Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

The Pakistani opposition leader was callously assassinated today ([URL="http://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVNews/img2/20071227/450_ap_pakistan2_071227.jpg"]graphic image of the aftermath[/URL]).

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

Very sad indeed. I wonder if Musharraf had a hand in this?

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

[quote=12thMan;397879]Very sad indeed. I wonder if Musharraf had a hand in this?[/quote]

He's playing the "This is a National Tragedy Card" and I doubt we'll ever find out.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

What a shame. This world is a fucked up place. What makes you a) kill someone you don't know for believing differently than you do and b) willing to blow yourself up?

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

I'm hearing that Al Queda may have played a role.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

That wouldn't necessarily be a big surprise... I wonder what the effects of this are going to be...

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

[quote=12thMan;397885]I'm hearing that Al Queda may have played a role.[/quote]

You can blame everything on Al Queda these days. The real question you have to ask is what vested interest do they have in killing Bhutto and are they the primary suspects?

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

An ugly situation bound to get worse.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

[quote=saden1;397888]You can blame everything on Al Queda these days. The real question you have to ask is what vested interest do they have in killing Bhutto and are they the primary suspects?[/quote]

I would say they are the primary suspects, but who knows what they're motive really is.

But it definitely brings more instability to that region.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

Didnt we just allot funds to Pakistan to help secure their borders more effectively? ( i f'ing hate alot of our foreign policy btw)

If i heard the report correctly, then i don't think it's a stretch to assume that played a motivating role in his murder.

Maybe the deal is we take out the competition, or provide the intel and support to execute. And we give a big check, and they help us crack down on border security.

Just ignorantly speculating.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

I don't think that the individuals currently in charge of our foreign policy have anywhere near the skills to manipulate ANY world events through means other than blatant military aggression. I have a hard time believing that anyone other than some radical group is responsible for this. Al Qaeda, or whoever else, it really doesn't matter. Someone was killed for their ideas today and that's a horrible thing.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

[quote=BleedBurgundy;397899]I don't think that the individuals currently in charge of our foreign policy have anywhere near the skills to manipulate ANY world events through means other than blatant military aggression. I have a hard time believing that anyone other than some radical group is responsible for this. Al Qaeda, or whoever else, it really doesn't matter. Someone was killed for their ideas today and that's a horrible thing.[/quote]

Yeah, I get the feeling it was a small radical group. I still think they are ,perhaps, loosely affiliated with Musharraf and/or Al Queda. But still, this will reverberate here in the U.S. as candidates are ramping up for the primaries in the next week or so.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

You are correct about who is likely responsible, ie a fringe group. And i agree with you wholeheartedly about the trajedy of losing another life to an idea. It does go to show you however the power behind an idea. We've built our civilization on ideas. And im sure ive seen more than one movie preaching that a great idea is greater than a single great human life.

And i hesitate to point this out, but i enjoy being the devil's advocate. Our moronic figurehead's top advisor(daddy) ran the the CIA for a few years, and may have a more devious personality than the idiot. Not likely, but don't forget.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

[quote=saden1;397888][B]You can blame everything on Al Queda these[/B] [B]days[/B]. The real question you have to ask is what vested interest do they have in killing Bhutto and are they the primary suspects?[/quote]
im sure this administration will tie the two together. just more reasoning to keep our boys in the middle east. i cant believe the American public hasn't put its collective foot down and called for an end to this craziness

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

[quote=dmek25;397929]im sure this administration will tie the two together. just more reasoning to keep our boys in the middle east. i cant believe the American public hasn't put its collective foot down and called for an end to this craziness[/quote]

the public has put their foot down, congress(dems) keeps allowing the funding to pass through.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

Pulling funding can be tricky. You dont want to pull the rug out from under our deployed troops, and endanger them.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

[quote=Monksdown;397939]Pulling funding can be tricky. You dont want to pull the rug out from under our deployed troops, and endanger them.[/quote]

True and that's been the political tactic Bush has repeatedly employed among other things. Another thing, sometimes Congress will roll other incentives and bills into the funding bill in order to get it passed. For instance, a few months ago there were funds earmarked for Katrina/New Orleans into the funding bill. So many Dems were almost forced to pass it as they didn't want to keep money from flowing into that region.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

why cant the Dem's just say enough is enough? they could force the presidents hand by granting enough money until June, or whenever. that way Bush would have no other choice but to withdraw

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

Yeah, it's impossible to tell what people vote for anymore. They need to keep congress from adding totally unrelated issues onto bills. Make a bill about one thing and one thing only.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

