A couple of weeks ago some of the management team were discussing whether Webdiary should take a few weeks off over summer. I was reluctant, and flippantly said, "What if there's another tsunami?"
So today we have another assassination, one which has potential to destabilise even more a volatile part of an increasingly volatile world. A few moments ago I heard an interesting BBC interview with Tariq Ali which I shall try to link later; in the meantime, here are some comments on Mrs Bhutto, then over to you for discussion.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has condemned the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
...
Mr Rudd said Ms Bhutto was campaigning "resolutely" for democracy in the lead up to the country's January 8 polls.
"Despite a previous attempt to assassinate her on her return to Pakistan in October and the shocking loss of over a hundred lives in that attempt, Benazir Bhutto refused to bow to intimidation and the continuing threat to her life," Mr Rudd said in a statement.
"Throughout her life, Benazir Bhutto showed great courage and defiance in her resistance to extremism."
Mr Rudd said the people behind Ms Bhutto's murder must be stopped and called for a return to democracy.
"The extremists behind this attack cannot be allowed to succeed," he said.
"I urge all parties in Pakistan to act with restraint and to work for a return to a peaceful democratic process.
"It is my hope that a democratic Pakistan will be Benazir Bhutto's legacy."
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Benazir Bhutto was killed by "cowards afraid of democracy" Thursday as he led tributes to the slain politician in Britain, where she studied and spent part of her exile.
Brown said Bhutto's death was "a sad day for democracy" and "a tragic hour for Pakistan".
He said Bhutto was a "woman of immense personal courage and bravery".
"She risked everything in her attempt to win democracy in Pakistan and she has been assassinated by cowards afraid of democracy," Brown said.
"This atrocity strengthens our resolve that terrorists will not win there, here or anywhere in the world."
Foreign Secretary David Miliband called for "restraint but also unity" following her assassination after a rally in Rawalpindi.
Opposition politicians in Britain also condemned the killing.
"This is an appalling act of terrorism," said Conservative leader David Cameron. "Today Pakistan has lost one of its bravest daughters.
"Those responsible have not only murdered a courageous leader but have put at risk hopes for the country's return to democracy."
Nick Clegg, the newly-elected leader of the Liberal Democrats, added: "Her tragic death is a hammer blow against the dream of pluralism and tolerance in modern day Pakistan."
Bhutto studied at Oxford University and spent some time in London, where she had a home, during an eight-year self-imposed exile which ended with her return to Pakistan in October.
She also had a strong following among the hundreds of thousands of British residents who still have ties to Pakistan.
Bhutto's friends in Britain, including some in high public office, were stunned by the death and expressed fears for Pakistan's future.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw described her as "a personal friend".
"Benazir comes from an extraordinary political dynasty in Pakistan, a dynasty which has been all too acquainted with tragedy," he said.
"She will be sorely missed."
Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali, a senior figure in the Anglican Church, also counted her as a friend and said her death "raises serious questions about the government's ability to provide security for its citizens".
Rehman Christi, a former aide and family friend of Bhutto, remembered her as among the "brightest politicians in Pakistan's history who offered the masses hope and inspiration", in an interview with Sky News television.
He added that she had left a letter with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and the Foreign Office in London naming three individuals who "posed a risk to her safety".
"She knew the risks but her country needed her, she needed to go back to bring stability to Pakistan," he said.
"She knew there were risks but for the greater good of the country she went back to Pakistan and now has paid for that with her life."
Munib Anwar, a member of the Pakistan Lawyers' Action Committee pressure group, wept as he said it was "a very sad day" for Pakistan.
"She was such a brave woman. The hopes for a democratic Pakistan have been dashed today," he said.
"She was the one great hope for Pakistan. Where are we now?
"I do not have any hope for the future."
Amit Roy, a writer and political commentator who was a friend of Bhutto, said that in one of his last conversations with her, he had joked that she should leave politics and become an academic.
"But she felt that it was always her ambition to return to Pakistan as prime minister. She knew the risks but was determined to stay," he said.
"The elections should go ahead but they might have to be postponed for a while because emotions will be running very high.
"It might be logistically impossible to have them at the moment."
Meanwhile, London-based human rights group Amnesty International condemned the killing, but called on President Pervez Musharraf to respect the rule of law and not curb civil liberties.
"Amnesty International calls on President Musharraf -- and on the security forces -- to exercise restraint and uphold the rule of law," Amnesty's Asia-Pacific Programme Director Catherine Barber said.
"The killing of Benazir Bhutto must not be allowed to become a setback to civilian governance or indeed lead to a further crackdown on civil liberties."
Who will be believed?
