As most of you know by now, former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday (today) as she left a political rally.
Benazir, despite her charisma and her passion, was a" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen> controversial and, in the eyes of many, a deeply problematic leader, both beloved and reviled, her two administrations marred by corruption. Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was arguably one of the most hated men in the country. (Fatima, Benazir’s niece, explains some of the issues in the WLA interview here.) Yet, however complex the feelings toward her, Benazir belonged to Pakistan, and her death leaves Pakistanis spinning and grief stricken.
Here’s what popular Pakistani blogger Teeth Maestro writes of these confusing moments as they continue to unfold. His words say much about the country’s roiling emotions, and about its attitude toward what it regards as U.S. meddling.
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a suicide attack today in Rawalpindi outside the Liaquatbagh rally she addressed moments earlier. In all honesty, I was never a fan of her style of politics corruption but on hearing this sad news it leaves me and the entire nation in shock, quite literally forgiving her for everything, May Her Soul Rest in Peace.
As the country plunges into chaos with news of riots already afoot throughout Pakistan. Yes we will recover, yes the world will move on, but we will surely remember her ultimate sacrifice for Pakistan.
My analysis of who is to blame may be quite simple as we have been repeating the same thing over and over again – The Americans MUST stop their adventures and infiltrations into other countries and their war on terror has destroyed Afghanistan, Iraq and now Pakistan stands on the edge ready to plummet into darkness. This war on terror is a war of the Americans and NOT our war.
We Pakistanis Plead with the movers and shakers in United States to Please For Gods Sake Leave US ALONE
Here and here and here are a few other links to top Pakistani bloggers. And here also Metroblogging Lahore pleads with everyone to stay home for safety’s sake as the country tips increasingly toward chaos. The words of the bloggers, in many ways, give a much fuller picture of what is going on inside Pakistan than anything you can get from CNN.
This event is loaded with implications for the U.S. and for the world—as well as for Pakistan itself. Naturally, all the presidential candidates, Republicans and Democrats, are rushing to make comments. (More on that later.)
But right now, our hearts simply go out to the Pakistani people in these dark hours.
Another terrible slash across humanity’s history. The United States needs to exit the Middle East. Though there is no feasible firewall to protect us from the extremists, we need to cease trying to inflict our culture on other cultures weighted for hundreds of years with a very different embedded social model. I added more comments in my blog at http://spiritcalling.blog-city.com/. At this hour, the rioting in Pakistan is underway. I echo Celeste’s final comment.
Bill Ardis
Thanks for commenting, Bill. Your voice is appreciated.
I wondered how long it would take for someone to blame Bush. So, the first comment is that we need to pull out our troops, aka “cut-and-run,” leave the terrorists alone to plan more attacks unhindered, abandon U.S. interests and sacrifice our energy supplies, and give democracy a good ol’ kick in the teeth. Thanks, Bill. Your voice is so typical of the left and needs to be heard.
Note that Bill is a computer technical writer, as exemplified by his use of the terms “slash,” “exit,” “firewall,” and “embedded.”
Woody,
We are trying to alter the course a culture that has existed for thousands of years. A no-win for us; Viet Nam again. Meanwhile, we are killing and damaging thousands of young men and women on our side and theirs…and children. Our engagement there is a criminal activity.
Sarcasm is the refuge of the deeply resigned.
Text God Bill, calling U.S. foreign policy “criminal” shows how extreme you are, which is even further than I anticipated. Of course, you added that we are “killing children,” which is a code phrase used by liberals to instill emotion rather than logic and to further disparage our country and its leaders. Here we have a terrible assassination by a terrorist, and you say “we shouldn’t be there,” as if it’s the fault of the U.S.
Democracy was attacked in Bhutto’s murder. Should we say, “Well, let’s just let those people live under murdering, fanaticaly Islamic dictators instead of living in freedom for generations? Do you ever find fault with the terrorists, or are you always finding fault with the U.S.?
The parallel between our presence in the Mideast and our experience in S.E. Asia is the mode of attacks by the left–encouraging our enemies to hang on and continue killing our soldiers by telling them that they will win if they can keep fighting until the Democrats force us to run off.
Your quote about sacrasm means nothing except that you engage in personal attacks to deflect attention brought to your own views. How people express themselves is not as important as what they are expressing, and no lofty quote changes that.
The main issue that we should address is how this will affect the world and U.S. interests. I don’t like the idea of a country with nuclear weapons run by people who aren’t with us.
I’m sure that you’re a nice guy, so don’t take what I said personally. It’s just the way that we have to talk here once the discourse of a “certain liberal” brought down the discussions and necessitated more frankness.