My friend Barry was over for dinner and he reminded me that we went to see Bhutto when she spoke at Roanoke college. He couldn't remember her talk and until he reminded me, I hadn't recalled that I had ever seen her. The reason being that her talk seemed to lack substance and instead serve the purpose of self-agrandizement. If she had the charisma others have described, it either wasn't much in evidence in that setting or, as in the case of many sales pitches, my momma raised me to be immune.

It's still hard to figure out what's going on here. Did Islamists kill Bhutto? Did Musharraf as a pretext for invoking matial law, after the brokered deal for power sharing had broken down and Bhutto had, as a result, publicly confronted him. Was Bhutto a woman of destiny who died tragically or someone who took foolhardy chances in an attempt to return to power? Did she use members of the Bush administration or did they meddle and urge her on? What exactly killed her (as if that matters, despite the strange releases by the Pakistani government that it wasn't a gunshot or the percussion from the bomb, but that she hit her head on the limosine's roof handle.) And what does all this mean for the future of Pakistan? Has there every been democracy there. Do its changes improve or not, at this juncture.

Here are a couple of stories I read today and my reactions:

U.S. Brokered Bhutto's Return to Pakistan
Washington Post

The reporters talked to a number of sources to flesh out how the deal was struck for Bhutto to return to Pakistan and put a "democratic facade" on the President's regime. Did anyone notice their October story about the deal before Bhutto's return or did this gain "legs" only upon her death? Bhutto's amnesty v.s. none for Sharif raised a flag for me back then, although I didn't read their earlier article until today.


In a separate, germane piece, Igatius writes,

But, he adds, and I don't think it follows logically,

This supposition also appears in the current article and goes unquestioned. How does a January election bode for democracy and power sharing if a viable prime minister is lacking? Bhutto is dead. While her party might get the sympathy vote, her successor has no following. Nawaz Sharif, another major party's leader, has been forbidden from holding office, promises a boycott and is trying to recruit other parties to join him.

Bhutto's End Could Mean Musharif's As Well
Forbes

This story features an interview with a retired Indian diplomat to Pakistan and with others who question Great Britain and the U.S. officials calling for the elections as originally scheduled.