The Day The Lady Died
As many news outlets have been reporting, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was was assassinated Thursday evening (Pakistan local time) after a political rally in Rawalpindi, a city just to the south of the capital of Islamabad, and is the headquarters of the Pakistani army. It was also the site of the assassination of the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan. After hours of debate and investigation, the cause of her death was not the usual shrapnel or bullet wound but high speed blunt force trauma, which is a kind of fancy way of saying she smashed her head on the top of the car she was riding in after it was rocked by the explosion triggered by a suicide bomber. And with her, one of the best hopes for a more democratic Pakistan died as well. But, like the phoenix, her death may also rekindle a new fire for democratic reform.
All over the Middle East, Muslim world and really the whole world are reacting very strongly to her death. The reactions from world leaders ranged from the deeply personal, as in Romano Prodi of Italy's reaction to the purely political, as in President George W. Bush's reaction, to the kind of bizarre, as in Israeli Prime Minister Ehuld Olmert's response that called her both heroic and backhandedly slammed Pakistanis, or Muslims, as people with whom Israel's ties "are naturally limited". The world has cried out in sadness about the death Prime Minister Bhutto. She was seen as a guiding light in the Muslim world, as both a woman and a moderate political force. She was elected twice by the people of Pakistan, considered to be a very Muslim country. She lived in exile, until her recent return to try and make a run for the Presidency of Pakistan. She was running, mostly, against current President Musharraf, who had the support of the Army, as well as most of the political apparati of the country.
Of course, speculation has run rampant and, no doubt, the conspiracy theorists are out in force. Pakistan has claimed they have evidence pointing to al-Qaeda being responsible for Bhutto's death. The United States has pointed to Taliban leaders and other opposition candidates in Pakistan have pointed to Musharraf, since he has the most to gain and military power is centered in the city. Oh and Bhutto herslef said to blame him if she were killed. And then there have been violent riots all over Pakistan that have, as of this writing, left almost three dozen dead. Odds are, it was some kind of Muslim extremists, but the odd thing is that there have been no standard claims of responsibility by Al-Qaeda. The Pakistanis claim they have an internal e-mail from al-Qaeda members to each other congratulating each other on a job well done. One of the best bets has been that a Taliban leader named Baitullah Mehsud, since he was behind the October 19 bombing that killed 120 people.
But, yeah, the locals are starting to ask why wasn't anyone else in the car hurt. They are also claiming she was shot twice, once in the head and once in the abdomen, so watch for Zappruder film like dissections to be applied to every scrap of footage showing Bhutto's last moments. But the government is also saying that Mahsud is an al-Qaeda member, instead of a local tribal leader, Taliban style. Which may be the most telling detail of all, each side portraying the villains as whomever their enemies are. Opposition party wants to smear Musharraf, so they blame him. The United States wants to blame the Taliban, so as to take away focus from our failures with Al-Qaeda. Pakistan wants to blame Al-Qaeda since there are Taliban loyalists in the Pakistani government and they can't be isolated, politically speaking.
But, alas, not all the news is bad nor should it all be doom and gloom. The main thing to remember is that martyrs have a funny way of being more important in death than they were in life. Take the assassination of Lebanese politician Rafik Hariri and the protests that followed. It led to elections being held, the so-called Cedar Revolution that led to stronger anti-Lebanon feelings and policies. Granted, it led to more terrorism, as well, but it had the effect of democracy taking hold. Or at least, the average person rejected what had been seen as "the way things are" in Lebanon, notably Syria running Lebanon's government. Although people had resented it for years, they didn't feel the need to fight back against it until Hariri's death. The same could be true in Pakistan, this could galvanize people into real democracy and representative government that is not a Musharraf almost-dictatorship. The people loved Bhutto, especially women who feel truly threatened their rights might be taken away or curtailed, as they have been in the outer areas. And with international scrutiny about to come down harder, fairer elections may be on the way.
As someone steps up to fill Bhutto's shoes, and someone or someones will, others will fall in behind them to support them. Yes, there will be a nasty fight about the future of Pakistan, but for the first time it might be a fair fight. Imagine a serious candidate campaigning on anti-Taliban, anti-al-Qaeda and anti-authoritarian policies and being the popular candidate. It's everything we wanted, as Americans, for the Pakistanis to have, but in the worst possible way. But, Thomas Jefferson said "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Bhutto was clearly a patriot, and it is likely that in retribution some tyrants's blood will follow. This won't be war, but it will be trouble. Average person doesn't like their favorite political types getting assassinated. Even more so as Muslim extremists won't take well to others killing women. While they won't act against their brothers in arms, they may stop fully supporting them.
