Comments on: Good News So Far For Longhorn Fans…

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 22:51:19 +0000

No, I think Pakistan is too volatile right now. We should fight to ensure the elections are fair, though…a new story I saw today suggests Bhutto was on the verge of delivering a dossier to Americans detailing plans to rig the elections. It’s hard to look at Pakistan with anything approaching optimism at the moment, that’s for sure…

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 18:27:42 +0000

My guess is that within six months or a year, we’ll see the video of Musharraf leaving Pakistan from a helicopter taking off from his back yard.

Do you think that Bush should publicly call for him to step down?

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 02:48:06 +0000

Peter, the government has indeed acted atrociously – but most accounts I have seen suggest that (a) there is a coverup, but (b) the thing being covered up is not government complicity in the murder but government negligence in not providing decent security…

By: peter

peter — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 18:01:25 +0000

Also this article suggests that the government pressured the doctors who treated Bhutto to “conform to government accounts of her death:”

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/31/MNN2U765O.DTL

By: peter

peter — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:23:07 +0000

An article in today’s Times reports that the car Bhutto was in when she was killed was cleaned before investigators could look at it.

It also mentions three possible culprits besides Islamic fundamentalists: the military (who oppose the democratic process, and who hanged Bhutto’s father); the secret service (who have ties to fundamentalist groups to carry out their bidding); and Musharraf (to get rid of his leading opponent).

While it is certainly possible — perhaps likely — that the murder was directed and executed by Islamic fundamentalists, this is by no means a slam dunk (to borrow a phrase).

By: Andy

Andy — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 02:24:56 +0000

We’ll see what happens next, now that Musharraf has offered to exhume Bhutto’s body for a complete exam by her party if they wish it. On the face of it, it sounds like he has nothing to hide.

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 21:20:17 +0000

Ryan, I can’t imagine what your comment possibly means – the problem with Islamic militants in Pakistan is well-known, undeniable, and they were threatened by the prospect of a harder line under Bhutto than Musharraf. It’s not only plausible, it’s HIGHLY likely…

By: Peter

Peter — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:01:44 +0000

Mark: you may very well be right — however it is certainly conceivable that Musharraf, the military, or the secret police did it and made it look like others were responsible. You may recall a terrorist attack in Spain which was immediately (and falsely) blamed on Basque separatists. All I’m saying is that in a part of the world where nothing is as it seems, it would be prudent to do as the Pentagon is doing: withhold judgment until the facts are known.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 18:17:58 +0000

Let’s see… if there’s a suicide attack in Pakistan, can Bush and Cheney tie it to yet another country that had nothing to do with it? Next up: war with North Korea! Yeehaw!

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 07:16:58 +0000

Peter, with all due respect, there is really no doubt in my mind that this was the work of Islamic militants, and I’ve seen numerous news accounts that back that up.

But really, we only needed to know one thing: suicide bomber. In that long history of political assassinations in Pakistan and elsewhere, we see one overwhelming trend – when the bomber intentionally kills himself, too, bet the farm on an Islamic radical…