Bhutto's Assassination Anniversary: Claims, Wild and Otherwise

A year ago today somebody killed Benazir Bhutto, who might have made a fine leader for Pakistan. Pakistanis are mourning the anniversary of her death with an enthusiasm that reminds me of the years following the JFK assassination.

And, we still don't know exactly who killed Benazir Bhutto.

A Pakistani government investigation found that she died as a result of a bomb blast. British detectives recently came to the same conclusion.

Whaddaya Mean, a Bomb Killed Bhutto?!

That's the 'wrong' answer, so now the U.N. may be getting involved.

Asif Ali Zardari, Benzair Bhutto's husband won the presidential election, and he's managed to alienate his own party, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). It didn't help that he replaced many of Bhutto's staff with his own people. News outlets like The Hindu seems to have decided that people like Safdar Abbasi, a PPP member who doesn't like Zardari, are right, and that Zardari is a crook - or worse.

Yes, I'm overstating the case a bit. But I think their article carrys that implication:

"Many leading party members accuse her widower, President Zardari, of suppressing the investigation. 'It is intriguing why the Government has not even ordered any investigation into Ms Bhutto’s killing,' said Safdar Abbasi, a senator."
(TimesOnline)

Bhutto's Assassination: It Must be a Government Conspiracy!

'Obviously,' for some of the PPP people, Bhutto was killed by a gun, not a bomb, and that proves that the gov'mnt did it, and there's been a cover-up. They could be right. The October, 2007, bombing in Karachi that didn't kill Bhutto involved some very odd coincidences. It's possible that people in the Pakistani government were involved.

But that doesn't mean that the Pakistani government is involved. From what I've seen, Pakistan's civilian government just barely contols parts of the major cities, most of the time. The military isn't quite under the control of the civilian government, and neither of them have much to say about what the ISI does. The ISI is supposed to be Pakistan's intelligence agency. At this point, it's more of a state within a state: which leads me to another topic, for another post.

Bhutto's Assassination: Cover-Up, or Uncomfortable Reality?

There's something to the claim that Pakistani president Zardari 'suppressed' the investigation of his wife's killing. The previous administration's investigation had come up with answers. Asif Ali Zardari has a country to run now, and redundant investigations might do more harm than good. "Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Mr Zardari, confirmed that the Government was not conducting an investigation. 'We do not want to appear witch-hunting,' he said." (TimesOnline)

Bhutto's assassination was an international incident, so of course another set of investigators looked into the evidence:

"...Earlier this year, British detectives investigating the fatal attack in Rawalpindi said Mrs Bhutto had died from the effect of a bomb blast, not gunfire.

"Their account matched that of the Pakistani authorities...."
(BBC)

'Wrong' answer again.

Some discussion of Bhutto's assassination remind me of claims that George W. Bush blew up the New York World Trade Center, back in 2001. Maybe now, if the U.N. gets involved, someone can 'prove' that George W. killed Bhutto: which might satisfy some of America's more earnest thinkers. What their counterparts in Pakistan want to be true, I'm not quite sure.

List of related posts:

• "Individuals and the War on Terror -
  Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan"

News and views:

• "Bhutto’s Vision for Democratic Pakistan Crumbles (Update2)"
  Bloomberg (December 27, 2008)
• "Zardari suppressing Benazir probe: PPP leaders"
  The Hindu (December 27, 2008)
• "Pakistanis mourn Bhutto a year after killing"
  Reuters (December 27, 2008)
• "APP employees union offers fateha for BB"
  The Associated Press of Pakistan (December 27, 2008)
• "Pakistani mourners honour Bhutto"
  BBC (December 27, 2008)
  (with video)
• "Remembering Bhutto one year on"
  BBC (December 27, 2008)
• "U.N. to launch Bhutto death investigation"
  CNN (December 26, 2008)
• "Asif Ali Zardari’s purge 'betrays' Benazir Bhutto's legacy"
  TimesOnline (August 31, 2008)

"Democracy is the Best Revenge"

Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari, is described as "pro-American," so my guess is that we'll be hearing quite a bit of the old (unproven) corruption charges against him.

The charges might be true, but they also took him out of circulation for a while. Pakistan seems to be a rough place, where people with the wrong views get very unlucky. For his sake, and Pakistan's, I hope that Mr. Zaradari isn't as 'accident prone' as his late wife, Benazir Bhutto: who just happened to be killed when Karachi phone service failed and the city's street lights went out around her motorcade ("Pakistani Government Promises Objective Investigation of its Involvement in Bhutto Assassination Attempt (October 22, 2007)).

Pakistan's new president made a statement today that endeared him to me. "It is the philosophy of ... Benazir Bhutto, in which we believe, which says democracy is the best revenge," he said. "She taught us how to live. She taught us how to do politics." (CNN) Last year, following Benazir Bhutto's assassination, her son cited his mother's "democracy is the best revenge" philosophy, too.

