Instapundit links to this column by Phyllis Chesler who surmises that Benazir Bhutto's assassination was a political and cultural honor killing. She also makes a compelling argument that Bhutto's death is another reason why the US must not ignore the Middle East as isolationists say we should but continue to fight Islamic terrorism:
In a sense, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is a political and cultural version of an honor killing. Bhutto was the first woman Prime Minister of a Muslim nation and she symbolized an unacceptably Western form of female ambition and achievement. She had attended Harvard/Radcliffe and Oxford. She spoke English--perhaps more fluently than she spoke her native Sindi or Urdu. She once dressed as Western women do. Indeed, many Muslim women from wealthy families, including educators and feminists, have done so for a long time. They cannot do so now.I am suggesting that, as a member of the Ummah (or larger Muslim collectivity), Islamist fanatics decided that Bhutto was unacceptably and publicly too-Western, and they sentenced her to death for this sin.
Pakistan is known for its many bloody honor murders and other atrocities...
Bhutto was one of the "moderate" Muslims for whom the West yearns. Muslim fanatics murdered her in cold blood and they did so in an exquisitely planned and choreographed way. Their willingness to die in order to kill, terrorize, and impose their ideology upon others is precisely what keeps other "moderate" Muslims silent.
How far are the representatives of freedom, modernity, and human rights willing to go to end such terrorism? If we are not ready to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to free humanity from the plague of fundamentalist Islam, then we must be prepared to convert, veil, submit--or die.
Yesterday, I discussed why Ron Paul's isolationist foreign policy is a scary proposition for the US. He thinks ignoring what's going on in the Middle East is a better and safer foreign policy strategy. The assassination of Bhutto proves that he's dangerously too naive to be elected president.
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Comments (6)
Ron Paul's "policies", if e... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Justrand | December 30, 2007 12:09 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Ron Paul's "policies", if enacted, would be EXACTLY like the United States abandoning Hawaii after Pearl Harbor (which was, after all, only a "possession"), pulling all our military back here...and defending our shores from behind sandbags!
i.e. SUICIDE!
1. Posted by Justrand | December 30, 2007 12:09 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on December 30, 2007 12:09
2. Posted by J. Murtha | December 30, 2007 2:10 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
So, what's wrong with that?
2. Posted by J. Murtha | December 30, 2007 2:10 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on December 30, 2007 14:10
3. Posted by Mac Lorry | December 30, 2007 2:22 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
The message of Bhutto's assassination is lost on the left. When asked if Bhutto's assassination would change the way she votes, a liberal in Iowa said that it would and the we need to end terrorism by bringing the troops home. I laughed out loud at this display of profound ignorance being flashed across the nation by network TV. What's it going to take to wake up such voters that we are in a war we can't run away from? Bringing the troops home doesn't mean peace it means bringing the war to American soil.
3. Posted by Mac Lorry | December 30, 2007 2:22 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on December 30, 2007 14:22
4. Posted by Bill Jempty | December 30, 2007 3:05 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Chesler fails to note, Bangladesh once known as East Pakistan, has been ruled for much of the last 15 years by Khaleda ZiaThe second ever Female Muslim PM. Zia's 10 years in office exceeds Bhutto's. Bangladesh has had its share of coups and assasainations. Like Pakistan.
Chesler could be right, or she could just as easily be wrong and Bhutto's death just be the latest sign of turmoil in the West Asian nation.
4. Posted by Bill Jempty | December 30, 2007 3:05 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on December 30, 2007 15:05
5. Posted by ERS | December 30, 2007 3:09 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
I don't see Bhutto's murder as any kind of "honor" killing. She was part of a family political dynasty in which three others have already been assassinated. And all three were male.
Ellen R. Sheeley, Author
"Reclaiming Honor in Jordan"
5. Posted by ERS | December 30, 2007 3:09 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on December 30, 2007 15:09
6. Posted by Jim Addison | December 30, 2007 3:21 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
I'd agree with ERS, especially since the extremists have been trying to assassinate Bhutto since 1992. It's a stretch to portray it as a "political honor killing."
I would note that Bhutto's father was not "assassinated," though: he was hanged.
6. Posted by Jim Addison | December 30, 2007 3:21 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on December 30, 2007 15:21