3 Essays to Read in Aftermath of Bhutto's Assassination

A very sad day.

And a scary day for any one with a familiarity with the complexity of Pakistan's politics. Note that Musharraf's approval is in the single digits (that would be under 10%). Bhutto was over 60%.

I recommend three brief articles

1. Benazir Bhutto's own statement - a blog entry - on September 1, 2007, entitled Why I'm Returning to Pakistan.
2. Steve Coll writing in The New Yorker a short piece entitled Miscalculations. (those would be Musharraf's miscalculations abetted by the Bush Administration). This piece gives a good overview of the crises facing Pakistan as of November 19th, 2007.
3. Finally Michael Hirsch, a Newsweek reporter wrote in November Dancing with the Dictator - How Bush's tight relationship with Pakistan's Musharraf has compromised the war on terror.

UPDATE: Here's Michael Hirsch today on the assassination.

UPDATED UPDATE: Here's a New York Times Op-Ed piece written by Aitzaz Ahsan and published 4 days ago, this past Sunday. Apparently he is mostly likely to replace Bhutto as head of the PPP (Pakistan's Peoples Party). He is less conciliatory to Musharraf than Bhutto was; he's been jailed by Musharaff.