Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

[filkertom]

This does not bode well at all.

Comments

[darrenzieger.livejournal.com]

From the Washington Post:

"Bhutto, 54, was being driven from the rally in her bulletproof vehicle when she asked that the rooftop hatch be opened so she could bid supporters farewell, according to several aides, including one who was sitting next to her...As she leaned her head through the hatch, between three and five gunshots rang out..."

(Emphases mine, of course)

I know she was expecting to be assassinated eventually. It was inevitable. But that's just f-ing suicidal. Jeezus, if you believe enough in a cause to die for it, and you're the leader, you owe it to yourself and your comrades to do everything in your power to postpone the inevitable.

Dammit dammit dammit.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Or perhaps her martyrdom will further the cause. This enormously damages the credibility of Musharraf and the Islamic radicals in Pakistan.

[realinterrobang.livejournal.com]

Excuse me? Martyr?

You have to be a religious figure to be a martyr, specifically. I understand there is a metaphoric vernacular meaning, but I am really not cool with using the term in this context, because the person who killed her and then blew himself up probably thought of himself the same way, and does the Middle East really need more random sectarianism?

[voiceofkiki.livejournal.com]

Um... I beg to differ. Originally, a martyr was someone who would rather die than renounce their religion. However, it hasn't had only that meaning for quite some time now. Now the term means someone who has died (or is willing to die) for any cause they believe in. Or, it can even mean generically to suffer from something.

The meaning is neither metaphoric nor vernacular.

I believe the original assessment is correct.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Hunh? Where did that come from?

I don't think I understand the objection.

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

At the same time, Cheney notwithstanding, it's difficult at best to exercise authority while hiding in a bunker the whole time. Bhutto wasn't spending her entire time in Pakistan behind armor glass, nor should she have. Most of her time there was spent pretty much in the open.

[darrenzieger.livejournal.com]

True enough. As pretty much everyone, including Bhutto herself has said, this was pretty much inevitable. The first assassination attempt occurred moments after she left Jinnah International Airport, having just arrived in Pakistan (the suicide bomber had good explosives but bad timing).