Exiled Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto was killed in a suicide bombing today. She wasn't killed by the bombing itself, of course, she was killed by a bullet wound to the neck. Not leaving anything to chance, these Bhutto- haters! You'll recall that Bhutto had returned to Pakistan two months back after making arrangements with President Pervez Musharraf. She'd been exiled from the country after finding herself embroiled in embezzlement scandals and eventually being indicted for money-laundering in Switzerland ("Points out Jezebel resident South Asia policy expert Josh Foust of Registan.net, "That only happens if you're REALLY dirty") but her absence — and according to Bhutto herself, her growing waistline — had made the Pakistani hearts grow fonder for their onetime leader, as Musharraf's alliance with the United States against terrorism made him increasingly unpopular with the country's religious poors, and thereby increasingly unpopular with the country's civil liberties advocates, and eventually increasingly unpopular with the whole entire country.
So, was Musharraf, who'd just grudgingly conceded to share power with Bhutto and give up his army leadership position, behind the hit? That's what conspiracy theorists inside my kitchen seem to believe. But then you've gotta wonder how he did it. Did Mr. Enemy of Terrorism Musharraf contract out a suicide bomber from Al Qaeda Inc.? Or does the Pakistani Army have a top-secret suicide unit, and if so, what do you have to do to get yourself enlisted in that? Josh Foust, of Registan.net and "That's So Jane's!" columns of yore says the theory doesn't make sense. "She works much better as an opponent than as a martyr" for Musharraf, he claims. CNN seems to be focused on the question of what happens next: will they invoke military rule? (Isn't that what you would do?)