RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday outside a large gathering of her supporters where a suicide bomber also killed at least 14, doctors and a spokesman for her party said.


Benazir Bhutto greets her supporters at the rally that was hit by a suicide attack.

While Bhutto appeared to have died from bullet wounds, it was not immediately clear if she was shot or if her wounds were caused by bomb shrapnel.

President Pervez Musharraf held an emergency meeting in the hours after the death, according to state media.

Police warned citizens to stay home as they expected rioting to break out in city streets in reaction to the death.

Police sources told CNN the bomber, who was riding a motorcycle, blew himself up near Bhutto's vehicle. Watch aftermath of the attack. »

Bhutto was rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital -- less than two miles from the bombing scene -- where doctors pronounced her dead.

Before Idiot says it.............










It's all President Bush's fault.

This can't be good. they are already talking about riots in the streets. Musharef will probably be whacked by weeks end. That whole country is close to blowing up.

Here iddy, iddy. Come on iddy, iddy. I know you are lurking here somewhere.

A lot of people in the know, predicted Bhutto's life expectancy to be measured in days. So this really comes as no surprise.

Bhutto said govt security was reduced last week, she knew time was limited. Pull back security & let the chips fall. Guess some in the govt wanted it to happen in the worst way.

Who knows why they would sit back, let her be killed, & hope for more unrest. Murdering her would be an automatic ticket to more unrest. Obviously, her demise benefits some faction. Guess we will see it all come out in the wash. 1 or 3 months out it will be clearer who reaps the benefit. Turmoil in the streets must be part of some faction's agenda, ugh.....Makes u wonder?..

..Harsh strategy, life is cheap........ Glad I am here....
Cancel my travel plans to India or Pakistan this coming year.......Prayers to her family. No one deserves that fate.

Well isn't that special. You are just a fountain of obvious knowledge.

From CNN-

As news of her death spread, supporters at the hospital in Rawalpindi smashed glass doors and stoned cars.

Many chanted slogans against Musharraf, accusing him of complicity in her killing.

Angry supporters also took to the streets in the northwestern city of Peshawar as well other areas, chanting slogans against Musharraf. In Rawalpindi, the site of the attack, Bhutto’s supporters burned election posters from the ruling party and attacked police, who fled from the scene.

In Karachi, shop owners quickly closed their businesses as supporters from Bhutto’s party burned tires on the roads.

Nawaz Sharif, another former premier and leader of a rival opposition party, rushed to the hospital and addressed the crowd.

“Benazir Bhutto was also my sister, and I will be with you to take the revenge for her death,” he said. “Don’t feel alone. I am with you. We will take the revenge on the rulers."

Sounds like all hell will be breking loose any minute now

Not sure what you mean, Patton. She was obviously willing to make certain sacrifices for what she believed was right.

Indeed she was.

I was picking on YossSquads inate ability to point out the obvious.

Sorry Patton, but since you took this off topic, and are apparently begging for another ban from the admins, I don't put much weight in anything an E2 like yourself has to say. Since you didn't contribute a whole lot to this thread, and are only baiting myself and Idiot, it's obvious you're a follower and not a leader. At least I stayed on topic.

Sorry folks. But it appears Mr. Patton has some sort of vendetta against me.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming... and sorry for the off-topic.

Oh no! Are there vendetta-mongers in here?!

Try again civie.

I was just commenting on your statement of the obvious. You really contributed there didn't you.

Now back on topic.

Ms. Bhutto and anyone else in politics in general face inherant risks (obvious statement).

Mitigating those risks are the challenge (not so obvious of a statement).

Now you try contributing.

You gonna ban me again? OH MY!!

How do you mitigate the "inherant" [sic] risks of political assassination?

You were supposedly Law Enforcement, you tell us, oh wise one.

Sorry, I wasn't in Secret Service.

That's why I asked the question.

Perform a Risk Analysis and then Perform Risk Management.

I don't know exactly how I feel about this except that it's very sad for the people of Pakistan. At the moment I'm preoccupied and about to get get myself banned at dkos... again!

You're doing a fine job of filling in for me and annoying people though. Keep up the good work.

DKOS? wtf is that?

dailykos.com

DO NOT go there, Patton. Your head would immediately explode.

Uncle Sam's response to dailykos.com

Forbidden, this page (http://dailykos.com/) is categorized as: Mature

That would possibly be the last word I would have thought of to describe the antics at kos.

It's not too hard to get banned from Daily Kos. I never have myself, but I did get banned from Democratic Underground once. Something about the format of Daily Kos always turned me off. I don't like how they refer to everything as a "diary". I don't want to read anyone's diary.

Uncle Sam protecting the troops from those big bad liberals.


Does he protect you from littlegreenfootballs.com and freerepublic.com also?

Bhutto would have made a great leader. I would say she was the "Chuck Norris" in Pakistan, strong, tough, and ready to kick some terrorist ass. Of course some suicide freak has to gun her down and blow up himslef with along 20 others. Its interesting because real true muslims believe that you go to hell if you even attempt an attack on a woman. Poor guy.

Many have perverted the Islamic faith. So sad.

And many have and continue to pervert the Christian faith (as well as every other faith).

True Statement.

My Pastor says "If you found religion, lose it"

Religion tends to pervert Faith.