I did say I wouldn't believe 'eyewitness reports' of such an event!
The question is, do we believe the Doctor?
If he is telling the truth, then the other reports are worth reading just to get a measure of how far off the wall so-called reputable journalists/media are prepared to go.
Agreed, Peter
I agree with you, Peter Hindrup. Perhaps in time the truth will out.
Andrew Buncombe for The Independent (UK) is now reporting Government puts blame on al-Qai'da and a sun-roof lever:
He's also reporting that Pakistani authorities say there were shots fired at Bhutto:
Shearer - Bhutto: Is the War of Fog Beginning?
Harry Shearer blogging for The Huffington Post:
Barely twenty-four hours after her assassination, Benazir Bhutto, whose corporeal remains were buried in Rawalpindi, may have had her less tangible remains inserted firmly into Karachi's spin machine. Today we're told by the Pakistani government's Interior Minister that Ms. Bhutto was not hit by any of the gunshots fired at her, but rather, the fatal blow was oddly self-administered, as she hit her head on part of the car frame as the vehicle attempted to speed away from the attack.
Interesting, except for one detail left oddly unexplained by the new scenario: dozens of accounts from yesterday quoted witnesses, as in this example from Australia:
Blood poured from her head, and she never regained consciousness.
You don't need to be a CSI viewer to know that those two accounts don't mesh very well. An AP report quotes the surgeon who treated her as saying she died of "a shrapnel wound and was not shot." Shrapnel would suggest an artifact of the bomb, and would also put the "blood poured" account into doubt. How to untangle all this? An autopsy. Uh-oh. Also in the AP report:
Soomro, the prime minister, told the Cabinet on Friday that Bhutto's husband did not allow an autopsy, according to a government statement.
Well, that's that, then.
Benazir died of head injuries: Doctors
Sify news (India) reports that the doctors at Rawalpindi General Hospital who tried to save Benazir Bhutto's life have said that she had been hit in the head by shrapnel from the suicide bomb attack and that there were no bullet wounds on her body.
So was there a sharp shooter on a motorcycle as reported earlier? Were shots fired at all? If they were, who was doing the shooting?
Who Killed Bhutto: Alternative theories
Ken Silverstein for Harper's Magazine:
Silverstein also shares the "very interesting thoughts" of a former U.S. intelligence official.
Pakistan accuses al-Qaeda of killing Bhutto
Robert Birsel reports for Reuters that Pakistan accuses al-Qaeda of killing Bhutto:
Will we ever get to see "solid evidence"?
Cause of death?
No autopsy was performed or requested according to reports. And the claim is that there were no bullet wounds and that the fatal injury was caused by either shrapnel or the sunroof of Ms Bhutto's vehicle.
And:
Another report.
So, changing accounts of the cause of death. How difficult will determining who was responsible be? Referring back to an link from Craig, not only perceptions but also spin is important.
More discussion ;
DemocracyNow! interviews Tariq Ali and Manan Ahmed.
Juan Cole.
Sandip Roy.
Cowards, afraid of democracy?
Al-Qaeda did it. Wonder which meeting place it was? Speed kills, and if you are not good the bogy man will get you! Bhutto was pro American. The way the yanks have been treating and demonising the Moslem world and the threats they have made, suggests to me that the woman would have had innumerable enemies, and that without the directly party political.
I would have thought that if anybody opened fire with an AK47 there would have been mention of ‘a hail of bullets’. That said, with the shooting and the explosion in rapid succession I wouldn’t put too much credence upon any ‘eyewitness report.
Footage on the TV news showed a pistol, with the surmise that it was the weapon used, but how would they know? While we do not know what weapon was used, from at what range, speculation is not very useful, but assuming it was a military weapon, excluding a light calibre pistol, there will have been no bullet to find. Nor in spite of Jenny’s doubts, would it have been a difficult shot. Neck and chest, easy. Assume that the neck shot was a bit high.
Now for the ‘coward bit’. For some reason it has become fashionable to depict anybody prepared to strap explosives to their body, and denotate those explosives as cowardly. Or to depict the action as a cowardly act.
I could well be mistaken, but I do not remember ever having read or heard that the Japanese suicide pilots were cowardly. Nor do I ever remember hearing the various allied squads that took part in ‘suicide missions’ described as cowards.
Incredibly it is not ‘cowardly’ to reduce a city to rubble with rockets launched from far beyond the reaches of those who lived in the city, armed, and unarmed alike. Nor is it branded cowardly to bomb defencless people from the air, or to knock their house down with tanks protected by air cover, and slaughter ‘suspected terrorists’.
It was not branded cowardly to slaughter the Iraqis fleeing in disarray from their ill conceived attack on Kuwait.
