And You Think You Need To Make New Years Resolutions?

From Judicial Watch, the “10 Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” of 2007.

This years winners (losers) include presidential candidates from both parties and other assorted and well known professional politicians.

Washington, DC –Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2007 list of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians.”  The list, in alphabetical order, includes:

1. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY): In addition to her long and sordid ethics record, Senator Hillary Clinton took a lot of heat in 2007 – and rightly so – for blocking the release her official White House records. Many suspect these records contain a treasure trove of information related to her role in a number of serious Clinton-era scandals. Moreover, in March 2007, Judicial Watch filed an ethics complaint against Senator Clinton for filing false financial disclosure forms with the U.S. Senate (again). And Hillary’s top campaign contributor, Norman Hsu, was exposed as a felon and a fugitive from justice in 2007. Hsu pleaded guilt to one count of grand theft for defrauding investors as part of a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme.

2. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI): Conyers reportedly repeatedly violated the law and House ethics rules, forcing his staff to serve as his personal servants, babysitters, valets and campaign workers while on the government payroll. While the House Ethics Committee investigated these allegations in 2006, and substantiated a number of the accusations against Conyers, the committee blamed the staff and required additional administrative record-keeping and employee training. Judicial Watch obtained documentation in 2007 from a former Conyers staffer that sheds new light on the activities and conduct on the part of the Michigan congressman, which appear to be at a minimum inappropriate and likely unlawful. Judicial Watch called on the Attorney General in 2007 to investigate the matter.

3. Senator Larry Craig (R-ID): In one of the most shocking scandals of 2007, Senator Craig was caught by police attempting to solicit sex in a Minneapolis International Airport men’s bathroom during the summer. Senator Craig reportedly “sent signals” to a police officer in an adjacent stall that he wanted to engage in sexual activity. When the police officer showed Craig his police identification under the bathroom stall divider and pointed toward the exit, the senator reportedly exclaimed ‘No!’” When asked to produce identification, Craig presented police his U.S. Senate business card and said, “What do you think of that?” The power play didn’t work. Craig was arrested, charged and entered a guilty plea. Despite enormous pressure from his Republican colleagues to resign from the Senate, Craig refused.

4. Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA): As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on military construction, Feinstein reviewed military construction government contracts, some of which were ultimately awarded to URS Corporation and Perini, companies then owned by Feinstein’s husband, Richard Blum. While the Pentagon ultimately awards military contracts, there is a reason for the review process. The Senate’s subcommittee on Military Construction’s approval carries weight. Sen. Feinstein, therefore, likely had influence over the decision making process. Senator Feinstein also attempted to undermine ethics reform in 2007, arguing in favor of a perk that allows members of Congress to book multiple airline flights and then cancel them without financial penalty. Judicial Watch’s investigation into this matter is ongoing.

5. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-NY): Giuliani came under fire in late 2007 after it was discovered the former New York mayor’s office “billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses amassed during the time when he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan in the Hamptons…ABC News also reported that Giuliani provided Nathan with a police vehicle and a city driver at taxpayer expense. All of this news came on the heels of the federal indictment on corruption charges of Giuliani’s former Police Chief and business partner Bernard Kerik, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to accepting a $165,000 bribe in the form of renovations to his Bronx apartment from a construction company attempting to land city contracts.

6. Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR):  Governor Huckabee enjoyed a meteoric rise in the polls in December 2007, which prompted a more thorough review of his ethics record.  According to The Associated Press: “[Huckabee’s] career has also been colored by 14 ethics complaints and a volley of questions about his integrity, ranging from his management of campaign cash to his use of a nonprofit organization to subsidize his income to his destruction of state computer files on his way out of the governor’s office.” And what was Governor Huckabee’s response to these ethics allegations? Rather than cooperating with investigators, Huckabee sued the state ethics commission twice and attempted to shut the ethics process down.

7. I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby: Libby, former Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000 for lying and obstructing the Valerie Plame CIA leak investigation. Libby was found guilty of four felonies — two counts of perjury, one count of making false statements to the FBI and one count of obstructing justice – all serious crimes. Unfortunately, Libby was largely let off the hook. In an appalling lack of judgment, President Bush issued “Executive Clemency” to Libby and commuted the sentence.

8. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL): A “Dishonorable Mention” last year, Senator Obama moves onto the “ten most wanted” list in 2007. In 2006, it was discovered that Obama was involved in a suspicious real estate deal with an indicted political fundraiser, Antoin “Tony” Rezko. In 2007, more reports surfaced of deeper and suspicious business and political connections It was reported that just two months after he joined the Senate, Obama purchased $50,000 worth of stock in speculative companies whose major investors were his biggest campaign contributors. One of the companies was a biotech concern that benefited from legislation Obama pushed just two weeks after the senator purchased $5,000 of the company’s shares.  Obama was also nabbed conducting campaign business in his Senate office, a violation of federal law.

9. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who promised a new era of ethics enforcement in the House of Representatives, snuck a $25 million gift to her husband, Paul Pelosi, in a $15 billion Water Resources Development Act recently passed by Congress. The pet project involved renovating ports in Speaker Pelosi’s home base of San Francisco.  Pelosi just happens to own apartment buildings near the areas targeted for improvement, and will almost certainly experience a significant boost in property value as a result of Pelosi’s earmark. Earlier in the year, Pelosi found herself in hot water for demanding access to a luxury Air Force jet to ferry the Speaker and her entourage back and forth from San Francisco non-stop, in unprecedented request which was wisely rejected by the Pentagon. And under Pelosi’s leadership, the House ethics process remains essentially shut down – which protects members in both parties from accountability.

10. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV): Over the last few years, Reid has been embroiled in a series of scandals that cast serious doubt on his credibility as a self-professed champion of government ethics, and 2007 was no different. According to The Los Angeles Times, over the last four years, Reid has used his influence in Washington to help a developer, Havey Whittemore, clear obstacles for a profitable real estate deal. As the project advanced, the Times reported, “Reid received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Whittemore.” Whittemore also hired one of Reid’s sons (Leif) as his personal lawyer and then promptly handed the junior Reid the responsibility of negotiating the real estate deal with federal officials. Leif Reid even called his father’s office to talk about how to obtain the proper EPA permits, a clear conflict of interest.

We’d like to add Senator Edward Kennedy to this years list but apparently he managed to deal with some of his more recent ‘misunderstandings.’

• He had his mother declared a resident of Florida to avoid Massachusetts estate taxes, despite her not having left the Bay State in well over a decade.
• He had to pay hefty back taxes after it was revealed he had declared his DC home his “primary residence” for tax purposes, essentially nullifying his Massachusetts residency — and, consequently, disqualifying himself from representing the state in the Senate.
• Massachusetts has a two-tiered income tax. The base rate is 5.3%, but those who feel they “owe” the state more can choose to file at the 5.8% level. Less than one one-hundredth of one percent of taxpayers choose to pay more — and neither senator, Kennedy or John Forbes Kerry, choose to pay that higher rate.

Care to discuss Chappaquiddick, Teddy?

Hillary Soul Mate Bhutto: “Supporters are chumps and loonies”

Hillary Clinton has made it clear in no uncertain terms that she and Benazir Bhutto were more than two passing ships in the dark.

“I am profoundly saddened and outraged by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, a leader of tremendous political and personal courage. I came to know Mrs. Bhutto over many years, during her tenures as Prime Minister and during her years in exile.  Mrs. Bhutto’s concern for her country, and her family, propelled her to risk her life on behalf of the Pakistani people. She returned to Pakistan to fight for democracy despite threats and previous attempts on her life and now she has made the ultimate sacrifice. Her death is a tragedy for her country and a terrible reminder of the work that remains to bring peace, stability, and hope to regions of the globe too often paralyzed by fear, hatred, and violence.

Let us pray that her legacy will be a brighter, more hopeful future for the people she loved and the country she served. My family and I extend our condolences and deepest sympathies to the victims and their families and to the people of Pakistan.”

Were they political soul mates?

