The assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto might
have been prevented had she and her husband heeded advice from friends.
Former U.S. Ambassador Curt Winsor told me he had recommended that Bhutto
accept a team of retired U.S. Navy SEALs as her bodyguards. A similar team
has effectively (so far) contributed to the protection of Afghanistan
President Hamid Karzai. According to Winsor, Bhutto deferred to her husband,
who declined the offer, believing her adoring crowds and local security
would be sufficient. It was a tragic misjudgment.
Benazir Bhutto was a strong woman. Women who are strong in the things that
matter most - courage and character - are a threat to weak men without such
traits. Some men will go to any length to oppress such women, even invoking
the "will of God" as the ultimate justification, when God wants to liberate
women (and men), not subjugate them to self-righteous sinners.
The first thing most men - and many women - noticed about Bhutto was her
striking beauty. At 54, her skin was flawless, and those dark eyes
characteristic of people from her part of the world drew in all upon whom
her gaze fell. The white head scarf added to her allure. In some ways, she
reminded one of a younger Elizabeth Taylor. She could stop conversation and
activity by entering a room. Like Taylor, Bhutto had more than political
celebrity. She had star power.
The second of her many noble qualities, like beauty that truly matters, was
more than skin deep. She had a way of moving between two worlds - East and
West; Muslim and Christian - that also threatened fanatics whose mission in
life was to kill, not build; and oppress, not liberate. She represented hope
and a future separated from a culture that wants to drown people in the
past, and this, too, was a threat to men with medieval minds. She was
educated at Harvard and Oxford. To those indoctrinated in hate and
fundamentalist religion, Bhutto was a threat to their ignorance, a pin light
in a cave of intellectual darkness.