[QUOTE=saden1;397888]You can blame everything on Al Queda these days. The real question you have to ask is what vested interest do they have in killing Bhutto and are they the primary suspects?[/QUOTE]

[URL="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IL29Df01.html"]Looks[/URL] like Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for her death. They had threatened her in the past for her Pro-Western policies. The fact that she was a woman who got involved in politics probably didn't help matters.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

[QUOTE=dmek25;397950]why cant the Dem's just say enough is enough? they could force the presidents hand by granting enough money until June, or whenever. that way Bush would have no other choice but to withdraw[/QUOTE]

It's pretty hard to demand that we leave Iraq when even guys like Rep. Murtha are admitting that we have turned a corner in Iraq. Add that we are coming up on an election year and that the Dems are trying to shake the perception (right or wrong) that they are "soft" and it makes it hard for any Dem to call for cutting the funding off.

But how does Iraq directly relate to Bhutto's assasination?

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

[quote=Sheriff Gonna Getcha;398020][URL="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IL29Df01.html"]Looks[/URL] like Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for her death. They had threatened her in the past for her Pro-Western policies. The fact that she was a woman who got involved in politics probably didn't help matters.[/quote]


It's all [URL="http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/12/27/bhutto.dhs.alqaeda/"]hearsay[/URL] right now and the link hasn't been validated. Nothing will surprise me, however, it's way too easy, convenient, and adventurous to link the assassination to Al-Qaeda.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

I mean although I am upset she got killed, it isn't like she is some kinda God. The media makes it seem like that, but wasn't she responsible for embezzling 1 million dollars?

I don't know the whole thing is pretty bad, which represents the political situation in Pakistan.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

Come On! You guys act as if you didn't see this comming. I had a feeling as soon as she returned a few months ago that she was going to get whacked. It was only a matter of time. I bet she knew it too.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

[quote=angryssg;398043]Come On! You guys act as if you didn't see this comming. I had a feeling as soon as she returned a few months ago that she was going to get whacked. It was only a matter of time. I bet she knew it too.[/quote]


She's definitely crooked and far from a Saint. Even the Pope never leaves his glass cage when he's out and about and there she was sticking her head out. I mean, why would you do such a thing especially a few month after someone tried to assassinated you but managed to killed ~120 people instead?

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

I don't think anyone is acting like this is a surprise for multiple reasons, some of which you have mentioned. And saint or not, it's still not a good thing when someone get's assassinated, especially when that someone was the first woman leader of a country. Doesn't exactly set a good precedent. I am curious as to why you say she's "definitely crooked." If you can decipher the good from the bad in that political landscape, you're way more knowledgeable than I am...

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

[quote=BleedBurgundy;398124]I don't think anyone is acting like this is a surprise for multiple reasons, some of which you have mentioned. And saint or not, it's still not a good thing when someone get's assassinated, especially when that someone was the first woman leader of a country. Doesn't exactly set a good precedent. I am curious as to why you say she's "definitely crooked." If you can decipher the good from the bad in that political landscape, you're way more knowledgeable than I am...[/quote]

During her tenure as prime minster of Pakistan (1988-1990, 1993-1996) her and her husband use take kickbacks in return for contracts and favors. That's to say they had Swiss bank accounts and then some. She was so crooked that France [URL="https://www.oecd.org/document/35/0,3343,en_33873108_33873838_36428195_1_1_1_1,00.html"]changed it's bribery laws[/URL] and made it illegal for a French company to bribe foreign nationals (the French law use to apply only to French citizens and entities).

When Bhutto first started making waves in the media a few months ago I was laughing my ass off as they propped her up as some kind of a hero and savior. I was appalled when they put her in the same class as Aung San Suu Kyi.

Re: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
 

[QUOTE=saden1;398152]During her tenure as prime minster of Pakistan (1988-1990, 1993-1996) her and her husband use take kickbacks in return for contracts and favors. That's to say they had Swiss bank accounts and then some. She was so crooked that France [URL="https://www.oecd.org/document/35/0,3343,en_33873108_33873838_36428195_1_1_1_1,00.html"]changed it's bribery laws[/URL] and made it illegal for a French company to bribe foreign nationals (the French law use to apply only to French citizens and entities).

When Bhutto first started making waves in the media a few months ago I was laughing my ass off as they propped her up as some kind of a hero and savior. I was appalled when they put her in the same class as Aung San Suu Kyi.[/QUOTE]

I hear you on the corruption, but you have to remember that bribery is par for the course in most 2nd and 3rd world countries. It's not black and white. Anyone who doesn't seek out and kill the opposition at least gets the "moderate" label as strange as that sounds.