I agree with the general principle, although I wouldn't use the word "revenge" myself. I think that democracy - allowing common people to participate in selecting leaders and making a government's decisions - together with a rule of law, is a fine way to deny the heritage of a regime ruled for and by the powerful.

No matter who's in charge, Pakistan's going to have a rough time in the next few years: maybe the next few generations. There's a lot of catching up to do. But that's a matter for another post.

In the news:

• "Bhutto widower Zardari elected Pakistan's new president"
  CNN (September 6, 2008)
  • "ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Nearly a year after assassins killed Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, her widower won the country's presidential election and hailed his triumph as a victory for democracy.
  • " 'I feel democracy has been vindicated,' Asif Ali Zardari told CNN. 'I feel we are coming closer to her [Benazir Bhutto's] mission of total democracy in Pakistan. And we shall take the oath of office of President in the name of Shahid Benazir Bhutto, and that will be a momentous occasion for all the democratic forces in the world.'
  • "Zardari, 53, had been the front-runner in the race to replace former President Pervez Musharraf, who was forced to resign last month.
  • "The election was not by public vote, but rather by lawmakers in the two houses of the National Assembly and in the four provincial assemblies around the country. Under Pakistan's constitution, the president is elected by a majority vote...."
• "Bhutto’s Widower Wins Pakistani Presidency"
  • "ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of the slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and a controversial politician with little experience in governing, was elected president of Pakistan on Saturday.
  • "Results from voting in the two houses of Parliament, and three of four provincial assemblies, showed that Mr. Zardari had easily prevailed over his closest competitor.
  • "The results were announced by the chief election commissioner, Qazi Muhammed Farooq. The votes from a fourth provincial assembly remained to be counted.
  • "Mr. Zardari, 53, who spent 11 years in jail on corruption charges that were not proven, succeeds Pervez Musharraf, who resigned as president last month under the threat of impeachment...."
• "Bhutto's widower goes from prison to presidency"
  Reuters (September 6, 2008)
  • "ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Asif Ali Zardari has completed a traumatic journey from prison to the presidency of Pakistan.
  • "Regarded as a polo-playing playboy in his youth, the catalyst for Zardari's rise was the assassination last December of his wife, the two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
  • "After leading Bhutto's grieving party to a general election victory in February, Zardari played a deft hand to force former president Pervez Musharraf from office in August, nine years after the then army chief came to power in a military coup.
  • "The presidency caps a remarkable transformation for Zardari, who spent 11 years in prison on charges of corruption and murder, although he denied all accusations and was never convicted. He was released on bail in 2004...."

Related posts, on Individuals and the War on Terror.

Bhutto: A Son of bin Laden Planned My Death

"Benazir Bhutto accuses Osama Bin Laden's son from beyond the grave" "Times Online" (February 3, 2008)

The former Pakistani prime minister fingered 16-year-old son of Osama bin Laden, Hamza bin Laden, as leading one of four groups coming after her. The accusation is in her posthumous autobiography.

From Benazir Bhutto's statement, and other intelligence, it looks like Osama bin Laden is planning to keep Al Qaeda leadership in the family.

---

The send-assassins bin Laden isn't the son of Osama bin Laden who's planning a trans-African horse race for peace. That's Omar Osama bin Laden. Sheik bin Laden has quite a number of sons.

The four groups out to kill Bhutto were said to be sent by

• The Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud
• Hamza Bin Laden, a son of Osama Bin Laden
• Red Mosque militants
• A Karachi-based militant group.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.

Bhutto Assassination: Gun = Government Involvement?

I've heard a plausible explanation for why the Pakistani Interior Ministry tried to find a cause of death other than a bullet.

According to someone I heard on cable news,* the Pakistani on the street is likely to assume government involvement, if a gun was involved in the assassination. That would explain a lot.

I'm a little surprised. Pakistan has never been cited by gun control advocates as a country with effective control over whether law-abiding citizens own weapons or not. On the other hand, in the videos showing the probably assassin, he's holding a handgun.

I understand that handguns take more training to use effectively than rifles: so maybe it's the handgun that points to government involvement. Reasonable or not, it's probably easier to imagine a government agent attached to that handgun.

---

* About that "someone I heard:" I don't like giving that kind of citation, but it's as good as I've got. I wasn't looking at the screen, and didn't catch the name or title of the speaker.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.

Pakistan and the Bhutto Assassination: A New-and-Improved Official Explanation

Pakistan's Interior Ministry's dropped the (possibly non-existent) sun roof handle as the instrument of Bhutto's death, according to the "Hindustan Times." They're sticking with the skull fracture part of the story, though: and that may be accurate.

I still haven't read what's so important about whether Benazir Bhutto died from a bullet wound, or because the concussion from an explosion cracked her head against part of her vehicle - Aside from the very non-trivial and disturbing detail of a government agency coming up with a cause of death that was somewhat implausible. And then coming up with another explanation.

The obvious reason for Pakistanis being so upset with the 'window handle' story is that it makes the Pakistani government sound like liars: and clumsy ones, at that.

