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US Presidential Election & Benazir Bhutto’s Death

December 28th, 2007
By SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist

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benazir bhutto

Will Benazir Bhutto’s murder impact US presidential election? If President Pervez Musharraf had nurtured any illusions that with the removal of his arch rival Benazir Bhutto he would live/rule happily ever after, the Pakistani dictator better get prepared for a gathering storm ahead. The recent assassination is likely to become a major issue in the US presidential election campaign with Hillary Clinton on Friday calling for an independent, international probe into Benazir Bhutto’s murder.

“The assassination of the former Pakistani premier was the kind of sudden, outside event with the potential to quickly roil presidential campaign plans, and revived the issues of national security and experience in the 2008 race,” reports AFP. “An unanswered question was how the shockwaves would play out in the minds of voters in Iowa, which kicks off the party nominating season with caucuses next Thursday, and New Hampshire, which has primary elections on January 8.

” ‘It is also clear the Bush policy of giving Musharraf a blank check has failed,’ Clinton said, adding a Bhutto death probe could mirror the UN inquiry into the killing of Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005.”

Will this Clinton stand force her rivals to spell out in clearer terms their take on Pakistan? Would this development also push the Bush administration to take some dramatic steps to quell the rising crescendo of allegations and counter-allegations related to the recent assassination? Or, would all this noise die out in a few days when the hysteria subsides? The next 10 days could be crucial for…?

The Telegraph of Britain states that “with less than a week before the Iowa caucus, the crucial first round of state-by-state voting that will decide the nominees for the November 2008 US presidential election, the former Pakistan prime minister’s death is being treated as the sort of event that could sway the result.

“US presidential candidates from both parties have been competing to exploit Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, using it to advertise their foreign policy experience and personal contacts with Pakistan.

“Some candidates were left embarrassed by their reactions. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, expressed ‘our sincere concern and apologies for what has happened in Pakistan’. His campaign later issued a statement saying he meant ’sympathies’ not ‘apologies’.”

The Bhutto assassination has all the potential to snowball into a major controversy if one reads the recent media reports. “It was a story CNN’s Wolf Blitzer hoped he’d never have to report – an e-mail sent to him through an intermediary by Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto complaining about her security. Conditions of use: only if she were killed.

“Bhutto, who was assassinated on Thursday, wrote to Blitzer that if anything happened to her, ‘I would hold (Pakistani President Pervez) Musharraf responsible’.” Read the full AP story here… And the CNN report here… Was she shot dead?…Read a sensational story here… And a tribute…“The Lioness Fallen”.

The media reports are clear that Bhutto assassination has shocked the world and threatens to destabilise an entire region. Rageh Omaar, who last month spent two days with the former leader of Pakistan in her home town, assesses what her death means for the future of her country, and the war on terror. Read the ‘final interview’ here…

There is another topical story “Row breaks out over Benazir Bhutto’s death” by Isambard Wilkinson, Pakistan Correspondent, and Bonnie Malkin in The Telegraph…please click here to read…

(Photo: courtesy Reuters)

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The author of this story is veteran journalist Swaraaj Chauhan who writes from India for TMV.)



This entry was posted on Friday, December 28th, 2007 at 9:32 pm and is filed under Al Qaeda, USA, Foreign Policy, Benazir Bhutto, Newsweek Blogitics, Pervez Musharraf, Foreign Politics, Pakistan, Polls, Foreign Affairs, War On Terror, George W. Bush, Terrorism, Hillary Clinton, 2008 Elections. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 
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