Bhutto dead in Rawalpindi

[piercehawkeye45]

Actually, I don't know who did it. The media is going crazy about it because Bhutto was pro-western and they are blaming Al Qaeda but don't have the evidence to support it.

If the country gets back together, I doubt the ruler will be pro-Western, which complicates things with the nuke issue. If they don't get together, which is another good possibility, that region will be very interesting to watch.

[Pie]

A sniper attack would have been more Musharraf's style. A suicide bomber? That's religious extremism.

[classicman]

not if you don't want people to know you did it. I think the actual perps were fed the info and everything else they needed to get this done by him.

[Radar]

It was something like this....

Terrorist: Mr. Musharraf, I'm for free elections in Pakistan <wink wink>, so if I wanted to go to a rally in support of Benazir Bhutto, where should I go?

Musharraf: That's classified information and I can't divulge that without risking her safety. <cough...Rawalpindi...<cough>

[Aliantha]

AQ have claimed responsibility.

[piercehawkeye45]

Musharraf is at fault as well. He promised protection but it wasn't there.

The decision to postpone elections will be interesting. There is no one else besides Musharraf at this point so he will probably win if they are not postponed and I don't think that will help the situation at all. But a new leader could shake things up just as much and the US will get involved if a very anti-western leader pops up, which is very likely from what I've heard.

[xoxoxoBruce]

It's to the radical Islamics advantage to maintain the status quo.

As long as the people of Pakistan are brutally oppressed by police, that are in fact the armies of fuedal landlords, the only option is to turn to Al Q for justice, just as the immigrants turned to the Godfathers, in major US cities. This is one way the radicals are winning over the moderates.

Another way is the lack of an effective education system. The dysfunctional public schools are being replaced with thousands of Madrassa (religious schools) teaching radical islamic politics.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Radar

I think it's painfully clear that Musharraf was behind this assassination. First he locks up all the judges, then he delays elections and puts the country under martial law....then he refuses to increase security after being begged by Bhutto's people.

He was about to lose the election so he took steps to make sure that didn't happen. The news just glossed over this, but at the same time Bhutto was killed, the other opposition leader in the election was also attacked.

I don't think he was directly behind it. He merely failed to give her the protection she wanted and knew that sooner or later the extremists would find a way to kill her. He knew what would happen but you will never be able to directly tie her death to him. Allowing them to kill her garnered support among the extremists. To bad there is really no promise that he will not be next, which is quite possible.

[richlevy]

It's sort of ironic. We psyched ourselves up to go after a dictator posing as a democratic leader that we had helped stay in power because we thought he might be considering developing nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, in the second theater of operations, we prop up another dictator posing as a democratic leader who we know has nuclear weapons because he controls one of the borders and has promised to clean up an area where we know our enemies are located but where we cannot go at them directly so as not to offend this guy and because we are overstretched because of the going after the other dictator who didn't really have anything and was nowhere near as dangerous as the guy we are going to for help.

I would personally like to thank this administration for providing the intelligence that led us to this exciting moment in world history. I was a mere toddler during the Cuban missile crisis and missed out on truly appreciating the fear and anxiety adults had over the possibility of world destruction. Our current geopolitical thrill ride hasn't quite reached that point yet, but I have high hopes that the general incompetence of our administration in any diplomacy that doesn't involve a few army divisions or a flight of stealth bombers will soon give us that adrenaline pumping moment that you normally have to pay $30 at an amusement park to experience.

[Elspode]

I'm still too pissed about Ms Bhutto to really be rational. Suffice to say that I fear that Pakistan is on the way down a really scummy political toilet, and that its descent into a Muslim Extremist safe harbor has greatly accelerated.

I admired her very much, despite all claims of malfeasance and politically augmented money grabbing. She was a groundbreaker in the world of women's rights in Muslim society, an almost regally composed individual of surpassing beauty and charisma.

I want the fuckers who are responsible for this murder skewered on rusty poles in the public square.

Pakistan, as a defacto military dictatorship, is about five minutes from providing a nuclear warhead to the Taliban, Al Qaeda or some other fringe fucking towelheaded group whose only concern is the death of infidels.

This shit scares me spitless.

[Elspode]

Originally Posted by Pie

A sniper attack would have been more Musharraf's style. A suicide bomber? That's religious extremism.

The suicide bomb was just to scatter the useful evidence, in the unlikely event that anyone who both cared and was qualified to evaluate same happened to start poking around.

[busterb]

I admired her very much, despite all claims of malfeasance and politically augmented money grabbing.

Well her husband and kids were where? When this went down. Not out riding donkeys?

[xoxoxoBruce]

If they were, nobody would vote for her. The country is full of people with those qualifications. She graduated from Radcliffe (Harvard) and certainly didn't have to go to Pakistan and put her ass on the line, to make a living.

[Elspode]

She knew she was putting her life on the line. She fucking *knew* it. Who among us has balls that big?

She was martyred in the truest sense of the word. I hope to fuck that her elevation to such a woefully exalted status bites the asses of the fucks that did her in - hard, fast, and permanent.

[classicman]

As usual, well put els - I agree wholeheartedly. Most people would have willingly "run" to the safety of the US or wherever....