December 27, 2007
Bhutto Assassination: U.S. Policy Unchanged... But For How Long?
UPDATED.
Officials in the Bush administration said that current White House policy toward Pakistan hadn't immediately changed in the wake of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, despite questions about whether President Pervez Musharraf had a role in today's attack.
"U.S. policy has always been based on promoting a... peaceful, moderate country" in Pakistan, said State Department spokesman Tom Casey. "Our efforts have not been focused on any individuals, but on achieving that goal."
President Bush and Musharraf are to speak by phone today. Administration officials are being careful not to go beyond expressing condolences and general condemnations of terrorism as they monitor the delicate political crisis in Pakistan. Fires broke out as Bhutto supporters rioted in the streets. Islamabad declared a "red alert," meaning police were on guard against violent outbreaks related to her death, but stopped short of imposing martial law.
(For our report on Bhutto's assassination and the initial reaction, click here.)
Administration officials said they would offer whatever help Pakistan needed but that they had not been asked to assist in a pending investigation into the attack. If the White House is questioning whether Musharraf could have provided greater security for Bhutto, as it requested, officials aren't saying. Pakistan's military and intelligence services are riddled with Islamic extremists. Whether that is a result of Musharraf's ineptitude or relish for political expediency is another question observers are asking, but that the White House is not -- out loud, anyway.
"We are going to continue working with President Musharraf," Casey said. "We are going to continue working with the PPP [Bhutto's opposition Pakistan People's Party] and other moderate democratic elements in Pakistan to try to bring us all together to achieve those goals."
Casey continued, "We intend to move forward with current policy."
Though there will be intense pressure for a thorough investigation of the attack, it wasn't entirely surprising. Taliban and al-Qaida militants consider both Bhutto and Musharraf their enemies, and have vowed to disrupt next month's presidential election. Bhutto's return from exile in October was nearly derailed by an attempt on her life, which killed dozens of supporters at a rally in Karachi. Bhutto herself said she was aware of the threats against her.
"I am not afraid of death," Bhutto said in an interview with Paris Match after the Karachi bombings. "Those who detonated the bombs wanted to kill the enthusiasm of the crowds that greeted me yesterday afternoon. But, fortunately for Pakistan, they have not been able to decapitate the movement for democracy."
Islamic extremists have made multiple attempts to take out Musharraf, administration officials noted. CNN showed a Getty photo of Bhutto waving from the sunroof of her vehicle just before she was killed, raising questions about whether the former PM took unnecessary risks.
After the October attack, Musharraf's government was criticized for failing to ensure Bhutto's safety. It hasn't launched an investigation into the bombings. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was joined by other world leaders today in calling for a complete investigation into the assassination. Islamabad hasn't yet promised one, and the Bush administration attempted to remain neutral.
"I don't think anybody benefits from this assassination...save those extremists who perpetrated it," Casey responded when asked about Musharraf's possible role.
But Bhutto's PPP supporters were quick to blame Musharraf for the attack. Nawaz Sharif, also a former prime minister and opposition leader, called on Musharraf to resign and said he would boycott the scheduled Jan. 8 vote.
"The holding of fair and free elections is not possible in the presence of Pervez Musharraf," Sharif said. "I demand that Musharraf should quit immediately."
Sharif has been barred from running in the election because of prior corruption convictions. Bhutto also had a dodgy ethical past, the actual reason for her self-imposed exile, and returned to Pakistan only after Musharraf guaranteed she would not face corruption charges.
Bhutto's death squashes the power-sharing deal that would have come from the election, and the political cover the White House was hoping for as its relationship with Musharraf draws closer scrutiny. The U.S. has poured billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan, ostensibly to compensate it for fighting Islamic extremists, but there haven't been discernible results. If anything, the resurgence of extremist elements along the border and in neighboring Afghanistan has convinced many observers that whatever Pakistan is doing in the war on terror, it certainly isn't helping.
The Bush administration rejiggered its WOT compensation system in light of those criticisms, but the New York Times revealed on Tuesday that the new aid system may also be missing sufficient safeguards.
The aid program "adds to the more than $1 billion in American military aid to Pakistan annually -- much of which does not make its way to frontline Pakistani units, some American officials now acknowledge. The tribal area for which this new money is intended remains so unsafe that no senior American official has visited in the last nine months," the Times reported.
"We've always been concerned to make sure all U.S. funds used in Pakistan or anywhere else [are] properly used," Casey said when asked about the story. "We believe we've got an effective system in place to be able to monitor our aid."
Speaking to MSNBC from Islamabad, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said that while he and his delegation had expressed their concern about the disbursement of U.S. aid, he added, "But by and large, we think the monies are going in the right direction."
Specter and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., were scheduled to meet with Bhutto four hours after she was killed.
So long as Musharraf remains in power, skeptics will doubt the soundness of Washington's costly alliance with Islamabad. But after today, the U.S. may no longer have any other options than to ensure that Musharraf stays right where he is.
"The elections are going forward and he is our best hope there. It is not a perfect situation. Nothing is," Specter said. "But we have to utilize the government which is here to help stabilize it and to move forward."
Posted at 5:23 PM
Posted to:
Al-Qaida, Asia, Bush Administration, Pakistan, President Bush, Terrorism
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