Another strong possibility, in my opinion, is that there's something in Pakistani culture which makes an explosion leading to a blow on the head preferable, from the Musharraf administration point of view, to admitting that a bullet or shrapnel was what killed Bhutto.

Or, maybe the explanation sounded worse in the original language than it did in English.

In any event, the Pakistani government seems to be trying to get at least one foot out of its mouth.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.

Pakistan is not America

Benazir Bhutto's party has chosen a new leader. Leaders, actually.

Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, and son, Bilawal Bhutto, will pick up where she left off. That's what the Pakistan People's Party, Bhutto's party, said today.

Bilawal, 19, was reading History at Oxford when his mother was killed, and has no political experience. But, his mother was about that age when she got active in Pakistani politics.

Bilawal said that he'd avenge his mother's assassination. He may not have a bloodbath in mind, though. He said: "My mother always said that democracy is the best revenge."

A candidate's spouse picking up where the wife or husband left off is nothing new in American politics. Having a 19-year-old lined up to take national leadership hasn't happened yet in America. And it's not likely to. For starters, there are age limits on that sort of thing.

This should be a wake-up call for Americans who judge what's going on in Pakistan, and the actions of Pakistani leaders, by American standards.

Pakistan is a fine country, but it isn't America. People have a different way of getting things done there.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.

Brave Words, Prudent Words

When Benzair Bhutto was returning to Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud said he'd meet her with suicide bombers.

Now Bhutto's dead. Part of the team that killed her was a suicide bomber. And, more Pakistanis have died in the following riots than the suicide bomber killed.

Baitullah Mehsud, Al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban commander who probably plans to spend the rest of his life in Pakistan, says he didn't do it."

Whether or not he had a hand in the hit, I think that Mehsud is showing good judgment. Apart from a few special-interest groups, I doubt that anyone with a hand in Bhutto's assassination is likely to win Pakistani popularity polls.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.

After Benazir Bhutto: Grassroots Looters, Official Spinmeisters

The investigation into Benazir Bhutto's assassination seems to be all but wrapped up.

She wasn't killed by bullets or shrapnel. A spokesman for Pakistan's Interior Ministry, Javed Iqbal Cheema, said that all three shots missed. It wasn't the shrapnel, either. It seems that she was ducking into her vehicle when the bomb's shock wave hit her, knocking her head into a lever attached to the sunroof.

That's plausible enough, but a surgeon who was trying to save her life yesterday, Dr. Mussadiq Khan, says that she was killed by shrapnel hitting her skull.

The Pakistan Interior Ministry's report is fast work. Here in America, it can take well over 24 hours to sort out what killed someone. But then, American coroners are generally a meticulous lot, and can get almost obsessive over verifiable facts when a major public official gets assassinated.

I also don't know what cultural values might encourage officials to find a plausible cause of death other than shrapnel or bullets.

Whatever the cause of death was, the Pakistani government seems to have proof that Al Qaeda is behind Bhutto's assassination. The Taliban, too. And they've got a transcript to prove it. The Associated Press (AP) published a copy, translated into English.

One of the people in the conversation is "militant leader Baitullah Mehsud," as the AP put it. We've heard about him before: He's the Pakistani tribal bigwig and Taliban leader who said he'd have suicide bombers ready when Bhutto came back to Pakistan. Looks like he may have kept his word.

Benazir Bhutto's husband would not allow an autopsy. I can understand that: facing a loss like that, many people don't feel like having their loved one's body cut up. On the other hand, an autopsy might have given more evidence about Bhutto's death.

And, while Pakistani government officials give official statements, Pakistanis are looting banks (seven in Multan), setting trains on fire, and burning tires. From the grassroots looters to the official spinmeisters, this isn't Pakistan's finest hour.

On the other hand, I sincerely hope that American leaders don't decide to abandon Pakistan. One of the last things the world needs right now is for a country with nuclear weapons to come under the control of Al Qaeda and/or the Taliban.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.

Pyrrhic Victory, Anyone? Another Thought on the Bhutto Assassination

Looks like Pakistan's President Musharraf is fingering Al Qaeda in Benazir Bhutto's assassination.

Whoever killed Bhutto, they certainly achieved their short-term goal of killing her. Their longer-term goal was almost certainly to remove a popular, non-Islamist leader who was willing to deal with the "great Satan America."

The bad guys won the battle.

But this may be a case of 'win the battle, lose the war.' People who mourned Bhutto's death chanted, "as long as the moon and sun are alive, so is the name of Bhutto" at the mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh.

But, the bad guys created a martyr. I'm not talking about the guy who was probably looking forward to 72 virgins in a celestial whoopee house.

• Alive, Bhutto might or might not have made an effective Pakistani leader - again.
• Dead, Bhutto may become a symbol and rallying point for Pakistanis who want something more democratic and tolerant than what the likes of Al Qaeda have to offer.

Bhutto's death could be what it takes, for grassroots leaders in Pakistan to give their country a representative, responsive government.

