Politicians Don't Care About You (Pakistani Edition)

clipped from www.nytimes.com Bomb Attack Kills Scores in Pakistan as Bhutto Returns KARACHI, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 19 — Two bombs exploded Thursday just seconds apart and feet from a truck carrying the returning opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, narrowly missing her but killing scores of people and bloodying her triumphal homecoming after eight years in exile. The bombs killed 134 people and wounded 450, according to the home secretary of Sindh Province, Ghulam Mohatarem. Before the explosions sundered the celebration, thousands of supporters and workers from her party had lined Ms. Bhutto’s route, waving banners and surging forward for a glimpse of the opposition leader. Many danced in the road. This disgusts me and I hate to overstate this because clearly the bad guys here are the extremists who tried to kill former Prime Minister Bhutto; however, she was warned that this may happen. Pakistani security requested that she take a 10 minute helicopter ride to her destination instead of a 10 HOUR bus ride. This made her a slow moving target for attacks and put at risk the 200,000+ Pakistanis who rallied in the streets around her. Scores died so she could have a parade in honor of her. I wish her the best of luck in trying to restore true democracy to Pakistan while also stamping out extremism. I also hope that in the future, she will consider the safety of her people over her own personal political aggrandizement. Shameful.