Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated today in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Christopher Hitchens on Bhutto http://www.slate.com/id/2180952/
Sasha Khan first hand account on the fall out in Pakistan http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071227/NEWS07/71227049
I cannot pretend to understand this part of the world. It seems that it is filled with one tragedy after another. President Musharraf has been a U.S. ally in the "war on terror" yet he has recently ruled the country by martial law and has only of late rescinded his military title.
Bhutto had been heralded a people's hero of sorts...the first woman ever to be elected to lead a Muslim country at the age of 35. Daughter of an executed former leader who did not fear reprisal and challenged the status quo.
Yet, she also spoke out both sides of her mouth--proclaiming democracy on one hand, while retaining an iron-clad grip on her party even while in exile. Her husband, the finance minister in her administration has been thrown in jail for corruption and his actions have led to corruption charges against him and his wife in several countries around the world.
Yet, she also spoke out both sides of her mouth--proclaiming democracy on one hand, while retaining an iron-clad grip on her party even while in exile. Her husband, the finance minister in her administration has been thrown in jail for corruption and his actions have led to corruption charges against him and his wife in several countries around the world.
Yet, for all of that- it appears Bhutto was a heroic, if tragic figure. Surely there was hubris accompanied with great talent and leadership there. She provided hope, even if it was an old hope. But now she is gone--unsurprisingly taken by an assassin's bullet in another one of countless acts of cowardly terrorism.
I find myself not knowing quite what to think about it all...mostly I find that I simply cannot, in any way pretend to understand this part of the world.
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