Related posts, on Individuals and the War on Terror.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.

---

(As a one-time historian, I can't help showing off. Gaining a short-term goal at the cost of a long-term goal isn't anything new. Back in the nineteenth century, "Pyrrhic victory" was coined to describe the situation. A little over two millennia ago, the king of Epirus, Pyrrhus, won a battle with Roman forces. "If I win a victory in one more battle with the Romans, I shall not have left a single soldier of those who crossed over with me" was his reaction.)

Al Qaeda: We Killed Bhutto

"AL-QAIDA CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY" "The Times of India" (December 28, 2007)

That's what Al Qaeda spokesman Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid said.

And a bulletin from FBI and Homeland Security officials to U.S. law enforcement agencies cites Islamist Web sites which said Al Qaeda had claimed responsibility for Bhutto's assassination. And that Al Qaeda's number-2 man, Ayman al-Zawahri, was the planner.

They could be right.

An op-ed piece, "Security Barrier: Pakistan a More Dangerous Place Without Bhutto" claims that Pakistan is an important part of the Al Qaeda network: "As we’ve seen time and again, including in the most recent terrorist attempt in London, if you follow an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist’s road, it often leads back to Islamabad. September 11, the attacks on Madrid, the shoe bomber, the London tube bombers and Glasgow all had connections with Pakistan. The recent Red Mosque siege and now Bhutto’s assassination are just glaring proof that the terrorism nurtured in Pakistan and launched abroad has now come home to roost."

That could be true, too.

The frontier tribal areas of Pakistan are the sort of cultural and economic backwater where Al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist groups seem to thrive.

If the Pakistani frontier is another Al Qaeda refuge, than helping Pakistan get on its feet is important. Although I'm pretty sure that we'll be hearing about the Chamberlainesque wisdom of side-stepping today's problems in Pakistan.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.

Benazir Bhutto's Assassination and Nawaz Sharif's Near-Miss: It Could be Worse

It's been a busy day in Pakistan.

While campaigning for the Pakistan People's Party, Benazir Bhutto was shot at a rally in Rawalpindi, the city where Pakistan's military has its headquarters. Someone: possibly the assassin, or another attacker, then blew up, killing roughly 20 more people.

Meanwhile, near the Islamabad airport, four supporters of Nawaz Sharif were killed at a rally near the Islamabad airport. Mr. Sharif was about a mile away at the time.

Finger-pointing and Monday-morning quarterbacking is well under way.

• At the hospital where she died, some Bhutto supporters shouted "dog, Musharraf, dog!" according to a cable news report.
• Musharraf blames Islamic extremists.
• TimesOnline suggests that Pakistani warlords or security forces may be responsible.
• Some in the blogosphere blame America's President Bush.

I don't think that Musharraf would be stupid enough to assassinate a leader with the sort of popular support Bhutto had. Assuming that she won the election, or at least won a plurality, I'd think that he could have made a deal to keep some power. But I could be over-estimating his political smarts.

The situation in Pakistan is bad. A nation with nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them

• An assassination and a near-miss on the same day
• Pakistan's current leader seems to have very little popular support
• The borderlands are controlled by warlords who haven't caught up with changes that started with the Magna Carta

But it could be worse.

As easy as it is to be cynical about President Musharraf's apparent plan to delay the January 8 election, it's probably a good idea. With lethal gunfire at one candidate's rally, the leading candidate assassinated, and the President suspected of ordering the assassination, Pakistanis could use a little breathing room to calm down: and find someone to replace Bhutto.

And, I think that Bhutto's assassination shows how little support maniacal Muslims have in the Islamic world. A recent poll in Pakistan showed that about 4% of Pakistani people planned to support religious parties next month.

Islamic terrorists don't seem to be any more of a majority than the 0.0001% or so of Muslims at this year's Hajj who chanted "Death to America! Death to Israel!" at this year's Hajj.

With that sort of grassroots non-support, it should be no surprise that the bonkers elements of Islam depend of hijacked airliners, bombs, and the occasional sword to make their point. They're loud, and lethal, but violence seems to be the only argument they have.

See "Assassination Whodunit: Bhutto Faced Threats From All Militant Groups in Pakistan" (December 27, 2007)

Related posts, on Individuals and the War on Terror.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.

Benzir Bhutto, June 21, 1953 – December 27, 2007

An assassin killed Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of Pakistan, at a political rally today. Her supporters are taking it none too well: understandable, under the circumstances.

Some of them, at the hospital where she died, shouted "dog, Musharraf, dog!" according to the news. That must be a translation into English. In my opinion, killing Bhutto would be about the stupidest thing Musharraf could do, but people have pulled bonehead stunts before.

Meanwhile, Benazir Bhutto's family is going through a very rough time. My family and I pray for them. I hope that those who read this will do so, too: and pray for all victims of terrorism.

Related posts, on Individuals and the War on Terror.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.

