YOUR FLY IS OPEN!
Just curious -- does AQ's claim give you any pause whatsoever, or are you so wedded to spinning conspiracies that you'll let nothing stand in your way?
Well, since I suspect Musharraf may be working with AQ, as you call them, behind the scenes, nothing would surprise me, Mick, but I think Mr. Conspiracy may well be on to something here.
Honestly, Mick, I don't know. I did think that the first thing you'd say, before mentioning Al Qaeda, is that Bhutto was no saint, so you surprised me there.
Wasn't she removed TWICE from office for corruption?
Her husband's corruption, from what I read today.
I'm going with the ISI and militant Islamists working together.Both benefit from Bhutto's assasination. For ISI, they get rid of Bhutto who was an enemy and they get to blame the whole operation on Islamic radicals (which means more money from the US). The assasination pushes the secularist parties towards radicalization as well, giving Musharraf the right to clamp down on opposition. The ISI is betting it can keep the Islamists in check.
The Islamists benefit because Bhuttos death creates a power vacuum which it will attempt to fill. Bhutto's party is in disarray and will not be able to stop Musharraf from suspending the upcoming elections. Bhutto's party will go into the streets and riot. The security forces over react, violence gets out of control, and the Islamists get a free hand to undermine Musharraf's government. While I don't think the Islamists will over throw the Pakistani government in the near term, they will continue to consolidate their power and form more autonomous states within the Pakistan. Who knows how long it will be for Pakistan to become a completely failed state. A year, two, five?
PS-I have no doubt Bhutto was corrupt. But this is Pakistan so everything is relative.
This link may prove helpful.
Islam is much more complicated than the simple Jihad death to heaven. To murder a woman dishonors and prevents entry to heaven.
However Muhammad was quoted as saying "people with a female ruler would never be successful". SoI guess one could look at it as an honor killing for family, if one is felt wronged.
My cynicism says a third group neither connected with Islam, Mursharraf or Bhutto decided to stir the pot.
Here's her obit in the NYT.
She wasn't exactly as good as NPR suggests.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/
2...ref=todayspaper
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