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Attack on Benazir Bhutto’s Convoy Kills 100, But She Survives |
by Alex Thurston :: Filed Under Middle East / South Asia :: October 18th, 2007 @ 7:12 pm EST
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In some upsetting news from Pakistan, militants attacked the convoy of Benazir Bhutto and killed about 100 people with two bombs. Bhutto, thankfully, survived. She has been taken to her residence in Karachi.
Our thoughts are with the people of Pakistan as they weather these difficult storms.
Thanks for posting, Ish. Certainly this attack has shed a negative light on Bhutto’s return, and brought an early and disastrous end to the welcome home celebration.
Not to undermine the tragedy of the event, since hundreds of innocent people are suffering as a result, but I do have one issue to raise:
I am a bit troubled, though, by the immediate assumption that organized extremists are behind the attack. Certainly, there is evidence to support such a position, as this NY Times article suggests, but I am tired of politicians perpetuating this trumped-up notion of terrorism. Instead of blaming a group of extremists, using less inflammatory language to describe the attack—call the suicide bomber an angry person with a grudge against Bhutto, for example, rather than an extremist—would certainly change the manner in which such events are regarded. Otherwise, Bhutto is spreading the terror.
Labels have a big impact on the perception of events, and politicians (especially) should be more cautious when throwing around such terms.
The only way we can hope to stop suicide bombers is to spoil their belief that they will go to heaven as a result of their actions.
If every country made it publicly known that ALL bombers (or every found part of them) would be buried wrapped in the flesh of dead pork, it may be a sufficient deterrent to aspirations of ascent to paradise!