Bhutto Assassinated

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally, aides said.

"The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred," Bhutto's lawyer Babar Awan said.

A party security adviser said Bhutto was shot in neck and chest as she got into her vehicle to leave the rally in Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad. A gunman then blew himself up.

-- SADAQAT JAN and ZARAR KHAN for the Associated Press

This is hard news to come to in the morning. I thought she was one of the real shining lights in that region of the world. I know there were corruption charges, but for that region, that still leaves her in the running to be the George Washington and Abraham Lincoln of the hemisphere. News like this confirms that there is no hope for that wasteland.

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Bhutto Assassinated

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally, aides said.

"The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred," Bhutto's lawyer Babar Awan said.

A party security adviser said Bhutto was shot in neck and chest as she got into her vehicle to leave the rally in Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad. A gunman then blew himself up.

-- SADAQAT JAN and ZARAR KHAN for the Associated Press

This is hard news to come to in the morning. I thought she was one of the real shining lights in that region of the world. I know there were corruption charges, but for that region, that still leaves her in the running to be the George Washington and Abraham Lincoln of the hemisphere. News like this confirms that there is no hope for that wasteland.

xXx

A Tribute to Bhutto

♠
Bhutto was fearless, from her college years in America to her cruel assassination yesterday. She had an unshakable belief that Pakistan should embrace the modern world with the same confidence and courage that she had. She believed in democracy, freedom and openness -- not as slogans but as a way of life. She wasn't perfect; the corruption charges that enveloped her second term as prime minister were all too real. But she remained the most potent Pakistani voice for liberalism, tolerance and change.

-- David Ignatius for The Washington Post

Here is a nice tribute to Bhutto. Mr. Ignatius throws in some language about being more wary about engaging in other nations' politics, that the Pakistanis need to work out their own way to a more advanced liberal democracy. The problem, though, is that they are moved to strike out at the West. After all, even the primary al-Qaida reportedly makes its headquarters in the Pakistan mountains. We are engaged, so that debate on the issue is beside the point.

( column )

xXx

A Tribute to Bhutto

♠
Bhutto was fearless, from her college years in America to her cruel assassination yesterday. She had an unshakable belief that Pakistan should embrace the modern world with the same confidence and courage that she had. She believed in democracy, freedom and openness -- not as slogans but as a way of life. She wasn't perfect; the corruption charges that enveloped her second term as prime minister were all too real. But she remained the most potent Pakistani voice for liberalism, tolerance and change.

-- David Ignatius for The Washington Post

Here is a nice tribute to Bhutto. Mr. Ignatius throws in some language about being more wary about engaging in other nations' politics, that the Pakistanis need to work out their own way to a more advanced liberal democracy. The problem, though, is that they are moved to strike out at the West. After all, even the primary al-Qaida reportedly makes its headquarters in the Pakistan mountains. We are engaged, so that debate on the issue is beside the point.

( column )

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