Up To 136 Reported Dead After Blasts Near Ex-Pakistani Prime Minister Bhutto's Convoy

AP:

Former Prime Minister Benezir Bhutto, her return from exile shattered by a suicide attack that killed up to 136 people, blamed militants Friday for trying to kill her and said she would not "surrender our great nation" to them.

Bhutto said there were two attackers in the deadly bombing, and that her security guards found a third man armed with a pistol and another with a suicide vest. Ahead of her arrival, she said, she was warned suicide squads were dispatched to kill her.

Read the whole story: AP

Comments

[ceasenake]

This is considered the normal political process in the lands of the religion of peace.

[Manni]

A culture that accepts terrorism as a genuine means of foreign policy would implode from within.

[ScorchedEarth]

anyone want to go for tacos?

[Chavez08]

"Reform?..­.What a joke. She was in EXILE because they(the Pakistani Government) brought corruption charges against her. As far as their "Constitution" is concerned, it's all bullsh*t. She's back in Pakistan to protect the multi-national corporations interests and to once again steal money from the national treasury. Reform, stability, and the welfare of the Pakistani people are the furthest things from her mind."

Awesome!!! There ARE people who actually understand Neoliberalism!!!!

[Chavez08]

"you think if true democracy was established in pakistan that would result in better relations with america?"

True(er) Democracy was setup in Lebanon. You see what that brought. The people chose leaders that would fight Israel and the imperialists pillaging the planet for natural resources andn slave labor (i.e. - Reagans' Utopia we have in the U.S.)

If Democracy worked in the U.S., we wouldn't continuously elect Banker henchmen out of the same corporatist clique.

[Chavez08]

Gee! I guess they weren't too crazy about a U.S. puppet politician being forced into power via campaign fraud and cold hard cash.

Hooda thunk??

[SmellyOne]

Are you talking about Musharraf?

That was a bloodless coup...

[Ammobob]

Terrorists in training head to Pakistan

LAHORE: An increasing number of militants from Europe are travelling to Pakistan to train and plot attacks on the West, European and US anti-terrorism officials say, according to a report in the LA Times.

“There have always been people going to Pakistan, but it is more frequent now,” said a senior French intelligence official who, like others interviewed for the report, spoke on condition of anonymity. “There is a return. It is a cycle ... And you have the attractive phenomenon that all the big chiefs of Al Qaeda are there.”

[VictorLudorum]

Day before this attack or in the morning The London/Pakistan Dawn Observer Gaurdian defense anylyst Mr Ikram the same person who had lunch with me in 1981 when i visited Pakistan to affirm a F1 visa after i had taken admission for Graphic Technology Associate Bachelors Degree and announced there was no issue in USA regarding the black community although i told him that the blacks were segregated from the College i was studying.T­he whole story is about belief and when truth falls on their face they make advances to revenge. The paper also closed its forum at YahooGroups Advertising Marketting when Pakistani pass teen new generation Advertisers and Marketeers , started taking interest in my discussion.

It was Dawn that published the Cycle against a Military tank. Although the Economist Magazine replied by showing a person infront of the tank with both 'Justice in one hand and a Wealth in another but sadly they slipped out announcing more tyranny. Their concept of one man againsrt the system was another way round.....­......
Nobody is coming to attack Pakistan is head to toe watched ......The Nation has reconciled the Democratisation has strengthened the public institution although in three elections still many point errors but it is complicated at Provinces and National level and in next few days theree will be a new settlement.
I dont see any reason to fight one man although he will now be showing like Gen.France or Pinichet of Chile and these two authoritarian Deciators let Democracy to the public .The difference with Musharaff is he is not personal with anyone ..It will be upto a new higher government that comes from caretaker government that they have announced could start operating on 15th november,to call a New Constitutional Assembly and fore go the Past to let Pakistan build and rehabilitate reconstruct the partner nations devasted by wars allover the World .This is a great beginning for Pakistan ,something like 1824 when Britian won the contract to Worldwide Trade and Civil Administeration and Modernisat­ion.......­....Amen

[Ramirez]

Good point, Victor, and we can take heart in that. On the other hand the Black Book of the Admiralty of 1385 is a collection of laws, in French and Latin, relating to the English Navy. In the 'Ordinances of War of Richard II' in that book we find: "Item, qe nul soit si hardy de crier havok sur peine davoir la test coupe." The text in English that comes nearer to defining the term is Grose's History of the English Army, circa 1525: "Likewise be all manner of beasts, when they be brought into the field and cried havoke, then every man to take his part." ...Word dat.

