhutto wasn't afraid of that tumultuous and sometimes deadly process of change, nor should anyone be.

The writer is co-host ofPostGlobal, an online discussion of international issues. His e-mail address isdavidignatius@washpost.com.

[the_idle_threat]

2 bombers die in failed Pakistan attack

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071230/...kistan_blast_2

Maybe they were just practicing. I always say these suicide bombers should practice more. Probably will be docked at least 30 or 40 virgins in the afterlife for their bumbling work.

[Freak Out]

2 bombers die in failed Pakistan attack

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071230/...kistan_blast_2

Maybe they were just practicing. I always say these suicide bombers should practice more. Probably will be docked at least 30 or 40 virgins in the afterlife for their bumbling work.

What is the standard number of virgins one is likely to receive the hospitality of in paradise?

[MJZiggy]

70. But I gotta think there's some sort of catch.

[the_idle_threat]

72?

I always thought that was funny. Where do these virgins come from? Is this what happens to Muslim women who are sinners---their version of hell? And if virgins are what the guys want so much, then what happens when they're all "used up"? Can they earn coupons for more virgins?

[Rastak]

72?

I always thought that was funny. Where do these virgins come from? Is this what happens to Muslim women who are sinners---their version of hell? And if virgins are what the guys want so much, then what happens when they're all "used up"? Can they earn coupons for more virgins?

These morons aren't smart enough to think it all the way through.

[the_idle_threat]

You don't say ...

[BallHawk]

Hmm. Let's see what Sharif can do....

[Jimx29]

72?

I always thought that was funny. Where do these virgins come from? Is this what happens to Muslim women who are sinners---their version of hell? And if virgins are what the guys want so much, then what happens when they're all "used up"? Can they earn coupons for more virgins?

After the 2nd or 3rd virgin i'd start wanting a dirty old hoe that knows her way around instead

[Jimx29]

you'da thunk that since her Father and 2 Brothers were violently killed, she'd take notice and not peek her head out of the sunroof, but noooo.......


#############

And yet it goes on and on.....

Bhutto's son, husband to succeed her

NAUDERO, Pakistan - Benazir Bhutto's 19-year-old son — a student with no political experience (WTH?)— was named symbolic leader of her party Sunday, while her husband took effective control, extending Pakistan's most enduring political dynasty.

Me: Doc, it hurts when I do this
Doc: Well then don't do that

[the_idle_threat]

72?

I always thought that was funny. Where do these virgins come from? Is this what happens to Muslim women who are sinners---their version of hell? And if virgins are what the guys want so much, then what happens when they're all "used up"? Can they earn coupons for more virgins?

After the 2nd or 3rd virgin i'd start wanting a dirty old hoe that knows her way around instead

True dat.