Bhutto's Blood Is on Bush's Hands

When news first broke of the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, I sat in the living room of a judge in Islamabad, glued to the television with an off-duty doctor from the hospital where Bhutto was taken. While the nation and the world continue to reel from the violent death of a world-historical figure, relatively little attention has been paid to the central role of U.S. foreign policy in her demise.

A great many voices have commented on Bhutto's immense historical stature. Others have noted the tremendous loss her death represents to the people of Pakistan and its grave implications for the nation's democracy. Benazir Bhutto was a forceful champion for the downtrodden, the most effective international diplomat Pakistan has ever produced, and an inspiration to millions (and possibly even billions) of people stirred by her service as the Muslim world's first female head of state.

Allegations of corruption dogged Bhutto throughout her public service career, and the essentially hereditary ascension of her son to her party's leadership begs questions about its sincerity in seeking meaningful democracy. But Benazir Bhutto's untimely death renders those questions less relevant than the current leadership's attacks on democracy and the rule of law. Parvez Musharraf's administration has taken a sharp turn over the past year, destabilizing the country and severely undermining freedom of the press, judicial independence, individual liberties, and democratic transparency - all while relying on ongoing White House support.

Over the past year, Musharraf - known here as “Busharraf” on account of Washington's role in propping up his failing dictatorship - has presided over one of Pakistan's most turbulent periods in its 60-year history. While claiming to address extremism, he has instead eviscerated the nation's legal system, curtailed the media and hamstrung civil society, thereby destroying Pakistan's strongest (both institutional and cultural) defenses against fundamentalism. Having twice sacked the Supreme Court's popular and independent Chief Justice and jailed the leaders of the democracy movement, Musharraf has also imposed severe restrictions on the press that continue to stifle debate. In this environment, violence is all too predictable. And the enabling complicity of the U.S. should alarm all observers.

A host of competing theories attempt to explain Bhutto's assassination. The government predictably blamed al-Qaeda within a day, while offering a theory of her death described by BBC as “bizarre.”

Noting Bhutto's prior comments that “elements within the administration and security apparatuses . . . want me out of the way,” members of her family accused the government - either of killing her outright, or for complicity by notorious rogue elements within the government, or at least for offering inadequate security to her campaign - as Bhutto herself alleged before the fact. American authorities have reportedly begun investigating Pakistani special operations forces for their potential involvement.

Others blame Bhutto's husband, Asif “Mr. 10 Percent” Zardari, who plundered state coffers during her rule, allegedly ordered the 1985 and 1996 murders of her brothers in order to eliminate their potential political rivalry, and may have perceived opportunity in his wife's removal. In the wake of her assassination, he refused an autopsy that may have shed light on the cause and is now co-Chairman of the political party she once led.

But regardless of which theory may ultimately prove accurate, each possibility required (for cover, if nothing else) the aggressive presence of extremists in Pakistan - whom Musharraf harbored while duping the U.S. out of roughly $10 billion since 2001, of which allegedly half has been consumed by graft.