Bhutto Death Threatens Democracy, Security

Violence is not new to Pakistan. The attack on Benazir Bhutto took place in the same park where Pakistan's first prime minister was assassinated, 56 years ago.

The Bush administration has spent $10 billion since 9/11 to bolster security and democracy in Pakistan. Now, it may be back to square one, reports CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews.

Ten days before her probable election, Benazir Bhutto was already among the most important leaders in the world. It was she who would legitimize a fair election in Pakistan.

She was pro-reform, anti-terror and for the most part pro-American. A grim looking President Bush expressed sorrow, not just for her family, but for democracy itself.

"The United States strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy," Mr. Bush said.

In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai, who met with Bhutto just hours before her death, described her as a martyr for democracy. Around the world, it was as if a promising moment in history had just slipped away.

"This is a sad day for democracy. It's a tragic hour for Pakistan," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Bhutto, despite a record of corruption and thirst for power, was genuinely popular in Pakistan, mostly in the southern province of Sindh. But her populist message also earned her an estimated 35-40 percent approval overall. She was hated however in the northwest frontier, along the Afghan border, a 1,500-mile stretch where tribal leaders, al Qaeda and the Taliban hold sway. Bhutto had promised to chase down the terrorists here including Osama bin Laden in a way President Musharraf never would or could.

"Benazir Bhutto was the most vigorous in her expression of clarity that she would go after al Qaeda," said Wendy Chamberlin, president of the Middle East Institute and former ambassador to Pakistan. "You don't hear any other candidates saying that. And that was why she was targeted."

But Bhutto had more enemies than just al Qaeda. She had denounced the Pakistani intelligence service, was at arms length with the army and she'd defied emergency rule under Musharraf. To her supporters, the list of suspects in her death is endless, and the risk right now is uncontrolled rage on the streets.

"What we have to watch particularly along the border regions in Peshawar as well as in Lahore and Karachi is how many people come out in the streets, how much anger there is," said CBS consultant Jere Van Dyk in Afghanistan.

For the U.S., a destabilized Pakistan is a double threat. Street violence could derail the elections and it could make vulnerable Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. Defense officials tell CBS News national security correspondent David Martin they are physically watching Pakistan's nukes.

The Pakistanis are believed to have between 50 and 75 nuclear weapons. They are stored in facilities which the U.S. helped to design to make as secure as possible, Martin reports. The weapons consist of bombs for aircraft and warheads for missiles, but they are stored in a disassembled form as an additional fail-safe. That would first have to be assembled before it would be a true nuclear weapon ready to go off.

Pakistan has long been the real front line in the global war on terror - a place where secular democrats were confronting religious extremists by trying to stage a free election.

Now the most popular of the secular democrats is dead.