Posted on 12/27/2007 5:12:06 AM PST by COUNTrecount
Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been critically injured after a suspected suicide attack at a political rally in Pakistan.
It was believed to be a suicide attackShe is undergoing emergency surgery at a nearby hospital, Sky News sources say.
The explosion went off just after Ms Bhutto left the rally in Rawalpindi, minutes after her speech to thousands of people.
They the two men used AK-47s on her. In fact in one of the photos, you can see the remants of one AK-47 (the brown wood stock) and the barrel, laying on the ground. Source: Indian TV.
I feel we are truly entering into a sh!t storm. The world around us has turned into a cluster you know what, we’re a year away from elections in this country and our front runners are ALL idiots. Not one of them equipped to deal with this climate. We need Hunter/Thompson and Bolton for SOS.
Now that the “Q” have admitted to this assasination...I wonder how long it will take to see if there is a tie between them and Mush-man...
They’ll do their best to keep that under wraps if it is true...And the media won’t help out because this incident has far reaching implications to our own elections and the pontificating that has already started with the candidates...
If the “Q” and “M” connection is made, I believe this issue will take priority over Iran in the next month or so...Which means the gloves come off and we will send in force our troops to take a shot at OBL...
Thats what I would do...Musharref is, and has not, cooperated enough to get that pimple popped...
Now that Bhutto is out of the way, he is free to sit back, pop a bag of popcorn and watch a movie...
I believe we need to disrupt that party fairly quickly...
I watched his comment. Did not seem that "Presidential" to me.
I also think that Bhutto is no heroine, she and her family were typical crooks and collectivist, a lot like the Clinton’s, we must take for our own good type of elite leader!
Musharaf is not to blame, it was Bush’s fault in forcing her to return to Pak.../sarc!
I thought the same thing, but how will it effect our election? Good for us or bad for the RATS? Just wondering.
I have no doubt AQ was behind this, but until someone more reliable than AKI carries the AQ “statement” I will hold back accepting that it is real.
Musharraf is a mortal man, and like all men, his days are numbered, one way or the other.
I'm guessing he's not involved with this assasination in any way, but the message ought to be clear to him as well: "your time will come".
The situation cannot be good when one man's heartbeat may be all that is keeping the nukes of Pakistan out of fundamentalism's grasp. And that heart has as much of a bull's eye taped on it, as did Ms. Bhutto's.
I do not see how these weapons can be kept from that grasp without physical intervention by the United States, including a large number of boots on the ground.
I recall posting some years' back that Pakistan was the most dangerous Islamic nation, because they had functioning nuclear weapons that could easily fall into the wrong hands. Today, that danger is closer than ever.
- John
Last year Gerald Ford died, year before we had the tsunami.
I can’t disagree.. she was single-minded and had to know this day was coming.
Whether or not it was pure recklessness or a deep love for Pakistan will be sorted out by history.
First and foremost, she should contact the American Embassy or consulate immediately to obtain information and advice and to register. In the meantime, she should remain indoors to the maximum extent possible.
“I’ve been amazed at how accessible she has always seemed in video clips these past few months. Even today, she was standing up waving through the sun roof.”
I have thoughts on the matter because of; as you say in your post her accessibility.
To be as brief as possible, I think she deemed her message of peace and prosperity more important than her life. I think she thought her message had to be delivered with a face behind the words as words alone wouldn’t be as effective, thus her disregard for security. Reflecting on how many times she was arrested and forced into “security”, as well the multiple attempts on her life, and here in the end it apparently was a suicide mission that killed her. The whole incident reeks of AQ to me.
AQ has pretty much lost Iraq and has targeted Afghanistan for their regrouping efforts. Pakistan has the Nukes AQ wants as dependance upon Iran is questionable due the Mullahs’ fight for self preservation albeit in the earliest stages at this point.
I think it a no-brainer that this was AQ.
Puts national security on the top of the list.
