OK, Having the advantage of rapidly evolving history, we now know it was in fact AQ. This brings to mind another set of thoughts to myself.
Obviously AQ learned nothing from their great Iraq adventure in which they were responsible for turning the Iraqi’s against them.
Had AQ kept their mouths shut about the murder of Bhutto this morning the anticipated Civil War would have been to their benefit. Shot themselves in the foot so to speak by boasting of their triumph. As it is they have declared themselves the responsible party, and if that information is appropriately dessiminated throughout the populace, as a FOREIGN entity they will be defeated by their own blustering once again.
Musharraf has to but point the finger now thanks to AQ’s boasting, and can very possibly retain power. NO, he’s no friend of the West, but we do know him and have made some progress with him. Is there another potential leader in Pakistan we could do the same?
Civil unrest is inevitable, but now with AQ’s gloating acceptance of the responsibility for this morning’s murder, they have gifted the West with knowledge they learned nothing from their Iraq experience, and there isn’t a new AQ we need time to learn all over again.
Only problem with your analysis is that AQ enjoys widespread support from fundies in Pakistan, who hate both Musharraf and BB. This scored big points for AQ, and will encourage further and random acts of violence from inside the country.
I agree they could have gotten significant mileage from keeping their mouths shut, but they will still win points from a large chunk of the populace.
If Al Quaida did it and boasted of it, they are indeed foolish.
On the other hand, if Mushariff had done it, he might have manufactured an Al Quaida boast to accomplish what you are implying.
The Middle East has become a far stranger place than when the Pharoahs ruled in Egypt.
It also becomes public information that AQ is sufficiently trained and organized to perform coordinated attacks with less than one week to three month’s planning efforts in a multinational theater. 9/11 in the mind of many was a 1-4 year dedicated effort. The 18Oct07 and 27Dec07 assassination attempts on Bhutto telegraphs a more organized intelligence and military force at work.