Nor have I ever seen the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki described as cowardly. There are people fighting for their way of life, people facing overwhelming superior weaponry, who fight with what little they have, and yet when they attack, facing certain death in their attempt to get their explosives to their target, they are branded ‘cowards’!
Strange, but I would brand those flying overhead all but out of reach of their victims, or those in a tank up against rifles and stones as being the cowards.
Jenny, you remind me of long years ago when I, an innocent in Kuala Lumpur, was taken by the company boss as he went to renew his licence for a cartridge-powered nail gun.
There in the police station the price of the licence and the bribe were stated. As he was about to hand over the money I protested vehemently. Told to shut up, when we got outside it was explained to me that yes, they didn’t have the pay the bribe, but if they didn’t, the paperwork wouldn’t be in order, it would be lost, they would have no record of ever having received such an application, in fact they would have no record that the company ever had a licence for a nail gun and that it was required that the gun be surrendered, and about the time that the next renewal was due, they would finally get things sorted.
The other lesson was that despite the apparent harmony one didn’t have to scratch very hard to find deep and bitter hostility. Numerous times I sat while plans for an armed uprising were discussed. Finally I asked why instead of talking didn’t they do something, and it was pointed out, very reasonably, that it was the Malay paramilitary who were armed, while alas, they had no weapons. To my reply that that was easily fixed, we simply .....
Ah, my stout hearted conspirators vanished like the morning mist, and for a time I was avoided as assiduously as I had previously been courted.
Other views
A tragedy born of military despotism and anarchy
Michael de Angelos, I haven't been able to find a link to the BBC interview, but the following article by Tariq Ali from today's Guardian covers everything he said this morning and then some:
Expected
I always thought it would end like this. I hope Imran Khan just stays under house arrest and gives up the idea of a political career. I doubt he'd stay alive long.
Many groups claim credit after an event like this. Who can you believe? Who benefits the most?.
Wouldn't mind that Tariq Ali link Fiona if you come across it. Always interested to hear what he has to say.
Who Stands to Gain?
Michael de Angelos: "Many groups claim credit after an event like this. Who can you believe? Who benefits the most?"
The last is a good question, and always the first one asked by detectives in a murder investigation. The Army, or at least a section of it, may be presumed guilty until proven innocent. The main political thrust must now be towards a military dictatorship.
What I will be looking for in the days to come is signs of division in the Army. If that does not happen then nuclear Pakistan is going the way of Burma. Not a good look at all.
"I always thought it would end like this. I hope Imran Khan just stays under house arrest and gives up the idea of a political career. I doubt he'd stay alive long."
No doubt the same though has crossed Imran Khan's mind. The more recognised and popular any candidate in the forthcoming election is, the more likely they are to be assassinated. If we take the attempts on Pervez Musharaf's life as genuine, and I see no reason not to, then whatever authority operates in Pakistan is going to increasingly have to do so from the inside of bomb shelters and bullet-proof cars.
A terrible situation, with no obvious or easy answer.
Benazir murdered: what next?
Kanishk Tharoor in Benazir murdered: what next? published by openDemocracy:
Why would one expect to "soon uncover claims of responsibility [by al-Qaeda] for the attack"? Why would it "make for invaluable propaganda"? If a huge number of Pakistani people were pro-Bhutto, then wouldn't al-Qaeda claiming responsibility for her murder result in hardening attitudes against al-Qaeda? Wouldn't it potentially soften opposition to Musharraf, particularly if he now promises to provide more support to US forces trying to hunt down al-Qaeda?
Maybe I am also a thief
Jenny, everyone is a thief. Everyone is corrupt. Maybe I am also a thief
- PF
Give credit where credit is due
No-one should attempt to sweep unpalatable facts about the murdered Benazir Bhutto under the carpet. However, even if the stories are corruption are true, and even we are able to find considerable other fault with Benazir Bhutto, we still need to give credit where credit is due. She undertook a terrible personal risk in order to help restore a semblance of secular democracy to Pakistan and, tragically, her luck ran out.
Al Qaeda claims Bhutto killing?
Syed Saleem Shahzad for the Asia Times Online:
Richard, I need to know more before accepting this claim without doubt. Particularly as it doesn't make sense for al-Qaeda to claim responsibility so quickly.
Aren't we always told that al-Qaeda want to cause chaotic conditions in Pakistan and elsewhere?
Confusion breeds chaotic conditions; clarification by claiming responsibility for the killing is likely to curtail some of the confusion.
It makes more sense for al-Qaeda to make the most of confusion within the Pakistani population as to who is actually responsible for the killing.
