Did The ISI Kill Her?

A useful reminder of what Benazir Bhutto believed was behind Musharraf's rule:

I have long claimed that the rise of extremism and militancy in Pakistan could not happen without support from elements within the current administration. My return to my country poses a threat to the forces of extremism that have thrived under a dictatorship. They want to stop the restoration of democracy at any price. They have exploited a poor, desperate, and powerless people and allowed extremists the right environment in which to flourish.

The ruling party is an artificial, political party created in the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence (Pakistan's equivalent of the CIA) during the General Elections of 2002. Its core support comes from the political partners of the military dictator of the '80s, General Zia al-Haq, who empowered the most radical elements within the Afghan Mujahedeen who went on to morph into al-Qaeda, Taliban and the Pakistani militants of today.

TPM airs the notion that it was a free-lance internal Jihadist plot. So far as I can tell from reading as much as I can today and from a few sources I have come to trust, however, al Qaeda looks like the culprit. Eli Lake has a good piece. If so, a big victory for them. And a terrible day for the forces of secularism, democracy and moderation in the Muslim world.