Pakistan: Better Than I Feared

Things are going better in Pakistan than I feared. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in now President Musharraf, period. Not General and President Musharraf.

He promised to quit his military role, and be a civilian leader, and delivered: not on the timetable he originally gave, but he did quit.

Maybe he'll end emergency rule by December 16, as he says he will, and restore the Pakistani constitution in time for the January elections, too.

Musharraf has two former prime ministers back in Pakistan now. He's let them know that things are going to be okay with the election, and that he expects them to participate. "Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have come back, and a level playing field has been given to (their parties). Now it is the responsibility of these and other parties to prepare for the elections, and participate fully," is how he put it.

The two former PMs have threatened to boycott the election. I suppose there's a point to trying not to win an election you want to win - like when the election is obviously rigged.

Musharraf's recent rounding up of political opponents, and now holding an election with very little lead time, seems perilously close to "rigging."

Pakistan: What a Mess

Bhutto's back under house arrest. She wanted to lead a protest march, the Pakistani president didn't want her to.

Meanwhile, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan says that he'll let elections happen in January of 2008. His state of emergency will extend until the election. He says that he needs to keep a lid on anti-his-administration protests and demonstrations, to assure that the election is done properly.

I wish I was convinced that President Musharraf had only Pakistan's best interests in mind.

Elections in Pakistan? Be Careful What You Wish For

This isn't one of Pakistan's happier times. President / General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan has suspended Pakistan's constitution, and is in the process of imprisoning people who don't agree with him, and have said so publicly.

No problem, Musharraf says. He'll step down as general and have elections: soon.

American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and others, are trying to talk Msharraf into turning that promise into action.

Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden is quite possibly hiding in the Pakistan/Afghanistan border mountains. And a recent poll shows that bin Laden is more popular in Pakistan than Musharraf.

So, as attractive as the "Vox populi, vox Dei" is as a phrase, the "vox populi" in this case might bring a little "dei" to power who really shouldn't be given nuclear weapons.

Finally, Musharraf isn't the only potentially legitimate leader in Pakistan. Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto decided rather abruptly to skip her trip abroad, giving her husband and three children in Dubai a miss for now.

Not a bad idea, I'd say, considering what's going on in Pakistan. Assuming that those elections happen, Bhutto seems to have a good chance of winning. Reports say that she's a great deal more popular than Musharraf, too.

Pakistani Government Promises Objective Investigation of its Involvement in Bhutto Assassination Attempt

Last week, Benazir Bhutto survived an assassination attempt that killed over 130 people in Karachi, a major port city in Pakistan. She was in a convoy, celebrating her return from exile. One reason for the high death toll was Bhutto's popularity. She and her convoy were surrounded by a crowd of supporters. And, at least one suicide bomber.

The Pakistani government has to investigate the attack: over ten dozen deaths in a major city, of a returning popular leader, with international news coverage, can't be ignored. My guess is that at least some in Pakistan's government would just as soon close their eyes and pretend the attack never happened. The October 18, 2007, assassination attempt involves some debatable judgment and odd coincidences.

• Bhutto refused government plea to take helicopter to Pakistan founder's tomb
  
• Bhutto's convoy took 10 hours to get through Karachi
  
• Street lights went out at sunset, giving attackers cover
  
• Phone service went out, preventing Bhutto's convoy from asking for help
  
• Bhutto went inside her armored vehicle shortly before the blasts
  
• Bhutto wants American and British experts to help Pakistan's government investigate the attack
  
• Pakistan's government
  • Refuses foreign help
  • Made an odd choice for chief investigator of the attack:
    a police officer who had been present when Bhutto's father was "allegedly" tortured in 1999
    (Bhutto's father was accused of corruption: presumably, that's why he was "allegedly" tortured)

Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said that the investigation will come to correct conclusions without foreign help. Or interference? "I would categorically reject this," he said. "We are conducting the investigation in a very objective manner."

Pakistan's government has evidence to work with:

• Photographs
• Pieces of vehicles
• Pieces of people
  including what presumably is a suicide bomber's head - somewhat the worse for wear, but recognizable

I don't blame Bhutto for wanting American or British experts to be involved in the investigation. First, they might have more experience and training that the local specialists. Second, they'd be good witnesses of the investigation: a sort of guarantee that facts get considered.

Pakistani politicos and others already have their own explanations for who's to blame for the bombing:

• Bhutto, who should have followed government advice, and taken a helicopter instead of driving through Karachi
• Bhutto's husband, who tried to blow up his wife in order to boost her popularity
• Elements in the Pakistani government, who don't want Bhutto to win upcoming elections

The idea of Pakistani government people being involved isn't as bizarre as it might seem. Mujahedeen groups, formed in part by General Zia-ul Haq to fight the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan, later helped form Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Pakistan leader Musharraf's religious affairs minister is Haq's son. The young Haq is one of the people that Bhutto is responsible for the assassination attempt.

It's a complicated situation, to put it mildly.