Maybe. One has to wonder why Senator Clinton would be so close to someone who referred to her supporters as ‘chumps and loonies.‘

Now that Benazir Bhutto’s son has been crowned as her heir apparent, can Chelsea Clinton’s political debut’ be far behind?

A shy 19-year-old, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, took centre stage in Pakistan’s tumultuous and bloody politics yesterday, speaking in English and saying: “My mother always said democracy is the best revenge…”

With him, as chairman, is his highly controversial father Asif Zardari, who will run the party until Bilawal graduates – and most probably long after that. He is only in his first-term at Christ Church, the grandest of the colleges, reading history. Both mother and grandfather studied at Oxford.

Note that Bhutto’s famously corruption magnet husband, will be ‘running the show’ for the foreseeable future.

The Best Of PMS

As 2007 winds down, MHNN would like to take this opportunity to pretend that we care about you and the pathetic, pointless, meaningless and empty lives you lead.

With that in mind, we at MHNN would like to wish you and yours an upcoming year filled with oxygen and the continued ability to make use of that gift. Admittedly, we believe that the world and Al Gore would be better served if some of you blocked at least one nostril, so as not to waste too many of our precious resources. When it comes to some of you, Peter Singer makes a very valid case.

To close out 2007, MHNN would like to offer some of the best PMS clinical observations and interventions of the past year.

‘Hello, I’m a dysfunctional leader’

‘I look so much bigger in the official photos’

Group Session Insights With Arab Leaders

PMS and Mahmoud

Don Imus Other Meeting

Hollywood Nuts For Sanity

Begin the New Year with a bang. This week’s Carnival of the Insanities can be found here.

Poems, Taxes, Pressing 1

Tax his land,
Tax his wage,
Tax his bed in which he lays.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes is the rule.
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,
Tax his shirts,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he tries to think.

Tax his booze,
Tax his beers,
If he cries,
Tax his tears.

Tax his bills,
Tax his gas,
Tax his notes,
Tax his cash.

Tax him good and let him know
That after taxes, he has no dough.

If he hollers,
Tax him more,
Tax hi m until he’s good and sore.

Tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in which he lays.
Put these words upon his tomb,
‘Taxes drove me to my doom!’

And when he’s gone,
We won’t relax,
We’ll still be after the inheritance TAX!!

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Perm it Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax),
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax),
Liquor Tax,
Luxury Tax,
Marriage License Tax,
Medicare Tax,
Property Tax,
Real Estate Tax,
Service charge taxes,
Social Security Tax,
Road Usage Tax (Truckers),
Sales Taxes,
Recreational Vehicle Tax,
School Tax,
State Income Tax,
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA),
Telephone Federal Excise Tax,
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fe e Tax,
Telephone Federal, State and Local Su rcharge Tax,
Telephone Minimum Usage Su rcharge Tax,
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax,
Telephone  State and Local Tax,
Telephone Usage Charge Tax,
Utility Tax,
Vehicle License Registration Tax,
Vehicle Sales Tax,
Watercraft Registration Tax,
Well Permit Tax,
Workers Compensation Tax.

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom was able  to stay home to raise the kids.

What happened?  Can you spell ‘politicians!’

Please ‘press 1′ to continue in English.

Background On Pakistan:”Why Bhutto and the Elites Hate Musharaf”

From the WSJ, January 14, 2007.

Why Bhutto and the Elites Hate Musharaf

As prime minister of Pakistan, Ms. Bhutto proved to be one of the most incompetent leaders in the history of South Asia and was dismissed in November 1996 by Pakistan’s president for what he called her regime’s “nepotism, corruption” and “mismanagement.” During her chaotic administration in the mid-1990s scores of people were being murdered in the streets of Karachi every day.

Her return to power, or that of her Pakistani People’s Party, would almost certainly trigger a return to anarchy and open the door to a Taliban-style fundamentalist coup. Ms. Bhutto dismisses this possibility as “nonsense,” asserting that “more than two-thirds of Pakistanis are distinctly moderate” in their religious views.

The same appeared true of Iranians in 1979 as well. But when Iranian liberals and human rights activists convinced the U.S. to withdraw support from the shah, just as today’s Pakistani liberals are urging us to do to Gen. Musharraf, the result was Ayatollah Khomeini.

