BHUTTO'S ASSASINATION WAS HER OWN FAULT

ON TWO LEVELS, BHUTTO DESERVES MOST OF THE BLAME FOR HER OWN ASSASSINATION:

• FIRST, SHE TOOK TOO MANY RISKS - THE MOST OBVIOUS ONE BEING THE FACT THAT SHE STOOD UP ALL ALONE IN THE SUNROOF OF CAR MAKING HER THE EASIEST OF TARGETS.
• SECOND, SHE WAS A MAJOR REASON ISLAMISM BECAME SO POWERFUL IN PAKISTAN; FOR MORE THIS ANGLE... READ ON...

WM DALRYMPLE/OP-ED/NYTIMES:

Benazir Bhutto’s death is, of course, a calamity, particularly as she embodied the hopes of so many liberal Pakistanis. But, contrary to the commentary we’ve seen in the last week, she was not comparable to Myanmar’s Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Ms. Bhutto’s governments were widely criticized by Amnesty International and other groups for their use of death squads and terrible record on deaths in police custody, abductions and torture. As for her democratic bona fides, she had no qualms about banning rallies by opposing political parties while in power.

Within her own party, she declared herself the president for life and controlled all decisions. She rejected her brother Murtaza’s bid to challenge her for its leadership and when he persisted, he was shot dead in highly suspicious circumstances during a police ambush outside the Bhutto family home.

Benazir Bhutto was certainly a brave and secular-minded woman. But the obituaries painting her as dying to save democracy distort history. Instead, she was a natural autocrat who did little for human rights, a calculating politician who was complicit in Pakistan’s becoming the region’s principal jihadi paymaster while she also ramped up an insurgency in Kashmir that has brought two nuclear powers to the brink of war.

• PAKISTAN IS REALLY VERY EFFED UP.
• MUSHARRAF AND THE PAKISTANI ARMY ARE THE BEST WE'VE GOT THERE.
• I HOPE BUSH AND CONDI - AND THE NEXT POTUS - DON'T THROW HIM OVERBOARD.

KILLING BINLADEN AND ZAWAHIRI WOULD STRENGTHEN MUSHARRAF AND THE ARMY. THAT'S WHY I FEEL WE NEED TO MAKE A BIG MOVE BETWEEN NOW AND THIS SPRING.

IT WOULDN'T HURT THE GOP NOMINEE ANY, EITHER - IF WE GET 'EM.