I think it's also a case in point for how we can't assume that countries in the Middle East and elsewhere are equivalent to America and other countries that enjoy the rule of law.

One of the most obvious differences is that here in America, politicos throw metaphorical mud at each other. Elsewhere, they throw bombs. Or, send young nitwits with grenades and suicide vests.

Related posts, on Individuals and the War on Terror.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.

Individuals and the War on Terror

Although I acknowledge the importance of vast socio-economic forces and other metacauses, I also think that individuals make a difference. In the War on Terror, some people stand out.

• President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran
• American Armed Forces
• American Civilians
• Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan
• The Holy Father
• Iraqi Leaders
• Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
• Osama bin Laden, from Saudi Arabia
• Stanislav Petrov, the man who saved the world
  (From 1983: before 9/11, a tale of one man's common sense and willingness to think.)

---

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran

• "Ahmadinejad Wants America to Apologize: This is News?"
  (January 28, 2009)
• "Barack Obama's Presidency: History Being Made"
  (November 6, 2008)
  (President Ahmadinejad congratulates, advises President-Elect Obama)
• "Barack Obama's Presidency: History Being Made"
  (November 6, 2008)
• "Resolutions "Worthless Papers"
  - Iran's President Ahmadinejad"
  (October 24, 2007)
• "Iran's New Nuclear Negotiator"
  (October 21, 2007)
• "Iran and Russia and Germany and Japan"
  (October 19, 2007)
• "Russia's Putin and Iran's Ahmadinejad: More Complications"
  (October 16, 2007)
• "Students Demonstrating Against the President: in Iran"
  (October 10, 2007)
• "Ahmadinejad's Plan for Peace: Banish the Jews to Alaska"
  (October 7, 2007)
• "Kidnapped Israeli Soldier's Wife Asked Wrong Question at UN"
  (September 27, 2007)
• "President Ahmadinejad: Let's Give Him the Credit He Deserves"
  (September 26, 2007)
• "President Ahmadinejad at Columbia University: The Transcript"
  (September 25, 2007)
• "Ahmadinejad at Columbia, What Happened?"
  (September 24, 2007)
• "Ahmadinejad at Columbia University - Part 2 - There are No Homosexuals in Iran?!"
  (September 24, 2007)
• "Ahmadinejad at Columbia University - Part 1"
  (September 24, 2007)
• "Columbia President Introduces Ahmadinejad at Columbia University"
  (September 24, 2007)
• "Let Ahmadinejad Speak? Of Course!"
  (September 24, 2007)
• "President Ahmadinejad Arrives Not-So-Quietly at Columbia University"
  (September 24, 2007)
• "President Ahmadinejad Arrives Quietly in New York"
  (September 23, 2007)
• "Columbia, President Ahmadinejad, and Tolerance"
  (September 23, 2007)

American Armed Forces

• "Michael Jackson and 1st Lieutenant Brian N. Bradshaw: One's News, the Other's Not"
  (July 7, 2009)
• "A Bank Robbery in Texas, Donald Murrah and David Long"
  (March 12, 2009)
• Navy Petty Officer Mike Monsoor
  
  • "Navy Petty Officer Mike Monsoor and the Trident Hoax"
    (March 11, 2009)
  • "Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor: American Hero"
    (March 31, 2008)
  • "Golden Tridents on Petty Officer Michael A. Monsoor's Coffin"
    (July 5, 2008)
  • "Michael Anthony Monsoor: Above and Beyond the Call of Duty"
    (April 8, 2008)
  • "Michael Monsoor to Receive Posthumus Medal of Honor"
    (April 2, 2008)
  • "Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor: American Hero"
    (March 31, 2008)
• "Melissa Stockwell: Representing America, Again
  (September 6, 2008)
• "There are Heroes - Ross A. McGinnis"
  (June 2, 2008)
• Gunnery Sergeant William "Spanky" Gibson
  "Crippled Marine Marches Back to Iraq, Wants to Help"
  (February 28, 2008)
• Marine 1st Lieutenant Nathan Krissoff
  Marine 2nd Lieutenant Austin Krissoff
  Lieutenant Commander Bill Krissoff
  "A Father Honors Fallen Son"
  (November 28, 2007)
• Specialist Christopher Hoyt
  "There are Heroes"
  (November 19, 2007)
• Lance Corporal Matthew A. Snyder, Albert Snyder:
  • "Individuals Count: See the Snyders"
    (November 1, 2007)
  • "Tolerance Only Goes So Far"
    (October 31, 2007)
  • "Does Free Speech Include Disrupting Funerals?"
    (October 26, 2007)
• Lieutenant Michael Murphy, U.S. Seal
  "The World Needs Heroes -"
  (October 22, 2007)

