Bhutto’s death imperils Pakistan
The assassination of Pakistani politician and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto last Thursday created even more carnage and chaos in that already chaotic country, and sent shock waves around the world.??
Bhutto was a charismatic, courageous, controversial figure in Pakistani politics??As of this writing, the details of her death are reasonably clear.??She was shot at close range by a pistol-wielding assassin, who blew himself to bits right firing the fatal shots.??She died moments later. ??However, the implications of Bhutto’s demise are yet to be measured ‘??for Pakistan, the region, and for United States foreign policy.
The death of Bhutto, horrific though it was, is not the main problem facing Pakistan.??Instead, it is but the latest in the tempestuous tenor of violence that has gripped that country for decades.??It follows earlier, unsuccessful attempts on her life since she returned from exile to her native Pakistan.
Bhutto had long been a polarizing politician.??The former two-time prime minister was dismissed twice from her post, and finally fled into exile, after being charged with corruption while in office.
As with many martyrs, Bhutto will loom larger in death than she ever did in life.
Her assassination has further complicated the contentious politics of Pakistan. Predictably, President Pervez Musharraf will bear the brunt of the blame for her death, whatever his culpability.??Outpourings of condolence for her, her family, her political party, and her followers will ignore her mortal shortcomings and focus on her as the shining symbol of Pakistan’s so far unfulfilled promise.
Western leaders, including President Bush and the panoply of 2008 presidential candidates of both parties, are already portraying her passing as another nail in the coffin of democracy.??The problem with this picture is it bears little, if any, resemblance to the harsh reality of Pakistani politics.
Nothing in Pakistani politics, past or present, bodes well for democracy in that embattled nation.??In fact, the contrary is the case.??President Musharraf has long been a polarizing figure himself.??Shedding his general’s uniform does not magically make him a statesman.??Still, he may be the best friend we have in Pakistan.??If he falls from power, violently or otherwise, our foreign policy problems in Pakistan and Afghanistan could increase exponentially.??
United States foreign policy toward Pakistan, and for that matter Iraq and Afghanistan, suffers from the na??ve notion that what is good for America is therefore good for the rest of the world.
Democracy, American-style, is touted with equal vigor by President Bush and politicians of both parties.??Seen through the prism, dimly, it is a noble goal, but no substitute for clear-thinking foreign policy.
Americans are nothing if not ethnocentric ‘??and our leaders tend to conflate freedom and democracy.??Pakistan is a classic case of how the desire for freedom does not necessarily translate into stable, sustainable democracy.??Indeed, democracy, including our own, is a fragile flower, best planted and nurtured by example.??More on conditions conducive to constitutional democracy later.
Retired Army Col. Thomas B. Vaughn can be reached by e-mail at tbvbwmi@blomand.net.