Khomeini’s Tehran successors would do anything to bring a similar radical Islamic republic to power across the border in Pakistan — especially if it meant gaining access to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

The current hatred of Gen. Musharraf has little to do with the nature of his government. His real “crime” is that he is a Muhajir, the son of one of millions of Indian Muslims who fled to Pakistan during partition in 1947. Although it was Muhajirs who agitated for the creation of Pakistan in the first place, many native Pakistanis view them with contempt and treat them as third-class citizens.

Ms. Bhutto herself, as prime minister in the summer of 1995, referred to Pakistan’s Muhajirs as “rats” and said they had “bad blood.” In an interview with India Today, a Muhajir spokesman responded that “we have bad blood; it was this blood that built this country.”

Even for Western-educated Pakistanis like Ms. Bhutto (the scion of an elite Sindhi family), the sight of a common Muhajir like Gen. Musharraf as Pakistan’s supreme power holder is intolerable. Pushing for his fall has little to do with “a return to democracy.” It is far more a matter of restoring Pakistan’s equivalent of Jim Crow.

Gen. Musharraf has not only been a good ally for America, he has been good for Pakistan: Per-capita wealth and income have advanced significantly; tensions with India over Kashmir, which at one point in 1999 led Pakistan to the brink of nuclear war, have eased. At considerable risk to himself, Gen. Musharraf has tried to rein in the forces of jihadism and end foreign support for fundamentalist madrassas.

His regime has hardly been perfect. However, compared with the Maliki government in Iraq, its record is impressive, especially in fostering a safe, relatively open and secular Pakistan. Yet it is precisely that Pakistan that the country’s liberal elites now want to put at risk, thanks to their hatred of Gen. Musharraf. Ms. Bhutto’s column is not only an exercise in hypocrisy, it is a display of short-sightedness on a massive and tragic scale.

The article was written by Arthur Herman.

See Fausta’s complete Bhutto roundup. It’s a great resource.

The OTHER Kind Of American

She’s no Britney Spears or Paris Hilton. She is the other kind of American.

Hundreds of Cambodian villagers welcomed the arrival of a new school Wednesday, a gift from an American teenager who raised $52,000 after reading about the hardships of growing up in Cambodia.

Rachel Rosenfeld, 17, made her first visit to the Southeast Asian country for the opening of the R.S. Rosenfeld School, which brings five computers and Internet access to 300 primary school students in a small village of Siem Reap province, a poverty stricken area that is home to the country’s famed Angkor Wat temple complex.

Rosenfeld, of Harrison, N.Y., said she learned about the village of Srah Khvav after reading a newspaper article last year that discussed the plight of poor Cambodian children who often have no access to education. The American said she was horrified to learn that some young Cambodian girls end up being sold into prostitution by their parents.

The teen said she set out to help after spending most of last year battling a stomach disorder that caused her constant pain. She required months of medical treatment that forced her to miss a year of school.

To raise money, Rosenfeld sent out hundreds of fundraising letters, sold T-shirts and offered naming rights for several structures in the school. The $52,000 she raised was supplemented by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, which contributed $10,000 and $13,000, respectively, said her mother, Lisa Rosenfeld.

“It makes me feel great to know that I was able to help so many people,” the teen said. “Just seeing everyone so happy. It meant a lot to me.”

She was accompanied by her parents, grandparents and her brother and sister.

Children in white shirts and navy pants, the Cambodian school uniform, stood in two neat lines and clapped as Rosenfeld and her family arrived. The students pressed their palms together in a sign of respect and thanks.

Ung Serei Dy, an education official from Siem Reap province, said the school was only one of two in the village.

“The school donated by Rachel Rosenfeld is very important to us,” he said, adding that she had “set a standard that all of us should learn from.”

Others have joined in the effort to build schools in Cambodia.

In upstate New York, Hamilton College instructor Chris Willemsen led a fund-raising drive to build a school in a village in the province of Kompong Thom. Her group worked with American Assistance for Cambodia, a nonprofit organization that has built nearly 400 schools in rural Cambodia since 1999.