American Civilians

• "Bruce Maloy, Thank You"
  (March 13, 2009)
• "Dog Tags for Kids: That's One Good Idea"
  (December 26, 2008)
• Former President Jimmy Carter
  (starting April 9, 2008)
  • "News Never Revealed Inside the US! Reality Check, Please"
    (April 22, 2008)
  • "Jimmy Carter, Condoleezza Rice, and Paying Attention"
    (April 22, 2008)
  • "Carter the Peacemaker: Carter-Hamas Talks Bring Hope of Peace!"
    (April 19, 2008)
  • "Former President Carter's Peace Trip: What You See Depends on Where You Stand"
    (April 19, 2008)
  • "Carter Meetings Proof: Hamas a National Liberation Movement! Reality Check, Please"
    (April 19, 2008)
  • "Terrorists, Shmerrorists: I'm Here for Peace, Man!
    Jimmy Carter and Khalid Meshaal Meeting Today"
    (April 18, 2008)
  • "Former President Carter, Hamas, Khalid Meshaal: Definitely Not Routine"
    (April 17, 2008)
  • "Hugs and Kisses: To Hamas, From Former President Carter"
    (April 15)
  • "Jimmy Carter and the Blogosphere"
    (April 11, 2008)
  • "Khaled Meshaal, Jimmy Carter, and the News: Why the 24 Hour Delay?"
    (April 10, 2008)
  • "Khaled Meshaal; Jimmy Carter; Common Sense: Which of These Doesn't Match the Other Two?"
    (April 10, 2008)
  • "Jimmy Carter's Mid East Jaunt"
    (April 9, 2008)
• "Peach Bottom Nuclear Plant: Security was the Pits"
  (February 28, 2008)
• " 'Cowboy Diplomacy' and 'Live Long and Prosper' "
  (October 29, 2007)

Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan

• "Bhutto's Assassination Anniversary: Claims, Wild and Otherwise"
  (December 27, 2008)
• " 'Democracy is the Best Revenge' "
  (September 6, 2008)
• "Bhutto: A Son of bin Laden Planned My Death"
  (February 3, 2008)
• "Bhutto Assassination: Gun = Government Involvement?" (January 2, 2008)
• "Pakistan and the Bhutto Assassination: A New-and-Improved Official Explanation"
  (January 1, 2008)
• "Pakistan is not America"
  (December 30, 2007)
• "Brave Words, Prudent Words"
  (December 30, 2007)
• "After Benazir Bhutto: Grassroots Looters, Official spinmeisters"
  (December 28, 2007)
• "Pyrrhic Victory, Anyone? Another Thought on the Bhutto Assassination"
  (December 28, 2007)
• "Al Qaeda: We Killed Bhutto"
  (December 28, 2007)
• "Benazir Bhutto's Assassination and Nawaz Sharif's Near-Miss: It Could be Worse"
  (December 27, 2007)
• "Benzir Bhutto, June 21, 1953 – December 27, 2007"
  (December 27, 2007)
• "Pakistani Government Promises Objective Investigation of its Involvement in Bhutto Assassination Attempt"
  (October 22, 2007)
• "Bhutto, Bombs, and Curious Coincidences"
  (October 19, 2007)
  
• "'Long Live Bhutto' Banner: Why English?"
  (October 19, 2007)
  
• "Pakistan Politics: Bhutto Bombed"
  (October 18, 2007)

The Holy Father

• "Spiritual Leader of 1,000,000,000 Doesn't Meet With Los Angeles Advocate!"
  (April 15, 2008)
• "Pope Visits America: News and Adequate Coverage"
  (April 15, 2008)
• "Pope Benedict XVI is Coming to America"
  (April 14, 2008)
• "The Pope Comes to America: A Prediction in a Very Catholic Post"
  (April 13, 2008)
• "America is in Good Company: Bin Laden Slams Pope, Too"
  (March 20, 2008)
• " 'Pope attacks Iran at Jewish Congress' "
  (October 13, 2007)
• "Muslim Leaders Call For Dialog! Pope Told "Survival of World" at Stake!!"
  (October 12, 2007)

Iraqi Leaders

• "Ten Iraqi Sheiks Kidnapped: Who's Promoting Islam Here?"
  (October 28, 2007)
• "Stressed-Out by Iraq? You're Not the Only One"
  Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, Sheik Majid Tahir
  (September 16, 2007)

Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

• "Putin, Ahmadinejad, Iran, Syria, Israel: Here We Go Again?"
  (October 18, 2007)
• "Wisdom (?) From Iran: Boycott Peace Conference"
  (October 13, 2007)
• "When Iran's Disappointed, Bad Things Happen"
  (September 29, 2007)
• " 'Quagmire,' the Revolutionary Guard, and the News"
  (August 19, 2007)

Osama bin Laden, from Saudi Arabia

• "Osama bin Laden: Something Old, Something New"
  (October 23, 2007)
• "SITE, Osama bin Laden, and Online Security: What Part of "Secret" Doesn't Washington Understand?"
  (October 9, 2007)
• "القـُدْس - Al Quds - Death to Israel, Death to America, and All That"
  (October 6, 2007)
• "Osama bin Laden, Superstar!"
  (September 11, 2007)
• "Osama bin Laden: Media Star"
  (September 10, 2007)
• "When Osama Talks, People Listen"
  (September 8, 2007)
• "Bin Laden's New Video"
  (September 7, 2007)
• "Muslims Fear American Attack, Global Survey Finds!!!"
  (July 27, 2007)

Stanislav Petrov, the man who saved the world

• "Common Sense Knows No Boundaries: Neither does Bureaucratic Vindictiveness"
  (February 14, 2008)

Pakistan, the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Nuclear Weapons

Here's something to think about.

