Assassinated—shot.  And then a suicide bomber killed many in the crowd.

Very beneficial to President Musharraf in the long run…one wonders.

Could go either way for Musharraf. Sure, he could impose martial law tomorrow and put back on the uniform. But eventually he gets into the situation where some younger general deposes him, and possibly shoots Musharraf also. Musharraf’s only chance to die in bed might have died with Bhutto.

Where this puts the future of Pakistan as an integral nation is more interesting, in a morbid sort of way. East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, has already dis-integrated from Pakistan. That could easily be the precedent for further disintegrations.

And, does anybody think that India will allow a free-nuclear zone, to include Waziri fanatics armed with nuclear warheads on solid fuel missiles? Somehow I think that the US would hold its nose while India did the dirty job of nuclear weapons “disposal”.

The AQ-inclined Muslim extemists have been trying to kill her from the very first day she returned.  This is at least the fourth attempt on her life in that time.  There may have been “government” complicity, but only from those factions that Musharraf has been battling, too.  If Bhutto’s supporters take BfT19’s approach, all bets are off.

And so we hear another weird conspiracy from Brian of T19.  The extremists wanted her dead; she was a moderate, a friend of the west and, worst of all, an uppity woman who could lead.  She was repeatedly warned to stay out of the country as the loonies were after her. 

Maybe the Indians will have to clean up the mess should the extremists turn this to their advantage and take over the country.  God knows the loony left in this country wouldn’t allow a US president to do it right.

Brian

A spokesperson for the al-Qaeda terrorist network has claimed responsibility for the death on Thursday of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

“We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahadeen,” Al-Qaeda’s commander and main spokesperson Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid told Adnkronos International (AKI) in a phone call from an unknown location, speaking in faltering English. Al-Yazid is the main al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan.

LINK

Whoever did this are among those—-

“who devise evil plans in their hearts
    and stir up war every day.”

Psalm 140:2 (NIV)

Accordingly,

“may disaster hunt down men of violence.” (v. 11b)

India can’t solve its own problems, and might have a hard time getting a decision on dealing with Pakistan.  There has been a detente between the two underway, at least at the top levels.  If Pakistan dissolves in rioting, that goes out the window.  India has a huge Muslim minority, about 124 million, mostly poor and poorly-educated and very volatile politically.  They’ll have to step very carefully, and might prefer to stand back and watch Pakistan burn.

And so we hear another weird conspiracy from Brian of T19.

MDBrian, by invoking the c-word you’re doing little more than shutting down discourse. BrianT19 didn’t state that Musharraf’s people assassinated Bhutto. He did ponder the possibility. Perhaps you have a reason (beyond calling names) for conclusively ruling out BrianT19’s self-admitted speculation?

As the beatification of Bhutto begins, let us remember that she ran two scandal-plagued authoritarian regimes, including, by some counts, theft of 1.5 billion dollars of taxpayer’s money. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the nameless ones who died in the blast, and who are, at least in God’s eyes, as important as Bhutto.

Well, justin beat me to it.  She was well hated by many in Pakistan for her rampant corruption.  President Musharraf was considered a liberator when he took over.

Let’s not go off topic, please.

Elf: Respectfully, what is off-topic.

Topic: Death of Benazir Bhutto.

Discussion: Death and legacy of Bhutto.

Am I missing something?

A discussion of the conspiracy feelings of Brian from T19. Everything you wrote is fully on topic.

#10, Bhutto was deposed twice, neither time by Musharraf.

There are many factions in Pakistan, let us remember something that I heard Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Fund, quoting an African proverb, “when elephants fight, the grass gets hurt.”

In context, I’m thinking specifically of the Christians in Pakistan, but there are also many who can suffer in a time of civil unrest. I don’t know who is responsible, I think judgments in haste often prove in error, I think it is best if we pray for this nation. At moments like these, prayer on the behave of these people is best, especially for those who could suffer in times of violence.

In my mind this is rather bad for America.  Musharraf is an ally as far as it goes, but his power depends on the army. Bhutto’s power came from support of the people, that is being in charge of the largest political party. Our country wanted them to share power because it would have meant stability, and perhaps an easier time dealing with those in Waziristan [sp?]. We’d better hope whoever the new leader is in Bhutto’s political party, that he/she is still on good terms with the American government.

Very sad.  May she rest in peace.  I think I once saw her on “Face the Nation” or equivalent and I found her impressive. 

One paraphrase from Thomas Friedman’s book “From Beirut to Jerusalem”—“This sort of stuff will only cease when they care more about their children then they do about killing each other”. 

I can’t help but agree…

Geek in Dallas said: ‘One paraphrase from Thomas Friedman’s book “From Beirut to Jerusalem”—“This sort of stuff will only cease when they care more about their children then they do about killing each other”. ‘

Don’t you think the people who killed Bhutto would say they were doing it for their children? I think it’s a mistake to de-humanize our enemies—to say they’re acting only out of hatred or something. I presume these people believe that a certain kind of fundamentalist state would be the best future for Pakistan, precisely for the sake of their children, and they’re trying to destabilize the current state in order to bring about their vision of a better one.

“I presume these people believe that a certain kind of fundamentalist state would be the best future for Pakistan, precisely for the sake of their children, and they’re trying to destabilize the current state in order to bring about their vision of a better one”.

Well, I guess that makes it all ok. Serial killers can easily give you a twisted rationale for why they do what they do, but that still doesn’t make it right.