NYT World News Item:A close aide to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf blamed Islamic militants for [Benazir Bhutto's] assassination, and said it was carried out by a suicide bomber. Ms. Bhutto’s death is the latest blow to Pakistan’s treacherous political situation, and leaves her party leaderless in the short term and unable to effectively compete in hotly contested parliamentary elections that are two weeks away...
Remember:
"Virtually all major modern assassinations involve the intelligence and security services in one way or another. In the last century, there has been hardly a single major political assassination which was not either carried out by them, facilitated or allowed by them or happened because they failed to adequately protect the target..." --
The Assassination Business (Intro pg xviii), by Richard Belfield
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Update:As if on cue,
TPM: TPM's Spencer Ackerman just interviewed Benazir Bhutto's longtime confidante and advisor Husain Haqqani. He says Musharraf's to blame. "There is only one possibility: the security establishment and Musharraf are complicit, either by negligence or design. That is the most important thing. She's not the first political leader killed, since Musharraf took power, by the security forces."
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Cryptogon finds an interesting and alarming angle:
This situation actually has the potential to involve the U.S. Military. While the action likely wouldn’t be acknowledged, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a contingency plan for U.S. Special Forces to secure Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in the event of a civil war.
We might be looking at the beginning of a civil war with this assassination.
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The Mime also sees destabilization ahead.
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Update #2: In other grim news,
Clancy Dubos has begun blogging.Labels: crime, links
16 Comments:
No no no it was Oswald... acting alone.
Oh and Clancy... Any writing sample that unironically includes the phrases "Marketplace of Ideas" and "My old and dear friend C.B. Forgotston" is a grim thing indeed.
How does a guy carrying a bomb AND a gun get through the security phalanx in a military dictatorship? I guess it was the same way Elton Phillips got out of OPP.
Just when you think it can't get worse...
And it's not as if Bhutto was any sort of saving angel, but you sure as hell don't need to start a match throwing contest near an open powder keg.
As to your concerns about a US military presence in the country, take a look.
And, off topic, but here's a link a page that further links to several I-35 pictures in in Texas (including an opening ceremony)...or maybe it's not off-topic given the proximity of the highway to Dealey Plaza.
Great links, Michael. Thanks!
That "other news" is indeed grim. He now has a 2 link blogroll, one of which is back to himself. Which, come to think of it, is 2 more than Forgotston.
Also of note there... One Gambit reporter and now sometime Gambit blogger with whom I am casually acquainted once said to me about blogging, "It seems like a lot of work doing all those links and things"
I really do marvel at the effort involved myself.
" 'It seems like a lot of work doing all those links and things'
"I really do marvel at the effort involved myself."
Shhhhhyeah right. Get your ass outta bed and fire up your computer, then lasso them links with your trusty mouse. So, so tough.
Then again, it is amazing Dubos can find a computer in the first place, much less use the thing. And making various connections with said links requires a certain amount of education and the ability to question most anything.
I really do marvel at the effort involved myself.
Leigh, You do know that was a bit of um... dry irony... you know... in my accustomed ever-charming exceedingly witty idiom.. right?
(Yes that is a straight line. And yes there is a punch line waiting for whoever wants it.)
OT_
DO please check your blog's email for a message from me.
I think that you will find not only good news in for yourself, but potential good news for at least one other lucky person. Scout Prime put me on to you two years ago, and I'm finally saying thank you.
See here for further information:
http://monkeyfister.blogspot.com/2007/12/2007-golden-monkeyfist-awards.html
Checking your blog's email will make one more totally unsuspecting Progressive blogger VERY, VERY happy. There you will find instructions as to what thread's comments at my place to start discussion on the "Au Peer" Award... It's basically the "Best of the Small Blogger's Choice Award," and I suspect that you will take great pleasure in making someone very happy.
Cheers to you, Oyster, and congrats!
All the best...
--Monkeyfister
http://monkeyfister.blogspot.com/
Yeah, Jeffrey, I know. I also know that if anybody tried to actually DO anything with your witty idioms, Ms Menckles would bring the hammer down on 'em with some dry irony of her own.
No no no. You were supposed to work the phrase "vanity blogger" in there somehow. Oh well. Next time, maybe.
With regard to the "other grim news", I've gone over and introduced myself. I'm the second after Adrastos to do so. I assured Clancy that I cite sources and try to be respectful, just as he and CB do, however, I did not tell him that I was typing wearing my nightgown and bathrobe. I reveal that information only among friends.
Damn, Jeffrey! "You're so vain, you probably think all blogs are about you..."
Congratulations, Oyster on the Golden Monkeyfist/Delta Prime award! It's well-earned.
The first two paragraphs of Clancy Dubos entry are puke-a-riffic. Not just the "Marketplace of Ideas", but "priming the pump" and how much he likes answering questions "like talk radio". That's like saying, I enjoy eating healthy, you know, like Snickers.
Clancy, you are down on the Mayor...we get it...great...move on...do you have any other things to write about in that vapid mind of yours?