Pakistan has

• Nuclear Weapons
• Missiles that can carry nuclear weapons
  (the Ghuari has a range of perhaps 1,500 kilometers, or 1,000 miles)
• Muslim tribes in its outland whose leaders sometimes support the Taliban, and sometimes are the Taliban

Granted, Pakistan may not have nuclear devices much more powerful than the 25 to 36 kiloton devices they had in 1998. That's not much, compared to the 100 megaton H-bombs that turned islands into craters in the Pacific.

But let's remember that the bomb that made Hiroshima famous was a 15 kiloton nuclear bomb.

So, what if some collection of suicide bombers managed to kill Bhutto, convince some of Pakistan's leadership that the Taliban / Al Qaeda version of Islam was right, and kill the rest?

We'd have a bunch of jihadists who wouldn't have to bother with developing nuclear weapons: They'd have them in stock. With the missiles to deliver them.

Pleasant dreams.

Bhutto, Bombs, and Curious Coincidences

The blame game has started, after the Bhutto Bombing in Karachi, Pakistan. CBS News said that it looked like Al Qaeda was gunning for Former (and maybe future) Prime Minister Benezir Bhutto, when they heard that she was heading back to Pakistan.

Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban commander and bigwig in his tribe's territory on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, said that he'd meet Bhutto with suicide bombers. That at least one suicide bomber had a blast in Karachi, an associate of his says the Taliban wasn't involved.

Bhutto thinks there may have been some combination of four groups involved in the attack:

• Taliban elements
• Al-Qaeda
• Pakistani Taliban
  (I'm not sure what the distinction is)
• "A fourth -- a group -- I believe from Karachi," she said

Sounds like the street in Karachi was a sort of shooting gallery, with bombs instead of BB guns.

Pakistani security types say that Bhutto should have stuck to their plan of flying to her speech by helicopter.

With 20-20 hindsight, it's obvious that a helicopter ride would have avoided the street-level attack. On the other hand, helicopters have been known to fall out of the sky, too.

It's 'way too early to know exactly what happened, but the Karachi police seem to be piecing together the evidence. There was at least one suicide bomber: a young man who first lobbed a grenade, and 22 seconds later blew himself up next to a truck.

The bomber's head landed near the rest of the wreckage, and was taken to a forensics lab. Karachi police hope to figure out who he was.

There was a police presence around Bhutto's convoy, including the van that helped shield her from the biggest blast. On the other hand, a broadcast news report said that there was a rather light distribution of police around the route.

Which might help explain why it took the convoy 10 hours to go through Karachi.

Bhutto didn't blame the Pakistani government, but said that individuals in the government might be involved. This isn't as crazy as it sounds. Karachi street lighting failed at sunset, and Bhutto's people couldn't call the national security adviser. Phone service wasn't working, either.

Sometimes conincidences are just that: "A sequence of events that although accidental seems to have been planned or arranged." (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition).

Sometimes, though, there are cause-effect links.

Pakistan isn't up to American standards of telecommunications, but they're not doing too badly in the major cities. And, one of the country's three international gateway exchanges is in Karachi - which shows that the major port city isn't a backwater.

Pakistan's national power agency, NEPRA, gives the impression that the Pakistani power grid is in pretty good shape. A claim I take with a grain of salt.

Just the same, I think it's odd that street lights go out and phone service failing in an Islamic country, just as the convoy of a woman who is likely to become president passes through town. With a light police presence.

Related posts, on Individuals and the War on Terror.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.

"Long Live Bhutto" Banner: Why English?

I wondered about the "Long Live Bhutto" banner - in English - in photos

• After the explosions, sorting survivors out from parts of people, cars, and trucks.
• Later, with more of the fires out, still picking up bodies

My first thought was that the banner was intended for an English-speaking audience, probably the UK, the Commonwealth, or America. The Commonwealth was my best bet, since Pakistan is a member, again: I think. That country has popped in and out a couple of times.

A little checking showed that English is an official language of Pakistan:

48% Punjabi
12% Sindhi
10% Siraiki (Punjabi, with differences)
 8% Pashtu
 8% Urdu (an official language)
 3% Balochi
 2% Hindko
 1% Brahui
    English (also an official language, and 
    the lingua franca of Pakistani elite 
    and most government ministries)
 8% Burushaski and other languages

So, that banner is most likely a symbol of pan-Pakistani support, more than an effort to get on the evening news.

Related posts, on Individuals and the War on Terror.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.