Bhutto isn't Mandela

The media coverage of Bhutto's tragic assassination on CNN is making her out to be something she really wasn't.

The thoughts and claims that Bhutto this pro-Democratic force is off base. While by no means anti-democratic she also wasn't this huge, Nelson Mandela like pro-democracy force. She was completely and totally corrupt - managing even to piss off the Swiss banks which in itself is an accomplishment. The idea that she went into 'self-exile' is pretty far off since she either had to leave Pakistan or be arrested on corruption charges. So she left.

Going back to this idea of democracy and Bhutto, in October she cut a deal with the US and Musharraf to come back to the country. This happened because Pakistan has have an election; there's also an Islamic party whose leader was also in exile (and may have come back, I'm not sure) which the US and Musharraf do not want to take power. So the US wanting no part of this party in the election because of their Islamic ties looked else where. As a result, a deal was cut with Bhutto since she was the lesser of two evils (btw her party either leans towards or is socialist - gots to love that go Communism says the USA!). Basically, the US in an attempt to prevent an Islamic government from taking over in Pakistan (which would be a complete and total disaster) decided to throw their support towards the socialist party. A moth ago this Islamic party, the Pakistan Muslim League, called off their boycott of the election to take place on the 8th of January. A lot of this - I believe - was being done to split the vote and allow Musharraf to stay in power. The US can't lose Pakistan as an ally and they knew at the same time that Pakistan couldn't be an undemocratic country.

I have no clue what Bhutto's death will lead to or what it 'means'. Will the elections be delayed? Will Musharraf declare emergency powers? Who knows. Hopefully it ends peacefully.