[coyote4]

"Following the attacks of September 11th, 2001, the world's media and politicians focused understandably on terrorism. Two things need to be said here.

First,
terrorism is a small threat compared to hunger disease, or climate change.
--Three thousand died in the United States that day;
-- 25,000 die EVERY day in the world from contaminated water alone.
--Each year 20 million children are mentally impaired by malnourishment.
--Each year an area of topsoil greater than Scotland is lost to erosion and urban sprawl, much of it in Asia.

Second,
terrorism cannot be stopped by addressing symptoms and not the cause. Violence is bred by injustice, poverty, inequality, and other violence. This lesson was learnt very painfully in the first half of the twentieth century, at a cost of some 80 million lives. Of course a full belly and a fair hearing won't stop a fanatic; but they can greatly reduce the number who BECOME fanatics.

After the Second World War, a consensus emerged to deal with the roots of violence by creating international institutions and democratically managed forms of capitalism based on Keynesian economics and America's New Deal. This policy, though far from perfect, succeeded in Europe, Japan, and some parts of the Third world (Remember when we spoke not of a "war on terror" but of a "war on want"?)

To undermine that post-war consensus and return to archaic political patterns is to walk back into the bloody past. Yet that is what the New Right has achieved since the late 1970s, rewrapping old ideas as new and using them to transfer the levers of power from elected governments to unelected corporations " a project sold as "tax-cutting" and "deregulation" by the right's courtiers in the media. (e.g.: Fox)

The conceit of laissez-faire economics " THAT IF YOU LET THE HORSES GUZZLE ENOUGH OATS, SOMETHING WILL GO THROUGH FOR THE SPARROWS " has been tried many times and has failed many times, leaving ruin and social wreckage.

Ronald Wright: "A Short History of Progress."

[coyote4]

After pain and loss, a person or nation must look within for healing. 6 years after 911 and we are still lashing out -- our own life unexamined, and the wound festering and unhealed. It is time for change.
jmndodge posted 07:48 am on 10/19/2007

It's mea culpa time, folks
REPENTANCE

[Ramirez]

To the American Left, every day is "mea culpa" day.

[mimsnpips]

Very well spoken coyote, from a sparrow who knows.

[GetoffMylawn]

Why is this news?
I want to know what color underwear Britney wore today, if any.

[VictorLudorum]

In my life i fought and victoriously cheered and thanked Allah Almighty at fall of big powerfull dictators.­..
Already i fought and beat regime in 1974 and walked taller because the regimes couldnt get me on grounds they broke others .
I admire my concepts and educations acceptability today,and thank Allah Almighty for that. Whenever i superceed one detraction to face another..G­racefully i have superceeded the last detraction and am confidantly moving on.
I have spent normally around the media to further introduce the new world i created from my pocket money and respect thier problems ,After call the conferences and dinner parties they couldnt humanise or after i showed off my miracle artistry they had no response ..I have recieved applauds from the local press when i told them the new hegemony they were under.....­.In my country my generation already missed[internet] the medium i would get to promote myself . The medium did everything in its power to keep me away . The loss of publics privacy from Telecom companies and state agencies explains why isnt my watchers getting me on macromedia flash. USA has one talker /chatter apasrte from its 260 Million Pop.,. In three to six months of keeping internet paid i got no serious response although allover the world thier is no comparative political thinker noone in my class of culture glamour fashion or development science ,millions of my international peerage are being kept away from me after my post was so popular at the newyorker they posted in search Engine over 100 instances to beat the load. http://shahzadasher5.blogspot.com

Sameway NTimes stock soared higher as i wrote in its abuzz forum that the op ed's ran .Untill 2001/2 they had to bring it down after being established as number one paper ,but today they can compare it to Huffington­....

