My first reaction was how sad for Pakistan. Then I thought, wait a minute. Whose bright idea was it to engineer Bhutto's return from exile, anyway? Fraulein Doktor Condoleezza Rice. The US levered Musharraf, probably threatening to cut his budget for domestic crowd control. I remember thinking, what the fuck are they (Bush et al) up to now. Bhutto's gonna get hit either by Musharraf's secret police or the religious nutcases. Right off the plane, boom. Now this.
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Yes, this is a crucial portion of the drama to keep foremost in mind.
It appears that Washington, understandably concerned about Pakistan's stability as opposition to Musharraf and his part real, part bullshit 'counter-terrorist' campaign grows, hoped to use Bhutto as some sort of poorly thought-out hedge against collapse. Paradoxically (or perhaps not), Rice's plan seemed to be built around the notion that Bhutto's presence in government would shore up Musharraf's eroding legitimacy ('He's not so bad', Wash. could argue 'he allowed an adversary to enter the political system').
Goodbye to all that.
.d.
-- "Your mistletoe is no match for my TOW missile!"
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