Clearly, there are other Mamacitas out there. Thank goodness for that!

“..Pakistan is not Myanmar, and Bhutto is no Aung San Suu Kyi, Bhutto’s Link to The ‘Oil For Food’ Scandal And Hillary

Was it Al Qaeda that killed Bhutto? Maybe their dislike for Bhutto wasn’t only about politics. In a region renowned for corruption, Benazir Bhutto may have been a better thief than she was a politician. Well known historian Arthur Herman referred to her as “One of the most incompetent leaders in the history of South Asia.”

From The Guardian:

…Bhutto’s regime is remembered for having one of the worst human rights records in Pakistan’s history, and her government did not allow the media freedoms she criticizes Musharraf for crushing.

…The controversy surrounding Bhutto’s financial affairs has been compounded by reports showing she and her family have worldwide assets worth about 90bn Pakistan rupees ($1.5bn). Despite voluminous evidence, some from the British government, the Bhuttos deny all the charges.

The authoritative Volker report into the oil-for-food scandal identified the company Petroline FZC as having received oil contracts worth £145m in return for paying illicit surcharges to Iraq of $2m.

…Pakistan’s national accountability bureau has produced documents which show that Bhutto was the company chairwoman…

Zardari denied, for eight years, that he was the owner despite instructing a builder with plans for a helipad, nine-hole golf course and polo pony paddock.

Crates of valuable artifacts were shipped from Karachi. In 2004, when creditors forced the property into a liquidation sale, the Pakistani government claimed the proceeds. Lawyers for Zardari then appeared, claiming he was the beneficial owner.

…Some of the profits went to firms in Spain, where another criminal investigation into money laundering is still active.

Naturally, Hillary Clinton is at the fore in the Benazir Bhutto beatification process.

Sweetness and Light notes candidate Clinton’s remarks:

“I am profoundly saddened and outraged by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, a leader of tremendous political and personal courage. I came to know Mrs. Bhutto over many years, during her tenures as Prime Minister and during her years in exile. Mrs. Bhutto’s concern for her country, and her family, propelled her to risk her life on behalf of the Pakistani people. She returned to Pakistan to fight for democracy despite threats and previous attempts on her life and now she has made the ultimate sacrifice. Her death is a tragedy for her country and a terrible reminder of the work that remains to bring peace, stability, and hope to regions of the globe too often paralyzed by fear, hatred, and violence.

“Let us pray that her legacy will be a brighter, more hopeful future for the people she loved and the country she served. My family and I extend our condolences and deepest sympathies to the victims and their families and to the people of Pakistan.”

The author of the post goes on-

She just can’t help herself…

That’s it. An official luncheon and a little “private conversation” afterwards.

But it’s not quite the stuff of “I came to know Mrs. Bhutto over many years, during her tenures as Prime Minister and during her years in exile.”

Of course the Hillary camp has quickly rushed out a photograph of their (one and only) historic meeting…

Still, now that Ms. Bhutto is dead Hillary will have no one to contradict her self-serving fantasies.

Read the entire post here. It’s a keeper.

We wrote

One Kos blogger notes Bhutto’s record and the connection that Mark Penn, Hillary’s chief strategist and pollster has forged with the front running Democrat candidate…

As we all have read, Pervez Musharraf as imposed martial law in Pakistan. Pakistan is a country of the utmost strategic importance, and the right balance of cooperation and pressure must be used to ensure that it grows into a stable democracy. And, whoever is President will have to exercise clear-headed, sound judgment for the sake literally of the entire planet.

Therefore, it is deeply disturbing that Mark Penn’s lobbying and polling firms are taking fat monthly checks from Benazir Bhutto, a main rival of Musharraf.

…Let us be clear what is going on hear. The chief strategist for Hillary Clinton is also involved with efforts by a foreign political party to gain influence in Washington D.C. [emp- SC&A]

…Aside from the International Culture of Corruption this points to, this is disturbing in other ways:

How can Hillary Clinton claim to have clear, unbiased judgment on Pakistan when her chief strategist has a vested interest in seeing one party return to power there? Is she issuing statements because that is what she believes, or because her chief strategist is biased in that regard?

