Benazir Bhutto: Reality Check
Friday, December 28th, 2007
When I checked the news this morning like so many other Americans the first thing I saw was that former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had been murdered. My first reaction was to laugh. Yep, to laugh. Not because it’s funny that someone gets killed, but because how stupid does one have to be not to see exactly what was coming from five thousand miles away? Seriously? How stupid? Spend a moment with me reviewing the evidence and tell me that you’re even slightly surprised she was killed.
- She and her husband were immersed in corruption
- A number of nations had leveled corruption charges again Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari dating back to at least the early 90s.
- Poland
- Provided over 500 pages of documentation to the Pakistani government in 1999 regarding Bhutto’s receipt of illegal commissions on over 8,000 tractors that were sold. The money was then deposited through Swiss bank accounts in the name of an offshore company. Yes, the Swiss provided proof of this to Polish prosecutors.
The Polish Government has given Pakistan 500 pages of documentation relating to corruption allegations against Benazir Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari.
The couple were convicted by a Pakistani court on corruption charges last month and received five-year jail sentences and a fine of $8.5m.
But they face further trials, including one which concerns the purchase of 8,000 tractors from Poland. According to Pakistani officials, the Polish papers contain details of illegal commissions paid by the tractor company in return for agreeing to their contract.
Source and rest of the article.
Of course if Poland isn’t good enough for you there’s more…
- Switzerland
- Once again our gracious heroine found herself (and her stalwart hubby) running askew of another nations law. And in 2003 to bear this fact out the Swiss judge Daniel Devaud found them guilt and ordered they pay $50k EACH in fines and an additional two MILLION dollars to the Pakistani government. She of course claimed political motivation, but thankfully the Swiss judge (and Pakistani government) aren’t that stupid.
Investigation Judge Daniel Devaud in Geneva sentenced them to a six-month suspended jail term, fined them $50,000 each and ordered they pay more than $2m to the Pakistani Government.
He said they had illegally deposited millions of dollars in accounts in Switzerland, and ordered the money be returned to Pakistan.
Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari deny misappropriating the money, and are considering an appeal.
The BBC’s Zaffar Abbas in Islamabad says the ruling will come as a blow to the former prime minister, who has always said that corruption cases against her in Pakistan were politically motivated.
Source and rest of the article.
- France
- In 1998 French officials claim that her husband offered exclusive rights to Dassault Aviation (French military contractor) to replace the air force’s fighter jets in exchange for a five percent commission to be paid to a corporation in Switzerland controlled by Zardari. For those who are wonder what the big deal is, it amounts to a non-compete agreement in exchange for a five percent kickback. That’s the big deal. Or at least part of the big deal.
In interest of full disclosure and being honest with my readers I must say that at the time this was going on France apparently didn’t have any laws against it. They have since been changed, but regardless this just points once again to her and her husbands corrpution. - Gold trade
- In 1993 Abdul Razzak Yaqub a Dubai based Pakistani gold bullion dealer got the Prime Minister Bhutto to give him an import license. Not a big deal right? Not until you consider the fact that shortly after the license was granted he deposited at LEAST $10 million dollars into husband’s Citibank account. Of course the Citibank account was opened under a front name and not a legitimate corporation or business. His excuse? Somebody in the bank has cooperated with my enemies to make false documents” (Go ahead do a Google or Yahoo search for that exact phrase and see what you turn up).
It’s also interesting to note that gold was actually up while the rest of the market took a nose dive. I think the windbags on Wall Street call it “a correction”. Either way gold didn’t correct. I don’t know if it’s tied into this corruption issue, but it’s worth noting.
If you’d like an in-depth rundown of this womans corruption I suggest you take a look at the New York Times piece about the Bhutto’s trail of corruption
- Al Qaeda in the mix
- I know, I just know that sooner than later someone will tell me she’s a hero for standing up to Al Qaeda. She was not a hero, she was an idiot. Not because she stood up to Al Qaeda but because she was willing to put other lives in danger in order to get herself back into power and her greedy little hands on money that didn’t belong to her.
But let’s get to the point. Al Qaeda is, for lack of a better term, an organization deeply rooted in tradition extremist Islam. Islam that keeps women in the homes covered head to toe. Bhutto being the first ever woman leader in the Middle East didn’t sit too well with Al Qaeda’s view of the world. Since 1992 they have been gunning for this woman. In October they claimed to have carried out the assassination attempt against Bhutto that cost nearly 150 Pakistanis their lives.
By no means should anyone blame Al Qaeda’s actions on Bhutto (or anyone else), but if that isn’t gross negligence I don’t know what is. I mean get a clue, having a huge “home coming” parade with tens of thousands of people in attendance and knowing that odds are that Al Qaeda will be there to wreck the party is stupid. It’s as stupid as you can possibly get. I can hear it now - “Oh but she just wanted to show the people how much she loved them and how much she cared by being out there with them.” That’s the kind of “love” the world doesn’t need. Once again it was nothing short of gross negligence on her part. It’s kind of like letting a “friend” get behind the wheel and drive drunk because you’re too much of an idiot to stop them. Yeah, it’s their responsibility for getting behind the wheel, but how dare you not slap them silly.
- But the people loved her
- So what? Some people love George W. Bush and look what kind of a mess were in. Some people love Fidel Castro, but he’s nothing to write home about. Hell, I’m willing to bet there were even people who loved Adolph Hitler, and I don’t mean his family. Point is that “people loving her” is totally besides the point. It doesn’t change what she was or how dangerous her presence in the Pakistani political landscape made it for both her and her supporters.
- She was a good leader
- If being a liar and a fraud makes you a good leader then she was one of the best ever.
- She revolutionized politics in the Middle East
- Did she really? Seems to me she set them back another 100 years. Why don’t people understand that the vast majority of Middle Eastern nations are NOT READY FOR WOMEN TO LEAD. Period. The only thing that a woman leader will accomplish is getting themselves and many others killed. Don’t like it? Blame the culture because that’s a fact. Even former US ambassardor to the UN Michael Bolton said that Pakistan needs martial law right now.
He said he thinks “this tragedy should guide us now as to what we do next, which I think ought to be declaring a time-out on internal politics; let’s re-stabilize, it probably will require a period of martial law.” “But let’s keep our eyes on the prize. For the United States, that’s the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.”
Source and rest of the article.
I hate to be the asshole, but Bhutto was NOT the leader Pakistan needed. It’s so very sad that the Pakistani people forgot so quickly her lying and corruption. That’s sad, but for the rest of the world to act as if a patron saint had been killed is just disgusting. It’s criminal.