[VictorLudorum]

But there is so much to understand and believe for public that the Press is not letting them a quarter to beleive.. I say Jesus was a self organised successfull person becauyse his lord was one he served . Jesus cannot be a Jew because Jews have an established business.
But what kind of change will that be for the ope to believe that Jesus was not God or son of God although God explains in the Koran that Jesus was born King of Kings and God of Mankind. But you must believe that Jesus announced his God was The Unseen. Allah that is by definition.
I cannot believe that the Press has so much power to install in a nation that some political error is thier provider of bread ,god forbid. The nation that works and pays its bills must not be crushed under a lie.

[Huffyfan]

Mrs Bhutton asked a question during her latest Press conference , why did they cutt off electricity HOURS before the blast , they did call the authorities to complain . who cut off electricity ? Musharaf supporters ??

[mimsnpips]

The article said that they were trying to call and have the street lights put back on, but the phones were down too. Makes you wonder. There are probably more corrupt people walking the streets in Pakistan than the US, I hope.. Every person, including utility workers, especially those capable of throwing the switch must be suspect over there.

Ever watch 'Karachi Cops'? They get a 100% confession rate. No big deal if it's the wrong person. That second rate TV show will make you hold on to our precious few remaining rights.

[sdskelton03]

Islam, the religion of peace.

[SatinPanties]

That's why it is our duty as Christians to kill them all, us being peaceful and all.

[pakiman]

yeah...not everything in the muslim world has to do with religion, this is a political problem in pakistan..­.and you need to get off this racist thing...sh­ould i say christianity, the religion of pedophilia? or how about judaism, the religion of land theft? i think you know better...

[Ramirez]

Yeah, and how about Liberalism, the religion of moral equivalence?

[MagisterLudi]

Pakiman,
"yeah...no­t everything in the muslim world has to do with religion, this is a political problem in pakistan..­"

You defend your own religion, I understand. But you would serve the cause of Islam by actually making sense rather than re-stating fantasies you've read in some Islamic yellow rag.

In Addition: Israel is a country built on concepts of socialism and liberal democracy.
If you read Islamic brainwash.­. sorry I mean press you wouldn't know about it.
USA is built on the principle of separation of church and state. Do you know?
Did you know the India has democracy? Why not Pakistan? Same people,. same land.... BUT different religion.

EVERYTHING in Muslim countries has to do with religion.
This fact is THE main source of Islamic political weakness and economic devolution. Sorry...if it's an uncomfortable fact to digest,Pakiman.

Catholicism was holding up European development, Protestantism came about.
When will Muslems have their Enlightenment? Until then Muslim world would be weak and have to resort to fantasies of evil Crusaders, Mongols. Ottoman,Je­ws,Yankees to support their self-esteem.

[OckhamsElectricRazor]

Why is nobody talking about the war for Pakistan?

[Ammobob]

They're all WHINING about the religious right on the banner thread.

[JCP]

Totally tangential. But Pakistan had a woman PM? And we're supposedly not ready for one yet?

[Ammobob]

We're READY for one, just not the ANOINTED ONE. Plus, Bhutto didn't turn out so well the first time. Kinda like the Clintons. Maybe we are ready for Hilarious?

[LaFeminazi]

The Benezir Bhutto camp are already blaming Mushareff and his generals,

Benazir Bhutto today accused supporters of the former Pakistani military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq for the assassination attempt that turned her homecoming into a bloodbath.
"I know exactly who wants to kill me," she told the French magazine Paris-Match. "They are dignitaries of General Zia's former regime who are behind extremism and fanaticism­."
---

Pakistan's deputy information minister, Tariq Azim Khan, said Ms Bhutto had disregarded warnings to delay her return.

"She was given friendly advice she should delay her return," he said. "Obviously, she did not take it."
-----

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,2195027,00.html

[citizenofmars]

Bhutto blames "security forces" alligned with Pervez' government, but not the Perv himself. It's still fishy how she entered an armored car just before the twin blasts. It's fishy she pushed on with her parade in a darkened, phoneless city. Was this bombing just a big set-up by Bhutto and Pervez working together as a false-flag team? Bhutto has already pointed the finger at "Al-Qaeda" and the "Taliban", as has ABC and NBC News. She can't have it both ways. Got to be scared when a nuclear-armed "nation" like Pakistan starts false-flagging explosions. Pakistan must be seen it's rightful geo-political context- A very possible flashpoint for WWIII.

[mimsnpips]

"friendly advice", sounds like a Bush/Cheney phrase for something much stronger.