Noni Mausa: What’s With All the Shock and Surprise?

This one is by Noni Mausa…

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What’s With All the Shock and Surprise?

Is it just me, or was the assassination of Benazir Bhutto if not a foregone conclusion, at least an extreme likelihood?

In listening to the news over the past couple of days, the elements of shock and surprise had seemed to dominate the coverage. I have no idea why anybody would be surprised at this outcome, at least not anyone who has even casually followed the news in Pakistan and similar countries.

So my question is, the moment that Ms. Bhutto started up the steps into the airplane taking her back to Pakistan, was anyone planning what they would do in the event of her death? If not, why not?

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This was by Noni Mausa.

And now, a word from our sponsors… or rather, from me, cactus. From what I could tell about Pakistan and the folks running the show over there, the administration bet all its money on two kleptocratic ponies in the Pakistani Stakes. One is now dead. My experience growing up in South America tells me that its not a bad thing if the death of a kleptocrat robs an uninformed American president of the opportunity to further alienate the locals – the fact that he (or she, as the case may be) is “our son of a bitch” is something remembered by the locals long after that son of a bitch kicks the bucket and is no advancing what an uninformed President perceives US interests to be in the very short term.

Having observed ham-handed American foreign policy through something resembling local eyes, I will only add this: I won’t be at all surprised if it turns out that money we gave by the sackful to one of our pet kleptos was used for the funding, training and planning of the operation that killed another. The process is helped along by the complete obliviousness of our folks who physically hand over the cash.