Was Bhutto just a tragic victim?

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By Chris Gelken (about the author) Page 2 of 2 page(s)

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“There is going to be an enormous amount of blame going on,” Steinberg said, “Pakistan is also a country where when a crisis occurs the military invariably steps in as one of the anchors of stability.”

But will the U.S. and British governments accept the re-imposition of emergency law?

Analysts say they will have no choice; a Pakistan in chaos would be a disaster.

There is no other political force in Pakistan other than Musharraf, and if he decides to re-impose emergency law and cancel the January election, then its unlikely that Washington or London will do anything more than make mild recommendations for an early return to democracy.

“Stability,” Steinberg said, “is at a premium. I think the United States has no choice whatsoever but to support Musharraf in the sense that he is the only horse left for Washington to ride in this situation.”

It is a situation of their own creation; he said, after they, “dropped the ball after 9/11 and diverted resources and attention away from helping to bring stability to a post Taliban Afghanistan.”

Steinberg said Washington and its allies diverted massive resources into an invasion of Iraq that had nothing to do whatsoever with the events of 9/11 leaving a hopelessly inadequate force to deal with the remnants of the Taliban and the hunt for al-Qaeda.

“There are ten thousand U.S. combat troops in Afghanistan out of a total of about 30,000 NATO forces doing a job that requires a minimum of 100,000 troops. You have 90 percent of the world’s opium production coming out of Afghanistan under a joint U.S.-NATO occupation. So clearly things are going horribly wrong in that area of the world and we continue to pursue a policy based on fantasy and delusion.”

Steinberg said he isn’t optimistic for the aftermath of the assassination. “What we may find increasingly is that the Pakistan situation devolves into chaos,” he said, “I am afraid of that, I hope it won’t happen.

“I see great danger in instability ahead and I don’t see any clear definition of anyone coming out the winner in this,” Steinberg said.

“I think Washington and London bear an enormous amount of responsibility for Mrs. Bhutto’s death and the disaster that I’m afraid is going to follow.”

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