Benazir Bhutto: 1953-2007 -- my $.02

Woke up this morning (okay, late morning, since I’m off this week, and was up watching Top Gear until like 3a), and saw the CNN alert on my crackberry… All I can say is, WTF?!

I’ve been following Pakistan since my time at Fox News Channel, when I was on the Foreign Desk at the time when Musharraf took power in a “bloodless” coup. It was right about the time when India and Pakistan had popped off their first nukes, and I thought it was a big deal. American media didn’t really pay all that much attention to it, in a pre-9/11 world. Of course, the political arena has changed a lot since then, and Pakistan has become a big player in the “War on Terrorism”.

Here’s the thing: today’s assassination of Bhutto is a major blow to democracy in Pakistan, and will reverberate throughout the rest of the world. Probably the only good to come from this is that the good General Musharraf will be able to cement the military’s grip on power (and perhaps calm some shit down a bit) in the near future.

The Bushies (and the U.S.) are in a pickle now – they’ve been working behind the scenes for about a year to bring Bhutto back from exile and seek political compromise. It’s another nail in the coffin for the foreign policy of the United States. It’s really too bad – I had a lot of hope and respect for Condi Rice, and I think she’s in a bad situation/administration, but she’s a big fan of Dubya, so she dug her own grave on that one. More clichés, anyone? :)

With Bhutto dead, and Musharraf in a swirling pot of unrest, and the U.S. having previous problems dealing with him anyway, the U.S. has few reliable partners left in this busy part of the world – where Osama is probably hiding out and enjoying it all.

(BTW: I could swear that Wolf Blitzer is choked up on air... IMHO)