The assassination of Benazir Bhutto as imminent as it was, truly shocked me
Attempts began as soon as she returned to Pakistan, but to me these were more scare tactics then real failed plots to end her life
As contentious as the situation was (violence from extremists, martial law, protest, public unrest) she was an agent of hope for stability and change; a true woman of the people
Her demise would not only be completely senseless but for lack of a better word: counterproductive and actually this is the better word: stupid
Who knows how effective she could have been with all of these conflicting dynamics within the country, but to think that she wasn’t even given a chance is truly disheartening
It’s shocking most of all because as much as the threat loomed, I didn’t think it would happen
That Pakistan, Musharaff, Us, God, Allah whoever would allow it to occur, knowing full well the repercussions of it would undoubtedly be tumultuous
We definitely need to reevaluate what exactly we think we’re accomplishing in the “global war on terror”
Pakistan has been receiving buttloads of money that is not resulting in any semblance of counterterrorism, instead using it to bolster its military, weapons and other efforts aimed at sticking it to India
Maybe it’s the root of our patterns of thinking that we need to reevaluate
As Americans we need there to be a bad guy as much as we need there to be a good guy
And when that bad guy isn’t really bad (maybe just a president driven by a need for security)
or the good guy doesn’t prevail (but is instead shot at close range) it shatters our belief system
Even so, we don’t really want the bad guy to be truly evil
So it’s even more troubling to think that Musharaff, while not actively plotting or endorsing her elimination, would even allow a margin for the possibility to exist
Let alone have infiltrations within those assigned to guard her
The question of his complicity is hard to deal with
Either we have to come to terms with the raw, uncompromising (and often underground) manner in which power is asserted by leaders and states that we consider critical to our needs and goals
Or we have to face the fact that despite our best efforts, and those of countries who claim they’re aligned with our efforts, there are people out there who make nonsense out of political maneuvers, who don’t have any need let alone regard for hope or change or pluralism, who will undertake cold, hard attacks on anyone that is not espousing their toxic ideology; focused and insatiable in their desire to bring about their own version of what the world should be
Either way, our first step should be admitting we lost control (if we ever had it) over a world that lacks clarity, over nations of people that lack classification and identity and over ourselves and our actions that continue to grow increasingly counterintuitive and more often then not dangerous for us
Using this admission as the basis for new ways of thinking, of defining who truly is bad versus the spectrum of those within the gray area and completely throwing out any concept of “good” (as volatile environments sometimes require a departure from conventional “goodness”)
What is conventional goodness anyway?
Our nation has the audacity to define what is good while bearing a dark history
we've strayed from our own perceptions of right and wrong to serve questionable interests, and as difficult as it may be to accept, have been the cause of our own troubles
