Debbie Schlussel

December 27, 2007

A Niece Tells Us the Truth About "Aunt Benazir"

Did St. Benazir (Bhutto) orchestrate the murder of her brother, a vocal Parliamentary critic? His daughter, Benazir's niece--Fatima Bhutto, paints the picture. Forget Mommy Dearest. Meet (the late) Aunt Benazir:

My father was a member of Parliament and a vocal critic of his sister's politics. He was killed outside our home in 1996 in a carefully planned police assassination while she was prime minister. There were 70 to 100 policemen at the scene, all the streetlights had been shut off and the roads were cordoned off. Six men were killed with my father. They were shot at point-blank range, suffered multiple bullet wounds and were left to bleed on the streets.

Fatima Bhutto: "Aunt Benazir Assassinated My Dad, Her Brother"

My father was Benazir's younger brother. To this day, her role in his assassination has never been adequately answered, although the tribunal convened after his death under the leadership of three respected judges concluded that it could not have taken place without approval from a "much higher" political authority.
I have personal reasons to fear the danger that Ms. Bhutto's presence in Pakistan brings, but I am not alone.

Yup, sounds like a "moderate" and saint to me.

Not to mention this, some of which I mentioned in a previous post on St. Benazir:

It is widely believed that Ms. Bhutto lost both her governments on grounds of massive corruption. She and her husband, a man who came to be known in Pakistan as "Mr. 10%," have been accused of stealing more than $1 billion from Pakistan's treasury. She is appealing a money-laundering conviction by the Swiss courts involving about $11 million. Corruption cases in Britain and Spain are ongoing.

This was the ideal Bush candidate to run Pakistan? Oy.

**** UPDATE: Yes, I am aware that Fatima Bhutto's father/Benazir Bhutto's brother is no saint either. He founded the Pakistan Liberation Army a/k/a Al-Zulfikar (sorta like the Pakistani PLO) with the mentoring of Yasser Arafat, training in Beirut. The group hijacked a Paki plane in 1981. And as reader Brett points out:

When Murtaza returned to Pakistan in 1993, his mother campaigned for him, often against the official candidate of the PPP that was led by Benazir Bhutto. Murtaza won a seat as an independent in the Sindh provincial assembly. Their mother was then dumped as PPP chairman, after which she said of her daughter, Benazir "I had no idea I had nourished a viper in my breast." None of the Bhutto family qualifies for canonisation.

I agree, and that was my point in posting this. Bhutto praised homicide bombers against Israel, she hung with Arafat, and she assassinated her brother. So, when today she was murdered, it really was a case of what comes around goes around. Payback is a bitch, especially when you live by the sword. As we all know, that means you die by it.

This is a family of violent, vicious criminals, including St. Benazir. They, frankly, make Musharraf look like a libertarian.

Posted by Debbie at December 27, 2007 03:56 PM

Comments

Debbie

Fatima is right about Benazir, but nonetheless whitewashing her father's activities. Her father Mir Mortaza was an exile in Libya during Gen Zia ul Haq's regime, because of his Communist underpinnings. He returned when his sister came to power, and then things followed.

[IP: I AM NOT IN LOCKSTEP WITH THE WHITEWASH. FRANKLY, I THINK THEY ARE MOSTLY ANATHEMA, SO LET THEM ALL FINISH EACH OTHER OFF. THE LOSS OF ANY OF THEM IS NO BIG LOSS. MY POINT IN POSTING THIS WAS TO SHOW THAT BHUTTO IS AS MURDEROUS AND EXTREME AS THOSE WHO KILLED HER TODAY. KARMA--WHAT COMES AROUND GOES AROUND. THEY ARE ANIMALS, AND THEY ALL PROUDLY LIVE AS SUCH IN THAT ZOO. AUNTIE BENAZIR AIN'T NO DIFFERENT. BUT I KNOW YOU AGREE. DS]

Posted by: Infidel Pride at December 27, 2007 05:10 PM

Sounds like the Pakistanis got rid of a returning "Ayatollah" to me.

Posted by: Zoyadog at December 27, 2007 06:10 PM

It is SO DARN GOOD to see that you are thinking for yourself and not walking in lockstep with other conservative blogs on this issue. I always thought that the evidence was that she was a crook. That doesn't condone her murder, of course.

As usual, you are the one with the most guts.

Posted by: Sue Bob at December 27, 2007 06:59 PM

Thank you, Debbie, for refreshing our memory about the corruptness of Benezir Bhutto. Lately she had been quite the troublemaker in Pakistan. At this point history will be rewritten, Bhutto's past whitewashed and she will be considered a saint (or martyr?)

Posted by: lexi at December 27, 2007 08:06 PM

I wonder how the coverage would have been of her, if Bush had not been such a Musharif fan?

Posted by: Mark L. Jackson at December 27, 2007 10:59 PM

We can always count on you to give us the NO B.S. point of view on things like this. That's why we love you Debbie.

Posted by: cinerx at December 28, 2007 01:27 AM

I'm glad you wrote the truth, Debbie. She also supported the Taliban in Afghanistan and sent Pakistani forces to help them gain control. This, while she was supposedly a champion for women's rights. Hmmm.

Posted by: AmericanJewess at December 28, 2007 05:29 AM

Debbie, thanks for giving us the real lowdown here. I don't know anywhere else I could have heard the real truth.

Posted by: Facts of Life at December 28, 2007 08:19 AM

Great columns, Debbie, on this woman. I wondered what your take was on her. I have to agree with your analysis.

Question: How did ANY woman (western educated especially) get to power in an such a backward hell-hole land as Pakistan?

She doesn't seem to assume the Burkha wearing subservient role we see as normative in islamic countries where they kill persons who try to educate women at all! As a person who followed world events less closely in the past--I had a different sense that Pakistan was a more normal place because of this woman's ascension to power previously.

It seems like she would have been assassinated many years ago, the way they think and live over there. She seemed to make the many liberals in the west--who overlook all the attrocites of islam while they lecture conservatives for far less human rights issues--more effective in lowering our guard as a nation.

Posted by: BB at December 28, 2007 11:11 AM

Question: How did ANY woman (western educated especially) get to power in an such a backward hell-hole land as Pakistan? - BB

Answer: Dynasty. She suceeded her father, who was a former Prime Minister as party chief - it was simply her last name, nothing more. Today, her 19 year old son got the name Bhutto added to his name, and suceeded her as party leader.

Had she not had such a father, no way could she have made it on her own

Posted by: Infidel Pride at December 30, 2007 05:58 PM

December 27, 2007

A Niece Tells Us the Truth About "Aunt Benazir"

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