If Bhutto does return to power, will she not be seen as a puppet of Hillary Clinton in Pakistan and elsewhere?

US lobbying firms working on behalf of foreign governments trying to influence US policy is bad enough. But, this unseemly fusion between lobbyist/PR and political figure is incredibly damning. Is Benazir Bhutto effectively getting a 2-1 deal on her money? Mark Penn is available to the highest bidder–do we really want someone whose business it is to shill on behalf of loathsome figures and who is a conflict of interest with feet shaping the policy of our next nominee?

Apparently, Hillary had no problem with Pakistan’s Arafat. Why isn’t that surprising?

Deconstructing The Myth Of Benazir Bhutto

We noted yesterday that

It may be in our political interest to play along and support a mythology that elevates Benazir Bhutto, for the time being, in the same way we gave Arafat a certain status he did  not deserve. Certainly, political candidates on the stump are bestowing sainthood status on Benazir Bhutto faster than they did for Mother Teresa.

For an excellent take on events Pakistan, see Unqualified Reservation (h/t Fausta)

Political power in Pakistan is shared among a huge variety of parties, gangs, cliques, alliances, mafias, liberation fronts, Islamic sects, human-rights groups, military units, and the like. All of them have one goal: to maximize their capture of the economic production of the Indus River basin…

…the Pakistani movements are presently aligned in three major factions. None of these factions has yet been able to defeat either of the others. However, each has its own vision of a Pakistan in which it prevails totally, and any of them could win..

…it is not a secret that Bhutto herself was a mob queen, at least that many of her associates were gangsters, but the Westernists had an easy solution for this. If they needed to come across as especially clean and sweet and true, they could just condemn Bhutto as a mob queen. She was not offended, at least not unusually offended. You think she didn’t know she was a gangster? So, for example, this article…

Read the entire piece. It’s a keeper.

Hitchens on Bhutto:

Her tenure ended—as did her subsequent “comeback” tenure—in a sorry welter of corruption charges and political intrigue, and in a gilded exile in Dubai.

…when she was prime minister, she pursued a very active pro-Taliban policy, designed to extend and entrench Pakistani control over Afghanistan…The fact of the matter is that Benazir’s undoubted courage had a certain fanaticism to it.

…Zulfikar Bhutto was an autocratic opportunist, and this family tradition was carried on by the PPP, a supposedly populist party that never had a genuine internal election and was in fact—like quite a lot else in Pakistan—Bhutto family property.

No wonder she and Hillary Clinton were so close.

Via Ace, comes this dose of reality from Mark Steyn:

She was beautiful and charming and sophisticated and smart and modern, and everything we in the west would like a Muslim leader to be - though in practice, as Pakistan’s Prime Minister, she was just another grubby wardheeler from one of the world’s most corrupt political classes.

Since her last spell in power, Pakistan has changed, profoundly. Its sovereignty is meaningless in increasingly significant chunks of its territory, and, within the portions Musharraf is just about holding together, to an ever more radicalized generation of young Muslim men Miss Bhutto was entirely unacceptable as the leader of their nation. “Everyone’s an expert on Pakistan, a faraway country of which we know everything,” I wrote last month. “It seems to me a certain humility is appropriate.” The State Department geniuses thought they had it all figured out. They’d arranged a shotgun marriage between the Bhutto and Sharif factions as a “united” “democratic” “movement” and were pushing Musharraf to reach a deal with them. That’s what diplomats do: They find guys in suits and get ‘em round a table. But none of those representatives represents the rapidly evolving reality of Pakistan. Miss Bhutto could never have been a viable leader of a post-Musharraf settlement, and the delusion that she could have been sent her to her death. Earlier this year, I had an argument with an old (infidel) boyfriend of Benazir’s, who swatted my concerns aside with the sweeping claim that “the whole of the western world” was behind her. On the streets of Islamabad, that and a dime’ll get you a cup of coffee.

As I said, she was everything we in the west would like a Muslim leader to be. We should be modest enough to acknowledge when reality conflicts with our illusions.