It makes more sense for al-Qaeda to feed popular sentiment that Musharraf is somehow responsible and foster the anger already being directed against Musharraf.
So I need to know more before accepting this claim without doubt.
magic bullets from "suicide bomber"
Hi Craig, you and Richard may be interested in this time line. I always find RAW and its assets very "in" on the actual event timelines such as this.
Note the "two men with AK47."
How few MSM reporting the shooting part of the attack. That in itself is revealing. I suppose next there will be magic bullets.
Cheers
Richard: I've read somewhere of the two bullets, one being in the neck (haven't tried to substantiate yet) but this is the first I've seen about the attack being a multiple-person operation. Obviously it's the same for you, Angela? Well spotted!
The smoking gun?
Attack carried out with precision?
The Economic Times (India) reports that it was an attack carried out with precision:
Can al-Qaeda training camps turn out men capable of such an operation?
The Wayang
Where Bhutto's Death Leaves the U.S. - Up the proverbial creek without a paddle, as usual.
- Washington will have to answer a lot of questions, especially the Administration," he says. "People like me have been making specific requests to American officials to intervene and ask for particular security arrangements be made for her, and they have been constantly just trusting the Musharraf Administration."
Furthermore, Bush said: ""The United States strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy. Those who committed this crime must be brought to justice." There are more shadow puppet plays (The Wayang) in Pakistan than all of Indonesia. So Bush thought they should try to catch the shadow and brought it to justice. This guy is more stupid than I thought.
Bhutto blames Musharraf in email - Benazir Bhutto blamed President Pervez Musharraf for failing to protect her in the volatile months preceding her assassination, in an email she asked to be released if she was murdered.
Corruption
Fiona, you note that there was widespread corruption under Benazir Bhutto.
If there was one thing that was patently clear to me soon after I arrived in that country is that if you are not prepared to bribe, even for small things, then you can go whistle for whatever it is you are seeking. And that was before either of the Bhuttos. I would think that corruption has long been endemic in that country as it has been in many others in the region, and is at all levels of society and government.
For instance, if I did not make a payment of some sort to the postman, I did not get my letters. If I did not offer money to the man on the door of the hostel when I got home after curfew, I could find myself locked out. If I paid a sum of money in dollars to a certain person I could get an air ticket to London half fare, but marked full fare.
Wages were so small it is not surprising officials sought to augment them in that sort of way. I doubt much has changed.
Wherever there is poverty combined with political and social instability there you will always find widespread corruption, from the top down. And not only under those circumstances as we all know.
I doubt that under Benazir Bhutto it was any worse than it was under her predecessors, or her successors, but that is only an opinion.
De Mortibus?
Frankly, in my view, the woman was a crook but I would have preferred to see her given a fair trial and convicted if guilty. Then again, she might have been a little wary of that process given the trial her father had.
What you do not say, PF Journey, and it may simply be because you were concentrating on the immediate, is that most of the world's current problems have been caused by an English foreign policy developed by the Normans. First they tried it in France, then they tried it in Ireland, then the Middle East, then the sub-continent. Partition rather than petition; divide and disrule.
The foreign policy that has always been pursued by successive regimes in the White House isn't much better but it simply builds on a bad start.
That's why I'm perfectly happy to concentrate on solving domestic problems and let the rest of the world go hang. I have great sympathy for Paul Eddington's comment that he would like to be remembered for having done little harm.
That's humanity as far as I'm concerned.
Who did it? The army or the Islamists?
From Irfan Husain's Pakistan: the election and after (published a few weeks ago on openDemocracy):
Richard:: What do you think, Craig, that the assassination does for or against US regional interests? I'm keeping a tight rein on my thoughts at the moment.
G'day Richard
G'day Richard, my thinking on that question at present is reflected in the way Joby Warrick and Thomas E. Ricks ended their piece for the Washington Post:
Next Move?
Keeping James' sensible warning in mind, it's still worth looking at these words from Chistopher Hitchens:
[extract]
Surely, Craig, if the Islamists (supported by Pakistani government agents, Hitchens thinks) were involved, they'd know full well the possible impacts of the act? It's much harder to win a game when you've lost your queen, but not impossible.
Let's hope that shock doctors can be held in check this time
Howard supplanted
Following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the country’s ‘ex-military’ president Pervez Musharraf has achieved a national opprobrium matched only by former Australian prime minister John Howard.
Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif has denounced Musharraf as the source of “all the problems confronting the nation.”
Strange, but I seem to recall it was Bhutto’s corruption-mired prime ministership that helped tip her country into the spiral of instability that culminated in the ascendancy of the military under Musharraf.