C’mon - do you really think is was proper for Mitt Romney to be the first “U.S.Official” to have his view of the assassination broadcast to the world on live TV? And do you believe he just happened to be chatting with reporters when the news broke as the sun was coming up this morning? I’m not saying it was bad politics, just seemed smarmy to me.
India announces it is stepping up the security level on the LOC (line of control) area in Kashmir bordering Pakistan. Things getting hot in Karachi with street outrage, and I am watching bonfires in the streets of Rawalpindi on Indian TV.
http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/38043/
Nurturer-in-Chief
Advice for Hillary Clinton from the former prime minister of Pakistan.
Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan who has lived in self-imposed exile for eight years, has vowed to return to her country next month to lead her Pakistan Peoples Party in elections. If able to serve a third term as prime minister, she might be a different kind of leader: In August, she told the Council on Foreign Relations that she regretted not being more “nurturing” while in power. “The people wanted me to be there as a woman leader,” she said. “I wish I had focused more on that than on the more militaristic notions.” It’s a dilemma familiar to a certain other woman running for chief executive. Bhutto spoke to Jennifer Senior.
Are there criticisms of Hillary you sometimes hear that you know are code for something else?
One thing people often say to me is that Bill Clinton is a very warm leader and that Hillary is much colder. But I think that women leaders tend to be a little bit withdrawn, to protect themselves from unkind comments. When a male leader is warm, it’s not misinterpreted. Whereas if a female leader is warm, it can have certain connotations. So a female leader has to be more restrained, in a sense.
When you were prime minister, were you scrutinized, as Hillary so often is, for trivial things, like the fashion choices you made?
Yes. I once had a male opposition leader get up in the assembly and say, “Oh, these white veils she wears, and how she brings them all the way from France!” Which was simply not true. I used to buy them in Pakistan. And then I looked at his shoes. He had bought Bally shoes! I couldn’t believe the hypocrisy of it. He took it for granted that no one would scrutinize him!
Did you say anything?
I didn’t. I didn’t want to be that kind of leader.
Did you also have a hard time earning the trust of other women, at least at first?
I had a lot of support among ordinary women. But women in leadership positions could sometimes be competitive. Those who’d achieved a lot could be my sharpest critics.
Did being a woman influence your leadership in a more subtle way?
I was able to put iodine in salt. And I was able to do that because I shopped for salt.
Why do you think that the U.S. seems to have a harder time with women at the highest level of power than other countries?
In a country like Pakistan or India, when a charismatic leader dies, people are not sure that the traditions he symbolized will continue—there’s a lot of illiteracy and there isn’t the same access to information. So they tend to transfer allegiance from a male leader to a female descendant, in the hope that his policies will be continued. But in Westernized societies, it’s a little different, because people have greater education and greater access to information—they don’t have the same need to be sure of the message of the leader.
Any advice for Bill on the campaign trail?
All I can tell him is that either way, you won’t win. Not if you disappear and not if you’re there campaigning. He’ll have to go by his instincts.
I have just spoken to the girl’s mother. She (the daughter) is in Lahore. She and her friends (the couple who went home to Pakistan for their wedding) are safe. Their plans were to fly back here from Islamabad but they are now going to be flying out of Lahore. It actually looks better for my neighbor, as she has the support and protection of the American government, whereas the other couple are Pakistani citizens. She in touch with her parents here and with our consulate there. All is well for her so far. Thank you (and others on here) for your prayers and concerns. My neighbor asked our church prayer chain to be activated as well (we all belong to the same church).
But since she is now dead, and perhaps never even knew what hit her, she actually did not learn “anything.” !
Which moves Rudy back to the top of the list -- but also brings all the Senators running into the top too - McCain, Thompson, Clinton, Obama, Edwards.
Clinton and Edwards really do not have the lifelong experience to deal with this. Rudy has 9-11 but not much else.
I think this moment really could be a boom for McCain and Thompson if they can get out and sound Presidential AND INFORMED on this.
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