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.
Well, that might be the case, but only if it is the trigger that leads to more events. I just read an article that we will increasing our SOF presence in Pakistan, as it is now believed that as al-Qaeda gets beaten in Iraq, that they will instead practice their deadly trade in Pakistan (with the ultimate potential prize of acquiring nuclear weapons).
I hope somebody removed the trigger and ignighter out of those bombs and is hiding them. That makes them inert. India must be pooping hot peppers. And China must be pooping noodles.
Condolences, tragedy, puppies , rainbows, fluffy couds, let's all hold hands and sing kumbaya and make the bad men go away.
Your halo blinds me.
Obama was trying to read through a statement. He is fumbling and mumbling.
Obama, not one reference to the other people that were killed. That’s what I call class.
Martyrdom is right. How can the Clinton Chinese Mafia claim anything about this killing. When they left, Pakistan hated America as well did India.
All we heard was the start of WWIII between those two nuclear enemies. We also heard how President Bush would never get airspace over Pak to attack the taliban in Trashcanistan. She has no credability whatsoever in that part of the World.
Pray for W and Our Troops
The potential candidates should wait for our President to make an official statement/response before they comment, imo. But I guess even this is political fodder at this point.
I am now thinking about the son of my friends, who will deploy to the ‘Stan next month: airborne.
True, Obama is fluff and not going to win.
Hillary is full of blah blah blah and will win their nomination but will NEVER win as President of the United States. She is far too unlikeable and hateful. Men of our country will not let it happen, and events of today and those sure to follow in the future... will show we as americans have to vote for someone we can trust, believe in and will protect america. It is not a DIM!
For the knowledge-and history-challenged: "it's islam"...
Well, the State Department and WH released written statements 2 hours ago, and Pres Bush gave a live statement 30 mins ago.
But, yes a lot were out giving statements before that. However, if they had said nothing then everyone would be crying out, why aren't the candidates saying anything.
Now India loves us. Good work by GWB; I thought that was a good move.
However.... they will have nukes now, too.
Yes, he has done some herculean work with the military and general social fabric — but, as the commenter states above, this gives him the good domestic political legitimacy to finish the job and roust out AQ and Taliban strongholds.
I expect this “where did the Pakistani CT money go?,” thing currently breaking on the news, however, will be heavily exploited by the political candidates, nonetheless. Hopefully, it’s done fairly responsibly as this could really screw our common foreign policy.
With Iraq stabalizing, Afghan will be the new center of the WOT. They are like moles that go from one yard to the next.
At some point we will have to go into Pak to help finish the job.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Exactly, it’s the “no win” season .... Hush my mouf.
FWIW, On 27 January 2007 she was invited by the United States to speak to President Bush and congressional and State Department officials. President Pervez Musharraf gave up his uniform on November 27, 2007, and then was sworn in as a civilian president. 30 days later, Bhutto is assassinated.
Not the only attempt on her life as a coordinated attack in recent history. From http://www.answers.com/topic/benazir-bhutto#wp-_note-32 is the following excerpt:
After eight years in exile in Dubai and London, Bhutto returned to Karachi on 18 October 2007 to prepare for the 2008 national elections.[55][56]
Main article: 2007 Karachi bombing
En route to a rally in Karachi on 18 October 2007, two explosions occurred shortly after Bhutto had landed and left Jinnah International Airport. She was not injured but the explosions, later found to be a suicide-bomb attack, killed 136 people and injured at least 450. The dead included at least 50 of the security guards from her Pakistan Peoples Party who had formed a human chain around her truck to keep potential bombers away, as well as 6 police officers. A number of senior officials were injured. Bhutto was escorted unharmed from the scene.[57]
Bhutto later claimed that she had warned the Pakistani government that suicide bomb squads would target her upon her return to Pakistan and that the government had failed to act. She was careful not to blame Pervez Musharraf for the attacks, accusing instead “certain individuals [within the government] who abuse their positions, who abuse their powers” to advance the cause of Islamic militants. Shortly after the attempt on her life, Bhutto wrote a letter Musharraf naming four persons whom she suspected of carrying out the attack. Those named included Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, a rival PML-Q politician and chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Hamid Gul, former director of the Inter-Services Intelligence, and Ijaz Shah, the director general of the Intelligence Bureau, another of the country’s intelligence agencies. All those named are close associates of General Musharraf. Bhutto has a long history of accusing parts of the government, particularly Pakistan’s premier military intelligence agencies, of working against her and her party because they oppose her liberal, secular agenda. Benazir claimed that the ISI has for decades backed militant Islamic groups in Kashmir and in Afghanistan.[58]
There are discrepancies between the accounts published in western newspapers, Pakistani tabloids, and eye witness accounts of the assassination attempt. Benazir’s husband categorically refused to accept that the suicide bombing was an attack by Al Qaeda or the Taliban. Correspondingly, Pakistani Taliban leader Mehsud denied responsibility and Jamaat Islami, an opponent of Bhutto, announced a three days mourning period for the dead, thus lending credibility to Bhutto’s claims that the attack was engineered by close associates in the government of General Musharraf.[citation needed]
Benazir’s associates describe an initial small grenade attack, followed twenty seconds later by larger explosives, one right and and one left of the truck carrying Benazir; this was followed by a brief burst of gun fire directed at vehicle’s roof. The PPP sources claim that yet another non-exploded bomb was fixed on a bridge which the vehicle had already crossed[citation needed].
Some witnesses report there was a sizzling sound, apparently an underground wire signal for the explosive devices. Benazir escaped, as she was protected by a 30-inch tall bullet-proof lining on the top of truck and was reportedly descending into the vehicle’s interior at the time; hence neither shrapnel nor bullets killed her. She was also protected by a “human cordon” of supporters who had anticipated suicide attacks and formed a chain around her to prevent potential bombers from getting near her. The total number of injured, according to PPP sources, stood at 1000, with at least 160 dead (The New York Times claims 134 dead and about 450 injured). The PPP lodged a complaint and FIR in protest, but was cautious in laying blame.[citation needed]
A few days later, Bhutto’s lawyer Senator Farooq H. Naik said he received a letter threatening to kill his client. The letter also claims to have links with al-Qaeda and followers of Usama bin Laden.
Our troops in the ‘Stan helped out Pakistan mightily when they had the EQ... got shot at trying to help out, too.
They don’t play in Pak.
Muddled as it was, I think the new policy was to get Musharaf to give up his position as military dictator, turn the Army over to one of his subordinates, and then govern the country as a civilian president, with Bhutto as his Prime Minister and President-in-Waiting, with democratization of Pakistan being the ultimate goal. Ain’t gonna happen now...!
You are right. Its a huge deal. I said an expletive when I saw this.
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