The slaying of Bhutto is, of course, to be unconditionally condemned. Quite arguably, however, Musharraf is a prominent symptom of a deeper malaise.
Chicken or egg?
Jacob, I don't think there's too much doubt that there was tremendous corruption in Pakistan under Benazir Bhutto, particularly during her second term as prime minister. Then again, her immediate predecessor General Zia ul-Haq was not exactly a paragon of virtue, even if his regime can be more properly characterised in terms of brutality and disregard of the rule of law.
Nevertheless, as PF Journey has so rightly pointed out, the ills that beset Pakistan (and many other countries) have their roots in the arrogant stupidity of its former colonial rulers. Just a little bit of history repeating.
another crime wave by the usual tsunami produstion crew
Poor lady.
Guess this time she wasn't in an armoured vehicle and down below at the time.
Interesting how accurate someone from outside a bullet proof car can be – a head and neck shot.
Wonder if the bullet is already taken away .Wonder what the angle was.
Less like Gandhi, more like a Bali/JFK.
Now with the "bombing" being prominently reported (few talk of the incredible shooting prowess and luck) we have an excuse for an anti-Islamic fundamentalist crackdown by the military puppet (as in Indonesia) who was about to lose control and the excuses for the US forces to come in and "help" to catch those who "killed" Ms Bhutto and regain control the nuke arsenal, and if India and those who dislike Islamic states are lucky there will be anarchy and descent into further cave age as previously promised by certain neocons.
Of course there is always the "who will inherit the 3 billion or so missing monies?" Nice motive that.
Alas. Another crime wave by the same criminals.
Cheers
Pointless, pointless
There was no Pakistan. It was India, India and India for thousand of years, until the Colonials came and the ugly face of religion surfaced and exploited. The parallels between the dynasty of Gandhi and the dynasty of Bhutto are uncanny. Now, the first heir of both dynasties have been assassinated in the same way. Rajiv Gandhi in May 1999 and now Benazir.
The moment just before the assassination.
The aftermath
Kevin was 'Home alone' and Ruddites snooze through crisis
Kevin 'Paul' Rudd's statement regarding the tragic assassination of Ms Bhutto was finally issued at about 8.00am this morning. This was hours and hours after other world leaders condemned the murder, including the President of the United States, and the Prime Ministers of India and the United Kingdom.
Given we have troops on the front line in that region of the world, and that we are in 'Paul' Rudd's words, 'in for the long haul' up there, I would have hoped for a statement with a bit more substance and perhaps showing a greater sense of urgency and due timeliness.
Or didn't he get woken up with the news until 8.00?
I'm told the Seven Network newsroom (amongst others) were this morning were openly expressing frustration with the Prime Minister's staff's inability to come forward with a statement about this terrifying regional political development.
The involvement of a suicide bomber, coming after a series of al-Quaeda style attacks in Pakistan in recent weeks, tends in my view to suggest Islamist involvement in this attempt to further destabilise a nuclear armed Muslim nation.
Particularly given Ms Bhutto's pro-western credentials and the fact that she was a woman.
Though, of course, we shouldn't exclude the possibility that pro-Government army security elements may have been involved. Not that there's much difference, either, between the Pakistani security forces and the Taliban.
ELIZABETH REGINA II GRABS THE KNOB OF DESTINY AND TUGS FURIOUSLY
ERR I'm told the Seven Network newsroom (amongst others) were this morning were [sic] openly expressing frustration with the Prime Minister's staff's inability to come forward with a statement
Geez, now the slimy Seven network is our bloody yardstick. We'll be calling on the Bush Shite House Press Room or the Spotty Herbert Howard Boy doing Republican Party work experience, next.
Get a grip, ER. Has it occurred to you that the PM was asleep in a pool of blood, broken glass and vomit just inside the door of the Liberal Party HQ?
Of course it has, but you didn't want to say it. What's stopping you, little Defender of the Faithful Liberal Partyline? Gnat got yer tongue? And other offensive jibes.
Rabbi Dr Jihad Jacques Woodforde, OAM
Poor fellow Pakistan
I remember the hope of so many Pakistanis when I was a student there back in '69 and martial law, which had been in force for two years, was to end with elections. Bhutto won that election and I remember the euphoria in the country, especially amongst the students on the campus.
It was not to last. And now, forty years on, it has come to this. I cannot help but think of all those young women who were my dear friends and realise how much they must now grieve for their country. Shahina, Nasreen, Saeda, Perveen. I remember so vividly how we would sit under the stars, huddled together on a canvas bed, and you would talk of your dreams for a free and happy life for yourselves and the children you hoped to have.
I am sad for you all today. Poor fellow Pakistan.