2007 murder of Benazir Bhutto (new title)

[SWJED]

The RCP item was a link to David Ignatius's Washington Post Op-Ed The Legacy of Benazir Bhutto. He is a pretty good pundit - even when I do not agree I find things in his pieces to ponder...

[Mike in Hilo]

Peters frequently does make liberal use of hyperbole, but in this instance, having served in Pak 1989-94, I find myself in total agreement with the article. He could have added tidbits about her government's heavy leaning on Saddam's side in the Gulf War (until the last few days!), husband's involvement in the heroin trade, and the interesting trivium that it was not Gen Zia, but her own father (socialist, secularist!) who introduced Islamic law to Pakistan. Sad comentary on the state of party politics in Pakistan that, nevertheless, Pakistani poor of diverse ethnicities proved as manipulable by her as were her American admirers.

Cheers,
and a Happy New Year to all y'all,
Mike.

[Rex Brynen]

and the interesting trivium that it was not Gen Zia, but her own father (socialist, secularist!) who introduced Islamic law to Pakistan. .

Not really. Islamic law already had some status in Pakistan, but most of the most severe implementations of it--notably the Enforcement of Hudood Ordinance (1979)--certainly did take place under Zia ul-Haq.

[Mike in Hilo]

Yes re Hudood. Nevertheless, the last night you could drink a legal beer in the Pindi Club was during Zulf Bhutto's reign...
Cheers,
Mike.

[redbullets]

Yes re Hudood. Nevertheless, the last night you could drink a legal beer in the Pindi Club was during Zulf Bhutto's reign...
Cheers,
Mike.

But makes it rather fun to drink the "special tea" in the Chinese restaurants.

Cheers,

[tequila]

It pays to remember who sponsored Lashkar e-Toiba, Jaish al-Muhammad, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal which even prior to the Lal Masjid incident was "Talibanizing" the NWFP as well as Balochistan, and of course our good friends the Taliban. It certainly was not any of the civilian rulers of Pakistan, whether Nawaz Sharif or Benazir Bhutto. It was the Pakistani military who funded, sponsored, recruited, trained, and armed the militant groups which now wage war upon it and their own country.

[Uboat509]

I have been out surfing political side of the blogesphere and I was amazed to see some of the stuff that has been written about this woman. Over at HuffPo she has all but been canonized. She apparently was a brave martyr who gave her life for freedom, I'm not really sure whose freedom; Bush and Cheney somehow figure prominently in her death though it is unclear how or even why. I had no idea. Has anyone called Rome yet?

SFC W