World Leaders Condemn Bhutto's Killing

Laud Pakistani Opposition Leader For Bravery; Voice Concern Over Instability In Region

(AP)  From Moscow to Washington to New Delhi and points in between, dismay and condemnation poured forth Thursday over the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, along with concern for the stability of the volatile region. World leaders lauded her bravery and commitment to democratic reform.

In India, which has fought three wars against Pakistan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Bhutto is irreplaceable, and noted she had striven to improve relations between the two nuclear-armed countries.

"I was deeply shocked and horrified to hear of the heinous assassination," Singh said. "In her death, the subcontinent has lost an outstanding leader who worked for democracy and reconciliation in her country."

Bhutto's assassination "is not only bad for Pakistan," said former Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh. "It is bad for the entire region."

In a letter to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the attack an "odious act" and said "terrorism and violence have no place in the democratic debate and the combat of ideas and programs."

Bhutto, a former two-time prime minister of Pakistan, was killed in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi just 10 weeks after she returned to her homeland from eight years in exile. A suicide attack on her homecoming parade killed more than 140 people. The articulate, poised 54-year-old had lashed out at the spread of Islamic extremism as she campaigned for next month's parliamentary elections.

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, who met Bhutto earlier on Thursday in Islamabad, said he was deeply pained by her death. He called her a "brave daughter of the Muslim world" who had "sacrificed her life, for the sake of Pakistan and for the sake of this region."

"I found in her this morning a lot of love and desire for peace in Afghanistan, for prosperity in Afghanistan and ... Pakistan," said Karzai.

The United States had been at the forefront of international efforts to promote reconciliation between Bhutto and Musharraf - who under heavy U.S. pressure resigned as army chief and lifted a state of emergency - hoping it would put Pakistan on the road to democracy.

President George W. Bush demanded that the killers be brought to justice.

"The United States strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy," he said, and expressed his deepest condolences to Bhutto's family, to the families of others slain in the attack, and to all the people of Pakistan.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also called for justice and for "all Pakistanis to work together for peace and national unity."

Pope Benedict XVI was immediately informed of the "terrible news," said the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi. "One cannot see signs of peace in this tormented region," Lombardi said.

Sarkozy urged Pakistan to hold its parliamentary elections as scheduled on Jan. 8.

In Britain, where Bhutto had attended Oxford University, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said she "risked everything in her attempt to win democracy in Pakistan and she has been assassinated by cowards who are afraid of democracy."

"The terrorists must not be allowed to kill democracy in Pakistan, and this atrocity strengthens our resolve that the terrorists will not win there, here, or anywhere in the world," Brown said.

Italian Premier Romano Prodi said he was filled with grief and called Bhutto "a woman who chose to fight her battle until the end with a single weapon - the one of dialogue and political debate."

"The difficult path toward peace and democracy in that region must not be stopped, and Bhutto's sacrifice will serve as the strongest example for those who do not surrender to terrorism," Prodi said.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, during a speech south of Santiago, paid "sincere tribute to a woman ... who fought her entire life for a better Pakistan."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the "cowardly terrorist attack ... also targets the stability and democratic process of Pakistan."

Israeli President Shimon Peres said Bhutto "feared nothing and served her country with valor."

In Moscow, Anatoly Safonov, Russian President Vladmir Putin's envoy on international cooperation against terrorism, expressed fears the assassination would trigger violent repercussions.

"The already unstable situation in Pakistan will be further exacerbated by this powerful factor," Safonov said, according to the Interfax news agency.

Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt called Bhutto's murder "bestial," adding that he feels "a strong worry for the consequences this will have for Pakistan."

[sgtrds]

Wow! You seem to be awlful full of yourself, even for a fascist! No one''''s opinion matters but yours and you obviously haven''''t the ablility to post a response to the points raised by the person you attack. Thus you resort to pure old McCarthyism.

Posted by MCVet at 07:16 AM : Dec 28, 2007

That''s one of the reasons I rarely respond to trolls like him. You show them the truth and they curse you because you''re the messenger of a truth they don''t want to see and can not refute.

[mcvet]

When a real leader like Bhutto dies there is an outpouring of grief and tributes from around the world. Someday when Bush dies the loudest sounds you''''ll hear will be coming from all of the parties of celebration.


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Posted by SgtRDS at 11:19 PM : Dec 27, 2007
+ report abuse

Yes, if we make it until then the vast majority of us will be cheering to high heaven as Sir Lies-A-Lot finally leaves Washington. Sieg Heil Bush

[Con Mohrat]

This website, http://tinyurl.com/2wsgye
has the following article:

Al-Qaeda claims Bhutto killing
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - %u201DWe terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat mujahideen.%u201D These were the words of al-Qaeda%u2019s top commander for Afghanistan operations and spokesperson Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, immediately after the attack that claimed the life of Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto on Thursday (December 27).

Interesting, that. I thought it was the natural order of things that Pakistani Presidents either get booted out into exile, or killed by their own people.

This is a new one on me. This assasination was done by Al Queda to spite America.

[sgtrds]

When a real leader like Bhutto dies there is an outpouring of grief and tributes from around the world. Someday when Bush dies the loudest sounds you''ll hear will be coming from all of the parties of celebration.