And an enemy divided against the will of the people will never do well.
So it is written, so do I see it.
All over the Middle East, Muslim world and really the whole world are reacting very strongly to her death. The reactions from world leaders ranged from the deeply personal, as in Romano Prodi of Italy's reaction to the purely political, as in President George W. Bush's reaction, to the kind of bizarre, as in Israeli Prime Minister Ehuld Olmert's response that called her both heroic and backhandedly slammed Pakistanis, or Muslims, as people with whom Israel's ties "are naturally limited". The world has cried out in sadness about the death Prime Minister Bhutto. She was seen as a guiding light in the Muslim world, as both a woman and a moderate political force. She was elected twice by the people of Pakistan, considered to be a very Muslim country. She lived in exile, until her recent return to try and make a run for the Presidency of Pakistan. She was running, mostly, against current President Musharraf, who had the support of the Army, as well as most of the political apparati of the country.
Of course, speculation has run rampant and, no doubt, the conspiracy theorists are out in force. Pakistan has claimed they have evidence pointing to al-Qaeda being responsible for Bhutto's death. The United States has pointed to Taliban leaders and other opposition candidates in Pakistan have pointed to Musharraf, since he has the most to gain and military power is centered in the city. Oh and Bhutto herslef said to blame him if she were killed. And then there have been violent riots all over Pakistan that have, as of this writing, left almost three dozen dead. Odds are, it was some kind of Muslim extremists, but the odd thing is that there have been no standard claims of responsibility by Al-Qaeda. The Pakistanis claim they have an internal e-mail from al-Qaeda members to each other congratulating each other on a job well done. One of the best bets has been that a Taliban leader named Baitullah Mehsud, since he was behind the October 19 bombing that killed 120 people.
But, yeah, the locals are starting to ask why wasn't anyone else in the car hurt. They are also claiming she was shot twice, once in the head and once in the abdomen, so watch for Zappruder film like dissections to be applied to every scrap of footage showing Bhutto's last moments. But the government is also saying that Mahsud is an al-Qaeda member, instead of a local tribal leader, Taliban style. Which may be the most telling detail of all, each side portraying the villains as whomever their enemies are. Opposition party wants to smear Musharraf, so they blame him. The United States wants to blame the Taliban, so as to take away focus from our failures with Al-Qaeda. Pakistan wants to blame Al-Qaeda since there are Taliban loyalists in the Pakistani government and they can't be isolated, politically speaking.
But, alas, not all the news is bad nor should it all be doom and gloom. The main thing to remember is that martyrs have a funny way of being more important in death than they were in life. Take the assassination of Lebanese politician Rafik Hariri and the protests that followed. It led to elections being held, the so-called Cedar Revolution that led to stronger anti-Lebanon feelings and policies. Granted, it led to more terrorism, as well, but it had the effect of democracy taking hold. Or at least, the average person rejected what had been seen as "the way things are" in Lebanon, notably Syria running Lebanon's government. Although people had resented it for years, they didn't feel the need to fight back against it until Hariri's death. The same could be true in Pakistan, this could galvanize people into real democracy and representative government that is not a Musharraf almost-dictatorship. The people loved Bhutto, especially women who feel truly threatened their rights might be taken away or curtailed, as they have been in the outer areas. And with international scrutiny about to come down harder, fairer elections may be on the way.
As someone steps up to fill Bhutto's shoes, and someone or someones will, others will fall in behind them to support them. Yes, there will be a nasty fight about the future of Pakistan, but for the first time it might be a fair fight. Imagine a serious candidate campaigning on anti-Taliban, anti-al-Qaeda and anti-authoritarian policies and being the popular candidate. It's everything we wanted, as Americans, for the Pakistanis to have, but in the worst possible way. But, Thomas Jefferson said "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Bhutto was clearly a patriot, and it is likely that in retribution some tyrants's blood will follow. This won't be war, but it will be trouble. Average person doesn't like their favorite political types getting assassinated. Even more so as Muslim extremists won't take well to others killing women. While they won't act against their brothers in arms, they may stop fully supporting them.
And an enemy divided against the will of the people will never do well.
So it is written, so do I see it.