Benazir Bhutto Assassinated in Pakistan

Former Pakistani Benazir Bhutto was just assassinated in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. It seems to have been a planned attack, with gun toting assassins coordinating their attack with a suicide bomber. The Radical Islamists (al Qaeda and the Taliban) had promised to kill her before the elections, to be held in January.

Everyone will blame President Musharaff, but it was he who was warning Bhutto that she was in terrible danger - and that the government could do little to prevent an assassination other than provide security. That's inherently a problem because the Pakistani Intelligence Services and the Interior Ministry have been infiltrated by Islamists who vowed her death.

This was inevitable, unfortunately. In my opinion, she was reckless. There is a huge difference between being brave and being foolish - especially when you have been recently (within a few weeks) the subject of assassination attempts. She insisted on being out in the midst of her people, even after a suicide bombing that occurred as she landed in Pakistan last month. In fact, that's why President Musharaff declared a state of emergency, which was canceled under pressure from the West last week.

An unfortunate loss. In her death, Bhutto might succeed in creating exactly the situation that she claimed she was attempting to avoid - a nuclear powered Pakistan involved in an all out civil war.

By the way, her answer to the terrorism problem? Talking to the tribal leaders in Waziristan and convincing them that supporting al Qaeda was not in their best interest. A typical, State Department solution that is irrelevant when your fighting creatures such as Islamic Fundamentalists.

She is now a martyr, but what good is that? You're not going to see her 'peace and reconciliation' movement suddenly take over - her legacy is going to be, instead, a bloody one. If there is one bright side to this - it could create a situation where Musharaff could go all out militarily against the Islamists, including inviting Coalition forces into the tribal regions to truly wipe out all enemy forces entrenched there.