[libsluvsuvs]

Posted by SgtRDS at 10:03 PM : Dec 27, 2007
+ report abuse


***********

all you did all day is pretty much use bhutto''s coffin as a podium to scream your delussions

[libsluvsuvs]

Posted by SgtRDS at 10:03 PM : Dec 27, 2007
+ report abuse

*****

shut the fu ck up! you talk like you cared. all the name that comes out of your mouth is bush..do you even know her full name??

[sgtrds]

"President George W. Bush demanded that the killers be brought to justice."

Bush does not have the right to speak of her or mention her name. She gave her life for democracy, while his record reveals him to be nothing but a gutless coward. She was trying to bring democracy back to her country, while he constantly struggles to dismantle it in ours. She was a freedom fighter, while he is a treasonous liar and a traitor. Any story that has her name and his in the same place only shows by comparison what a great person she was and what a pathetic embarrassment he is.

[libsluvsuvs]

Posted by nikosk1 at 09:26 PM : Dec 27, 2007
+ report abuse

*******

something else to ponder..how come when anything happens liberals always think that this country is guilty??

[libsluvsuvs]

Posted by matvei1107 at 09:45 PM : Dec 27, 2007
+ report abuse

*******

sorry if i do not see ''world events'' as a comedy central type of a show

[ajaxtheleast]

Obviously Perverse The Sherrif spoke with
George Bush minutes after the assasination:

"The terriorists did this and we''re going
to capture or kill them" It works over here
why not over there?

[jsah1]

Has anyone noticed the person in the red and green baseball hat walking Bhutto down the steps to her SUV is the same person welcoming/escorting Shariff later in the day? Does this seem odd?

[downsteamjim]

ATTENTION CONSPIRACY THEORY PEOPLE: Put on your tin foil hats and try this. Hillary Clinton did it. She could not afford being compared to Ms. Bhutto. Ms. B.B.was a woman dedicated to improving her country as opposed to a woman dedicated to her Cult of Personality.

[sgtrds]

Do you really think Sgt, that anyone really pays any attention to "Smiling Jack".

Posted by waterboy1951 at 05:34 PM : Dec 27, 2007

I think that it''s unfortunate that there are still some people in the world who actually think that this buffoon speaks for America. When they see him they think all Americans are as stupid, as blood thirsty, as incompetent, as dangerous and as much of a greedy warmonger as he is. Fortunately that number is shrinking as more people come to realize that he only speaks for a tiny number of party loyalists who are no different then the robots in Germany in the 1930''s.

[libsluvsuvs]

Posted by matvei1107 at 05:51 PM : Dec 27, 2007
+ report abuse


********

what type of denial??? the type that makes a VEHICLE CRAVAN to protest this war on oil?? or the one that ''as long as i have a bumper sticker condemning the war'' he or she is exempt from guilt everytime he or she pumps gas?? or perhaps its that comfort know that there are people out there who are really trying to reach out and teach americans the lessons of extreme islamic ideology??

what type of denial would it be?

fighting for the preservation of a liberal, conservative, homosexual, heterosexual, ''i want to drive and i want cheap gasoline'' lifestyle is a good cause..dont you agree? NOT UNLESS YOU DENY THAT IT IS..

[inventagod]

haa - mah name iz georgie bu$h and I approved this... ah meen, I dint approve this killin

[libsluvsuvs]

The Democratic Ideal should never become complacent

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YES! Well put!!


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Posted by ilikecats1 at 05:57 PM : Dec 27, 2007
+ report abuse

Complacency from the DNC%u2019s constituents were pretty much shallow, unfounded and based on tabloid paranoia. The DNC knew this, used and abused this and played along getting the necessary votes to really rub it in.

[libsluvsuvs]

Posted by SgtRDS at 04:47 PM : Dec 27, 2007
+ report abuse


****************

you cried facism..never happened..you whinned about nazism ..never happened..you demanded impeachment..never happened..

pretty much you are running out of people that would agree with you. only chavez and castro agrees with you..even the far left winged liberals are starting to shy away from the same childish.baseless rants

[valentin73]

This is the same world we live in, whether in America or in the subcontinent. Nations of the world unite and fight terrorism! These evil doers'' must be stopped at all costs. The political world will not advance into the future unless the terrorists are brought down. The Democratic Ideal should never become complacent otherwise these monsters will destroy OUR world.

[waterboy1951]

Do you really think Sgt, that anyone really pays any attention to "Smiling Jack". Smiling Jack is George Bush, our disgraceful President. He thought he could make a buck in a country like Iraq, and is lossing money each day.

[sgtrds]

Bush launched a war of choice and for profit in Iraq which has cost us the loss of thousands brave soldiers and the wounding of tens of thousands more for nothing, the destruction of billions of dollars of equipment through prolonged use, the stretching of our military to the breaking point and the destruction of America''s high moral ground. He wasted our troops, military and money to the point where now when a real crisis comes up in the world our hands our tied in far too many ways. His so-called leadership has been far worse then just incredibly incompetent, it''s been murderously destructive to America and the cause of democracy in the world. He has been the single biggest disaster in America and the world since the 1930''s. He has become, rightfully so, one the most distrusted and hated men in the world.