So much potential wasted, tragic news. Sadder that it was not a real surprise. She would of made a great leader. Different news agency's quoted her as understanding what lay ahead. She was brave to go forward.

No they are not blocked, under the current administration.

Not to speak ill of the dead but you have to also remember that she was ousted TWICE for corruption and with her husband allegedly bilked the country for 1.5 BILLION dollars! when she was asked about allegedly stealing millions from the UN's food for the poor program her response was " I was not the only one"

She was probably going to be better than the current administration but she had her skeletons also.

Amen to that! Personally, as a christian, I don't consider it as a religion but rather a faith thing. The problem today is that people see Christianity as a "religious thing" that you have to go to church, pray, and do orderly things. That not the concept at all. These extremists that are Isalmic are brainwashed with the fact that their religion is the only one and to kill people who don't believe in it? Whats the point in that? What makes a person want to convert to Islam if its under pressure like that? Thats not a loving god at all. I think I've made my point.

p.s. By the way, I'm not one of those christians who goes out and shoves Bible facts and stuff down peoples throat and pressures them.

Hey Patton,

I'd really like to hear your opinions on the topic. You are probably one of the few active military posters on here. You may have a perspective on the topics that civilians don't always see.

How about it? Or is it verboten to talk about your opinion when you are active in the military? That is an honest question, as I really don't know. But, it seems, Patton, that you don't give any opinion with "meat" in it! I'd love to hear you ideas on different topics. All the luv between you and Id and Yoss gets a little sappy. Let's hear how you feel about these world events?

Ok, here goes.

Iraq - we did the right thing and are still doing the right thing. Do I agree with every aspect (wait for it Id) No, I don't. I believe as Senator McCain does we needed more troops at the beginning.

Pakistan - Bad situation. Democracy to these people is a tough road to hoe. I do believe it is the right thing. Bhutto's killing horrid. Whoever is responsible needs to be held accountable.

Election 08 - No crystal ball here. I think we need to stay with a Republican President. The Democrats do not have a canidate I would even consider, and yes I have considered Democrats before, in fact in the State of Maryland I have for the last two times this Democrat has run I have voted for this person.

The Weather - It's winter, opinion and fact.

Global Warming - Al Gore, PLEASE GO AWAY.

anything else, just ask.

Only if your faith is in a religion.

Maybe we should charge admission.

In her two partial terms as Prime Minister, did she accomplish anything?

For who?

The Pakistanis or the Taliban or anybody but herself.

Very True, my Faith is in the Bible. (no it is not a religion)

As a book it has some really good parts but I don't know if I'd put my faith in it as much as a few of the ideas it espouses.

That is your choice.

It really is a good road map for life though, in my opinion.

Exactly. How else would you know that women folk are to stay silent in church and that if they ever want to learn anything, to wait till they get home and ask their husband? We all know its wrong for woman to speak in the church, right? The Bible tells us so. 1 Corinthians 14:34-35

Read on McDuff.

I'm not going to debate the Bible with someone who has not read it.

Benazir Bhutto, mixed reviews:
AP, The Salt Lake Tribune, & Times had the following info on Bhutto.
I was curious as I know little of her. I've heard good and bad. Her husband hurt her overall campaign by his corruption. Then insurgents provided constant threats to unsettle her government. It is hard to extract what is Pakistan propaganda, life struggles, and politics. I pulled some info from the above sources. It is difficult to track down concrete accomplishments. That is what I was interested in learning. I would be interested in reading a book about her life, I am sure there are many in development.
................................................................
Bhutto was no saint. Her two terms as prime minister of Pakistan were beset by charges of corruption, mostly due to her husband. Her accomplishments in office were few. Just as success loomed, she would be outed by insurgents whose goal was to short circuit her government. Politics of Pakistan are opaque to Western eyes and that we have no independent way to know whether the corruption charges that were lodged against Bhutto by her political enemies were true.

What we do know is that Bhutto and her Pakistan People's Party were the most important political counterweight to President Pervez Musharraf and the military that has ruled Pakistan for most of its brief history. She stood for democracy and free, fair elections while Musharraf, a U.S. ally, drifted ever closer to autocratic military rule. She was the first women to lead a Muslim nation. However, she backed away from revoking some laws that curtailed civil liberties. Religious and women rights fall in the same category.

She blessed Pakistan’s nuclear technology against global pressure and helped it move ahead against all odds. Initially, she was courted by the Taliban movement, but she withered away from both of these stances.She was the promise to transcend divisions in the society and contradictions in politics by virtue her persona. One of Bhutto's proudest accomplishments was breaking through the "glass ceiling" as a woman in a Muslim society.The death of Benazir Bhutto is an even more significant loss for the west that myopically supports personalities than people and institutions in the countries of interest.

CFR.org provides some good background on Pakistan.

Mark this day down. Id posted a link to a SEMI-unbiased org. They need to dump a few of the libs in there Maddy, Rubin, etc....


Just kidding, I read some of it, seems fair enough.

Thanks Id and Patton. Checks & I have been fascinated & saddened by the latest news of Pakistan & Bhutto. We also recognized we needed to educate ourselves. There is so much to process. I am looking forward to broadening my frame of reference.

This interview was published recently, right before the assasination. What a mess it is in Pakistan.


http://www.parade.com/benazir_bhutto_interview.html

The plot thickens.





I wonder if Musharraf has a brother who's a governor.