Bhutto Assassinated

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.

At least 20 others were killed in the blast that took place as Bhutto left a political rally where she addressed thousands of supporters in her campaign for Jan. 8 parliamentary elections.

Bhutto served twice as Pakistan's prime minister between 1988 and 1996. She had returned to Pakistan from an eight-year exile Oct. 18.

This is alarming news in light of the military crackdown in Pakistan. "The whole world is on fire."

Bush and Musharraf are Not Strange Bed Fellows

Much of this post taken from Think Progress and Eteraz

I have been reluctant to report on a situation I do not know much about. I do know Musharraf came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, replacing an elected prime minister, despite that is very friendly with the Bush administration. On November 3rd Musharraf suspended the Pakistan Constitution and imposed emergency rule citing a need to "curb terrorism and reign in activist judges." Musharraf had been on a collision course with the Supreme Court who were set to rule on a number of cases that would have challenged Musharraf as President and Commander of the military simultaneously.

The Provisional Constitutional Order that followed the emergency declaration put Pakistan’s 1973 constitution into abeyance and suspended all fundamental rights, including: Article 9 (security of person), 10 (safeguard as to arrest and detention), 15 (freedom of movement, etc.), 16 (freedom of assembly), 17 (freedom of association), 19 (freedom of speech, etc.) and 25 (equality of citizens) shall remain suspended.

According to Think Progress: The suspension of fundamental rights is already producing convictions, as four men accused of treason have been jailed for making anti-government speeches. Pakistan’s private TV stations were all blacked-out and sale of satellite dishes was halted. Hundreds of lawyers and activists around the country were detained or put under house arrest, and the most recent estimate is that around 2,500 people are in jail.

What is most alarming about this is that Bush was nearly silent about the constitutional suspension while publicly declaring Musharraf to reinstate the constitution (kind of like the we don't torture statements while fostering waterboarding). Bush supposedly phoned Musharraf: President Bush telephoned General Musharraf for the first time since the crisis began and bluntly told him that he had to return Pakistan to civilian rule, hold elections and step down as chief of the military, as he had promised. Mr. Bush called him from the Oval Office at 11:30 a.m. Washington time, and spoke for about 20 minutes, according to the White House.

But...(is there always a but with these fuckers) reputable Pakistani journalist, Hamid Mir reported on Geo TV — Pakistan’s largest private cable news station — that the U.S. gave the green-light for Musharraf to go ahead and call the emergency. According to Mir, the U.S. supported Musharraf because it regarded the ousted “Chief Justice as a nuisance and ‘a Taliban sympathizer.’” That may explain why President Bush’s demands are so light:

Bush administration officials are unanimous in saying that American financial support for Pakistan will continue regardless of whether General Musharraf reverses course.

Is Bush all that different than Musharraf, really? Warrantless wiretapping, suspension of habeus corpus, Guantanamo Bay, sanctioning torture, lying us into war, etc. He and Musharraf have a lot in common. Thanks to Etaraz for most of this post. The post on Think Progress was great as well as the coverage since November 3rd. Check it out.