Cynics Unlimited

Regarding the assassination of Benazir Bhutto… Only a fool would call himself an expert on Pakistan, but a couple of things seemed clear from this attack:

1. Pakistan was not ready for Benazir Bhutto because Pakistan was not ready to protect Benazir Bhutto
2. At least one small part of her seemed to have been inviting her demise.  Her final interviews were unrealistically dismissive of the dangers she faced, while she ignored repeated warnings about emerging from her armoured vehicle to greet supporters and speaking without the aid of bulletproof glass

In fact, there is a good chance Bhutto knew she was going to be killed, if not now then surely once she (likely) won the election.  Pakistan is too unstable not to believe otherwise.  For that reason, Benazir Bhutto should be considered a martyr for democracy - someone who in death accomplished more than she could have as a short-term leader of the troubled Islamic state.   Bringing world awareness to the severity of Eastern fundamentalism is probably the best act that any leader or commentator could have done, and Bhutto just exposed -in no uncertain terms- the extent to which insurgents (or possibly even Musharraf) will go to maintain instability.  The Bhutto family, in spite of their suspected corruption, will be remembered alongside the Gandhi and Kennedy families as tortured dynasties whose misfortunes will be to the long-term benefit of equality and democracy.