rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2003/10/10/news/local/news01.txt
Bhutto took aim at her political rival, President Pervez Musharraf, a general who took power in a military coup in 1999. She credits Musharraf for his alliance with the Bush administration but continues to be troubled by his “military dictatorship of my country” and the U.S. backing he receives to continue it. She called his election a “mockery of justice” and said his dictatorship is “strangling our constitution.”
“I’m troubled by Gen. Musharraf’s administration,” she said. “He makes all the right noises … but is somehow unable to deliver on the ground.”
The United States should not believe that the only chance for political stability in an Islamic country is a military dictatorship, she said. That is the message Musharraf sends, and it is the wrong one, she believes.
"It is not a choice between military dictatorship or religious dictatorship," she said of Islamic countries such as her own. "Islam supports democracy, so I find it ironic that most Muslim countries today live under dictatorship."
Bhutto said the current Pakistan dictator says, “Accept me, or the beards will come in,” but she believes her supporters and other moderates have something better to offer — true democracy in a moderate, enlightened Islamic country.
Citing reports of Pakistani intelligence forces aiding al-Qaida terrorists, she said she is concerned about the Taliban and al-Qaida “finding sanctuary in my country.”
Although she won’t say that Musharraf is in collusion with forces that are sympathetic to al-Qaida or the Taliban, she does claim he has been, at best, “inefficient” in ousting them from his political circles.
Bhutto knows all too well the political problems that come from those who surround the powerful. Her own administration was charged with corruption and other scandals that many people attributed to her husband, who has been jailed in Pakistan for several years. She calls her husband a political prisoner who is a “hostage to my political career” and claims the charges, and her recent conviction in a Swiss court for money laundering, are politically motivated.
Her own political future, she said, is tied to U.S. support of democracy in Pakistan.
She wants to see the billions of dollars in U.S. military and economic aid to Pakistan linked to “genuine social and political reforms” that would guarantee free and independent elections. If that happens, her Pakistan People’s Party might be recognized as the rightful opposition party to Musharraf, which may lead to her return to the government.
Bhutto, 50, spoke glowingly of America and its political system and touched briefly on pieces of her personal story, which she recounts in her autobiography, “Destiny’s Daughter.”
“I flourished in America’s freedom,” she said, recalling her years of college education at Radcliffe and Harvard as “four of the happiest years of my life.” The Watergate scandal was her initiation into American politics, and she remembers being amazed that people could criticize a president without being thrown in jail.
Speaking of California’s recent recall election, she joked that, “You have too many elections, and we don’t have any.”
She couldn’t say whether Gray Davis or Arnold Schwarzenegger would be the better governor but remains amazed at the freedom and strengths of democracy. “It is the marvel of American politics that the people are so powerful.”
Bhutto answered questions from the audience about post-war Iraq, saying it would be a mistake for the United States to pull out too quickly. With so little legal, economic or military structure of its own in place, she believes the bloodshed that might erupt would put the violence of Rwanda and Bosnia to shame, she said.
The United Nations must play a significant role in post-war Iraq, and the sooner the better, she said.
Bhutto’s visit was sponsored by the John T. Vucurevich Foundation speaker’s series.
