Good News So Far For Longhorn Fans…
…as Texas has a 28-10 halftime lead over Arizona State in a Holiday Bowl that the Texas coaches have taken very seriously indeed. Horrible news today, though, with the murder of Benazir Bhutto. I actually got a little teary-eyed when I saw the headline, as this served as a blunt reminder of just how brutal this world can be. True, the Bush administration had staked a lot on reconciliation between Bhutto and Musharraf, but this is not a day for partisanship. Bhutto was killed in cold blood, and it’s a terrible thing that surely all good people of all views will rightly mourn and condemn.
A bad day for Pakistan, a bad day for the War on Terror, and a bad day for democracy. There’s no positive spin to put on this, but perhaps one bit of good may result – the backlash against the Islamic militants who were no doubt responsible will surely be both prompt and severe…
Why do you assume that Islamic militants are responsible?
There are several parties who could benefit from her assassination: Musharraf, the military, and the secret service, to name a few. Pakistan has a long history of political assassinations, killings, and people who die in mysterious circumstances caused by parties other than Islamic militants (including Musharraf’s predecessor Zia ul-Haq, where the CIA is among those suspected of causing his plane to crash).
I’m not saying that Al Qaeda or groups affiliated with them didn’t do it: they could very well be the culprits. However, I think it would be prudent to wait until the facts are known before pointing fingers.
Peter, with all due respect, there is really no doubt in my mind that this was the work of Islamic militants, and I’ve seen numerous news accounts that back that up.
But really, we only needed to know one thing: suicide bomber. In that long history of political assassinations in Pakistan and elsewhere, we see one overwhelming trend – when the bomber intentionally kills himself, too, bet the farm on an Islamic radical…
Let’s see… if there’s a suicide attack in Pakistan, can Bush and Cheney tie it to yet another country that had nothing to do with it? Next up: war with North Korea! Yeehaw!
Mark: you may very well be right — however it is certainly conceivable that Musharraf, the military, or the secret police did it and made it look like others were responsible. You may recall a terrorist attack in Spain which was immediately (and falsely) blamed on Basque separatists. All I’m saying is that in a part of the world where nothing is as it seems, it would be prudent to do as the Pentagon is doing: withhold judgment until the facts are known.
Ryan, I can’t imagine what your comment possibly means – the problem with Islamic militants in Pakistan is well-known, undeniable, and they were threatened by the prospect of a harder line under Bhutto than Musharraf. It’s not only plausible, it’s HIGHLY likely…
We’ll see what happens next, now that Musharraf has offered to exhume Bhutto’s body for a complete exam by her party if they wish it. On the face of it, it sounds like he has nothing to hide.
An article in today’s Times reports that the car Bhutto was in when she was killed was cleaned before investigators could look at it.
It also mentions three possible culprits besides Islamic fundamentalists: the military (who oppose the democratic process, and who hanged Bhutto’s father); the secret service (who have ties to fundamentalist groups to carry out their bidding); and Musharraf (to get rid of his leading opponent).
While it is certainly possible — perhaps likely — that the murder was directed and executed by Islamic fundamentalists, this is by no means a slam dunk (to borrow a phrase).
Also this article suggests that the government pressured the doctors who treated Bhutto to “conform to government accounts of her death:”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/31/MNN2U765O.DTL
Peter, the government has indeed acted atrociously – but most accounts I have seen suggest that (a) there is a coverup, but (b) the thing being covered up is not government complicity in the murder but government negligence in not providing decent security…
My guess is that within six months or a year, we’ll see the video of Musharraf leaving Pakistan from a helicopter taking off from his back yard.
Do you think that Bush should publicly call for him to step down?
No, I think Pakistan is too volatile right now. We should fight to ensure the elections are fair, though…a new story I saw today suggests Bhutto was on the verge of delivering a dossier to Americans detailing plans to rig the elections. It’s hard to look at Pakistan with anything approaching optimism at the moment, that’s for sure…