memeorandum: Forner Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto Laid To Rest As Violence Sweeps Pakistan (Sky News)

10:50 AM ET, December 28, 2007

Top Items:

Bhutto's Assassination Deals Blow to U.S. Goal for Pakistan — The assassination today of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto is a major blow to the U.S. goal of stabilizing Pakistan, a volatile ally with nuclear weapons that has served as a frontline against extremism since the Sept. 11 …

Discussion: Canadian Press, The Newshoggers, New York Times, CANNONFIRE, ac360blog, Power Line, Associated Press, Political Radar, Guardian, Prairie Weather, Radio Iowa, Make Them Accountable, Reuters, Daily Kos and TIME

CNN:

Officials: Al Qaeda claims it killed Bhutto — WASHINGTON (CNN) — The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin Thursday citing an alleged claim of responsibility by al Qaeda for former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination, a DHS official told CNN.

Sweetness & Light:

Hillary: I've Know Mrs. Bhutto Many Years — From a campaign press release: … She just can't help herself: … Sure she did. — From Hillary's (ghostwritten) autobiography, Living History, pp 322-4: … That's it. An official luncheon and a little “private conversation” afterwards.

Discussion: TownHall Blog, BitsBlog, Wonkette and TalkLeft

Juan Cole / Salon:

With Bhutto gone, does Bush have a Plan B? — Bush's failed policies in Pakistan, a nuclear power that al-Qaida still uses to plot against the West, threatens U.S. security more than Iraq ever did. — Supporters of Benazir Bhutto protest her assassination Thursday after setting a bank …

Discussion: The Washington Note, TPMmuckraker and Hullabaloo

Saeed Shah / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Attendee at Bhutto rally: ‘There was pandemonium’ — RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — It was on the drive out of the downtown park that the assassin fired the fatal bullets at Benazir Bhutto. — The election rally had been long and lackluster, but on viewing the crowd gathered at the gates of Liaquat Bagh park …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Rising Hegemon and TPMmuckraker

Comment is free:

Plan B for Pakistan — The US had placed its hopes for Pakistan in Benazir Bhutto. Now it must prevent her death from becoming a victory for al-Qaida — The closing scene of Benazir Bhutto's life had a shocking aura of inevitability. The identity of the motorbike-riding assassin …

Discussion: Macsmind and Counterterrorism Blog

Robert Parry / Consortiumnews.com:

Pakistan Is ‘Central Front,’ Not Iraq — The chaos spreading across nuclear-armed Pakistan after the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is part of the price for the Bush administration's duplicity about al-Qaeda's priorities, including the old canard that the terrorist group regards Iraq …

Discussion: Brilliant at Breakfast

Mark R. Levin / The Corner:
Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron & America's Enemies

Discussion: HillaryClinton.com

Sky News:
Forner Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto Laid To Rest As Violence Sweeps Pakistan

Discussion: Gateway Pundit and CNN

Griff Witte / Washington Post: Thousands Mourn Bhutto As Unrest Spreads

Time:
Where Bhutto's Death Leaves the U.S.

Discussion: Early Warning, Newsweek, Say Anything and Hot Air

Washington Post:
Clinton, Obama Seize on Killing

Discussion: Boston Globe, MSNBC, New York Times, The Caucus, IraqPundit, CNN Political Ticker, The Huffington Post, CNN, ac360blog, CBS News, The Page and The Heretik

Scarecrow / Firedoglake:
Did Bush Risk Bhutto To Save Musharraf?

Discussion: Guardian and Pacific Views

New York Times:
Salvaging U.S. Diplomacy Amid Division

Discussion: Ross Douthat, The Moderate Voice, TIME, The Washington Note, PBD, Booman Tribune, alicublog, TPMmuckraker, The Trail, konagod and AMERICAblog

Gail Sheehy / PARADE Magazine:
‘A Wrong Must Be Righted’

Discussion: New York Times, CNN, Pat Dollard, LewRockwell.com Blog and Jay Currie

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
The Legacy of Benazir Bhutto

Discussion: The People's Republic …

Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
BENAZIR BHUTTO, 1953-2007. — The sternest critic of Benazir Bhutto …

Discussion: Sigmund, Carl and Alfred, American Thinker, Bloomberg and Flopping Aces

NPR:
Bhutto Assassination Sparks Violence in Pakistan

Discussion: Blogs of War

Peggy Noonan / Opinion Journal:

Be Reasonable — As Iowa sizes up the candidates, so do I. — By next week politically active Iowans will have met and tallied their votes. Their decision this year will have a huge impact on the 2008 election, and a decisive impact on various candidacies. Some will be done in. Some will be made.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Liberal Values, Outside The Beltway, The Carpetbagger Report, Macsmind, Blue Crab Boulevard and Booman Tribune

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Peggy Noonan is a serious “grown-up” — In her Wall St. Journal column today, Peggy Noonan offers up a Santa-like checklist of which presidential candidates are “reasonable” and which ones aren't. In describing the attributes that Americans want in a President, she says: “I claim here to speak for thousands, millions.”

Discussion: protein wisdom and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Patrick Healy / New York Times:

Iowa Saturated by Political Ads — DES MOINES — One week before Iowa kicks off the presidential nomination contest, the campaigns are spending three times as much money flooding the airwaves and the Internet as candidates did in 2004, hoping to sway the huge number of undecided voters after months of on-the-ground appeals.

Discussion: The Swamp, Bloomberg and MSNBC

Janet Hook / Los Angeles Times:
Obama catches Clinton in N.H.; Iowa remains a 3-way contest

Discussion: The Politico, TIME, The Caucus, Blue Crab Boulevard and TalkLeft

Janet Hook / Los Angeles Times:
Obama runs even with Clinton in two key states

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Weekly Standard, Captain's Quarters, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Democratic Strategist, Riehl World View, CNN, TPM Election Central, MyDD, Pollster.com, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, Mike Huckabee for President and Ben Smith's Blogs

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Trouble With Trade — While the United States has long imported oil and other raw materials from the third world, we used to import manufactured goods mainly from other rich countries like Canada, European nations and Japan. — But recently we crossed an important watershed …

Discussion: Angry Bear, Make Them Accountable, Prairie Weather and naked capitalism

New York Times:

Under Attack, Drug Maker Turned to Giuliani for Help — In western Virginia, far from the limelight, United States Attorney John L. Brownlee found himself on the telephone last year with a political and legal superstar, Rudolph W. Giuliani. — For years, Mr. Brownlee and his small team …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, DownWithTyranny!, Cliff Schecter, PointOfLaw Forum and MSNBC

Sarah Abruzzese / New York Times:

Military Paper Challenges Defense Dept. — WASHINGTON — Top editors at the military newspaper Stars and Stripes are asking for full disclosure of the paper's relationship with a Department of Defense publicity program, called America Supports You, after disclosures that money for the program was funneled through the newspaper.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker and Romenesko

—Mf / Monkeyfister:

The 2007 Golden Monkeyfist Awards... Finally! — The big awards are here, and I am ever humbled by the incredible lot of excellent consonant-level, unsung, Progressive blogs out there. I honestly wish that I had time for more awards, but, we all have real jobs, and only so much time in a day to read new blogs.

E. Scott Reckard / Los Angeles Times:

Defaults moving beyond sub-prime — Joan Olsen, a retired welfare worker, fears she'll join the ranks of the delinquent. She said she didn't fully understand the loan terms when she refinanced her San Diego condominium 15 months ago with an option ARM. “I have no one but myself to blame …

Discussion: Eschaton