2008 candidates condemn Bhutto assassination

The Hill ^ | 12/27/07 | Walter Alarkon

[mdittmar]

Presidential candidates mourned Thursday’s killing of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and urged the country to remain calm, while some Democrats took issue with the Bush administration’s long-standing support of Pakistan’s leader Pervez Musharraf.

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) called Bhutto’s death “a tragedy for her country,” and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) released a statement calling Bhutto “a respected and resilient advocate for the democratic aspirations of the Pakistani people.”
Former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) said her assassination was a “cowardly act."

“At this critical moment, America must convey both strength and principle,” said Edwards. “We should do everything in our power to help bring the perpetrators of this heinous act to justice and to ensure that Bhutto's movement toward democracy continues.”

Bhutto was killed at a political rally near Islamabad when a gunman reportedly shot her and then exploded a bomb, killing himself and at least 14 others. Bhutto, the country’s former prime minister, had returned to Pakistan after an eight-year exile to the contest the parliamentary elections.

Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) made a more pointed statement about Musharraf, noting that he had asked him twice to provide better security for her and other Pakistani leaders after an explosion nearly killed Bhutto when she returned to the country in October.

“The failure to protect Ms. Bhutto raises a lot of hard questions for the government and security services that must be answered,” said Biden, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He called Bhutto a friend and said she would have won the parliamentary elections scheduled for next month if she had lived.

Meanwhile, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) called on Musharraf to resign, saying that it is in U.S. interests to have a democratic country that “relentlessly hunts down terrorists.”

“President Bush should press Musharraf to step aside, and a broad-based coalition government, consisting of all the democratic parties, should be formed immediately,” said Richardson, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President Clinton. “Until this happens, we should suspend military aid to the Pakistani government. Free and fair elections must also be held as soon as possible.”

In an interview on MSNBC, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) also urged Pakistan to go on with its elections and criticized the Bush administration for having “misplaced priorities” with its preoccupations with Iraq and Iran.

Among the Republicans, the condemnations of Bhutto’s assassination were tied in to broader warnings on the threat of Islamic extremism.

“Her death is a reminder that terrorism anywhere — whether in New York, London, Tel-Aviv or Rawalpindi — is an enemy of freedom,” said former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. “We must redouble our efforts to win the terrorists’ war on us.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said that the United States must do all it can to support Pakistanis who have tried to lead their country away from extremism.

“Given Pakistan's strategic location, the international terrorist groups that operate from its soil, and its nuclear arsenal, the future of that country has deep implications for the security of the United States and its allies,” he said. “America must stand on the right side of this ongoing struggle.”

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) told reporters in New Hampshire that Bhutto’s assassination was another instance of “the extraordinary reality of global violent radical jihadism.”

 “This type of loss of life points out again the need for our nation and other civilized nations of the West and of the civilized world to come together to support moderate Islamic leaders, moderate Islamic people,” he said.

[samadams2000]

I wonder if anyone would stand up and say “She was a sh*t disturber whose selfish actions were a danger to the Pakastani people.”?

[mdittmar]

It's a damn shame,be you a Republican or Democrat

A Deficit of Decency.