Scott P. Richert

December 27, 2007

Benazir Bhutto may have been ruthless, conniving, and a “puppet of Pakistan’s military and security services,” as Leon Hadar argues in the January 2008 issue of Chronicles, but make no mistake: Her assassination today will do nothing to bring peace and stability to Pakistan.  The suicide attack that killed her along with at least 20 others will be widely seen, on the one hand, as a victory for Musharraf, and, on the other, as a victory for radical Muslims who think that Musharraf is in the pocket of the United States.

The effect will likely be to push Musharraf further away from the United States, out of fear for his own power, and to embolden those radicals who would like nothing more than to make Pakistan a radically Islamic state—and, of course, to control Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

Once again, the Bush administration’s “diplomacy” has failed miserably.  Secretary of State Condi Rice, by putting her efforts into delivering a symbol rather than playing Realpolitik, has helped make the world a much more dangerous place.