December 28, 2007
Bhutto Assassination: The Morning After
A roundup of how editorial boards and pundits reacted to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto:
"Bhutto was a flawed and undeniably courageous leader. Her return to Pakistan two months ago raised hopes that her country might find its way toward democracy and stability. Her assassination on Thursday is yet one more horrifying reminder of how far Pakistan is from both -- and how close it is to the brink." -- New York Times
"Ms. Bhutto was the most powerful advocate of secular democracy in her country; she had the courage to confront both Islamic militants and the autocratic government of President Pervez Musharraf.... Her tragic death may open the way to violence and political chaos that could be exploited by al-Qaeda and the Taliban, unless Mr. Musharraf and the country's surviving moderate forces act quickly and wisely." -- Washington Post
"The assassination of... Bhutto less than two weeks before nuclear-armed Pakistan's Jan. 8 elections threatens to open a Pandora's box of geopolitical trouble.... In this unstable country teeming with radical Islamists, the assassination threatens to set in motion a chain of events whose end could be any of a number of very grim scenarios." -- Washington Times
"For the United States, Harvard-educated Benazir Bhutto was a combination of white knight and Trojan horse -- the key piece in a belated-but-promising attempt to bring stability to the world's most dangerous nation. The hope was that the popular former prime minister could recapture the job after parliamentary elections next month, then strengthen democratic institutions, helping to keep Pakistan's nuclear weapons away from its large radicalized Islamic population. That strategy was left in ruins Thursday by Bhutto's tragic assassination." -- USA Today
"'In Pakistan there are two fault lines. One is dictatorship versus democracy. And one is moderation versus extremism.' Thus did Benazir Bhutto describe the politics of her country during an August visit to the Wall Street Journal's offices in New York. She was assassinated yesterday for standing courageously, perhaps fatalistically, on the right side of both lines." -- Wall Street Journal (subscription)
"The assassination of Benazir Bhutto yesterday was a tragedy for her family, a devastating blow for her Pakistan Peoples Party, and the latest warning that nuclear-armed Pakistan is under assault from violent anti-democratic forces. The way she was murdered -- at an election campaign rally, with vicious disregard for the throngs around her -- bespoke the barbarism of the forces behind the killing." -- Boston Globe
"Also a casualty" of yesterday's assassination "was the Bush administration's foreign policy, which had placed its hopes for stability in Pakistan on a political marriage of convenience between Bhutto and Pervez Musharraf." -- Philadelphia Inquirer
"The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is a profoundly sad event and a deeply worrisome portent of trouble. Ms. Bhutto could have lived a life of comfort in exile, but she chose to return home because she could see that the dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf was creating recruits for the Islamic fundamentalists who want to seize control of Pakistan and its nuclear arsenal. By demanding free elections, she dared to make enemies on all sides. For that, she paid the ultimate price." -- Miami Herald
"Bhutto's assassination Thursday should put a bitter end to the Bush administration's misguided policy of shoving democracy down the throat of the Middle East and Muslim world. Since 9/11 there has not been a single country in that region that has had peaceful and successful elections." -- Robert Baer, Time Magazine
"The weeks to come will determine just how severe a blow Benazir Bhutto's death is to Pakistan, but debate over Washington's role in the run up to this tragic day will continue well beyond that. Even as the smoke still lingered in Rawalpindi, President Bush demanded that those responsible for Bhutto's death be caught and punished.... But there are some who think the Bush Administration is not without blame." -- Mark Thompson and Brian Bennett, Time Magazine
"Her untimely death in the suicide attack deals a major and perhaps even fatal blow to Pakistan's democratic aspirations.... Despite her many political faults and weaknesses, she was a champion of democracy and human rights and an advocate of dealing harshly with the country's armed and determined Islamic militants." -- Ron Moreau, Newsweek
"The roll call of U.S. allies in the Middle East and its neighborhood has always read like a target list: Maliki, Karzai, Sistani, Musharraf. One bullet or one suicide blast could wipe out all our work and rip apart a strategically important country." "Since Sept. 11, we have been lucky. There have been no assassinations of true geo-strategic significance.... Until now." -- Rich Lowry, National Review
With Bhutto's assassination, "the world thus rudely intrudes on what had become a parochial, oddly detached primary election campaign focusing on competing Christmas greetings, quail hunting, and the bugaboo of 'special interests.' But now, at last, and perhaps just in time, the campaign season will get serious." -- Mona Charen, National Review
"The assassination of Benazir Bhutto, less than two weeks before a fraught general election, has dashed western hopes for a peaceful transition to democracy in Pakistan. The murder of the 54-year-old former prime minister, the first woman elected to lead a post-colonial Muslim state, leaves the country’s largest political party without a leader and deprives the US of its best hope of providing a civilian façade to the unpopular rule of President Pervez Musharraf." -- Jo Johnson, Financial Times
"Bhutto's assassination will severely shake Pakistan, and that makes it essential that the United States, still a crucial power-broker in Islamabad, follows a carefully calibrated strategy in the coming weeks to prevent it becoming a victory for al-Qaida. That will be difficult because it would be natural, even understandable, for the Bush administration to now throw its weight fully behind Musharraf in the name of stability. But such a move could be deeply counterproductive if license is given to Pakistan's president to continue his crackdown on the country's civil institutions." -- Paul Cruickshank, London Guardian
"The Thursday assassination of Benazir Bhutto is a huge, shocking, and possibly even historic triumph for the enemies of democracy. Even worse, the attack was the gruesome culmination of what has been a successful year for them." -- Gabor Steingart, Der Spiegel
"Benazir Bhutto's assassination in a gun and bomb attack, at a rally in Rawalpindi, is an enormous tragedy not just for Pakistan but also for all of South Asia. Indeed, perhaps the world. The world needs to be extremely anxious about the state of Pakistan following this heinous murder. This is not a routine assassination, because it snuffs out whatever faint hope there was of free and fair elections early next year." -- Times of India
"The assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto illustrates the fragility of the current international order in the face of the radical Islamist threat. Pakistan is an Islamic country with nuclear weapons and security services that contain many sympathizers with the Taliban and al-Qaida. It is hardly clear that the massive US investment in the Musharraf government as a bulwark against these same jihadi groups will be sustainable." -- Jerusalem Post
"Pakistan is one of the world's eight nuclear powers and the first one to be categorized as a failing state. Not failed yet, but on its way, and the world's major powers are powerless to correct the downward spiral." -- Arnaud de Borchgrave, Middle East Times
"Benazir Bhutto's assassination leaves Western policy towards Pakistan facing its greatest test since the September 11 attacks on the US. At a stroke, the linchpin of American and British plans to bring stability to the country has been removed." -- David Blair and Paul Richter, Sydney Morning Herald