However one might feel about Pervez Musharraf, he in no way damaged Pakistan to the extent that the few families that have had a stranglehold on that nation for decades.  The nation of Pakistan has been plundered and the Pakistani people have been no more than serfs to oligarchies of that nation.

To understand just how deep the Pakistani void is, consider the following: Pakistan and Israel came into existence at about the same time.

Pakistan is still a third world nation and descending even further into more political and religious chaos and dysfunction. Israel, despite the very real threats and violence she has known since her inception, has a first world economy, society and culture.

By almost every measuring stick, Pakistan is a failed state. Her people were led down the garden path by leaders who cared for little more than their own enrichment and aggrandizement.

We noted yesterday in Pakistan’s Arafat

Benazir Bhutto was Pakistan’s Arafat. She stole billions of dollars from her nation and was forced to leave office twice because of corruption charges and allegations she had her own brother assassinated…

When in it is all said and done, Benazir Bhutto was Arafat in a hijab. Like Arafat, she will be remembered for who she really was- corrupt and oppressive and someone who cared little for her people.

See the NYT’s Bhutto Clan Leaves A Trail Of Corruption In Pakistan.

Pakistanis deserve better than Benazor Bhutto or anything else they have known.

*UPDATED* Pakistan’s Arafat

Benazir Bhutto was a ‘pro democracy proponent’? Benazir Bhutto was a ’soldier for democracy’?

On what planet?

Benazir Bhutto was Pakistan’s Arafat. She stole billions of dollars from her nation and was forced to leave office twice because of corruption charges and allegations she had her own brother assassinated. Her husband spent 8 years in prison, convicted of those corruption charges.

Dr Sanity quotes Cliff May and sees clearly into the neighborhood in which Ms Bhutto lived and played.

Bhutto’s murder points to a lesson we (the Foreign Policy Establishment in particular) has been slow to learn:

This is not some extraordinary event. This is not the work of some lone madman. This is how militant Islamists contest elections – not just in Pakistan but also in Lebanon and Gaza and wherever they they get a foothold.

That there are Pakistanis who hail Bhutto as a ‘democratic’ leader should come as no surprise. There are those Palestinians who venerate Arafat and the Hamas leadership despite decades of corruption and deliberate exploitation.

Arafat spend decades being feted by European and American leaders. He dined with Kings and Princes, Presidents and Prime Ministers. In the end, not even they could not camouflage his corruption, repression and oppression and bestow upon him any kind of legitimacy. Arafat’s legacy is visible in the wretched lives, poverty and hopelessness of Palestinians.

The same is true in Pakistan. There are no more than 15 families that wield power and influence in that nation and during her lifetime, Benazir Bhutto did nothing to change that reality or empower her people, despite the most generous of election promises. Her legacy, like that of the Arab league, is one of maintaining the status quo.

Mansour Ijaz noted

She was a terribly conflicted person who deep in her heart wanted to save Pakistan from its evils, but was unable to put her personal lifestyle choices aside in doing so.

Arafat desperately wanted to be the George Washington of the Palestinians. Unfortunately, he could not change who and what he was. The same is true of Benazir Bhutto.

In the same way Arafat spoke out of both sides of his mouth when it came to terror, so did Benazir Bhutto. She recognized the Taliban regime (one of only 3 nations to do so) and made a deal to turn a blind eye to terror as long as it was directed elsewhere.

It may be in our political interest to play along and support a mythology that elevates Benazir Bhutto, for the time being, in the same way we gave Arafat a certain status he did  not deserve. Certainly, political candidates on the stump are bestowing sainthood status on Benazir Bhutto faster than they did for Mother Teresa.

We gave Stalin support in WWII and we treat the most vile and dysfunctional despots in the Middle East as if they were equal to leaders of free and democratic societies, because it is in our best political interest to do so.

When in it is all said and done, Benazir Bhutto was Arafat in a hijab. Like Arafat, she will be remembered for who she really was- corrupt and oppressive and someone who cared little for her people.

*UPDATED* Reports of Bhutto’s corruption are not exaggerated. See the NYT’s Bhutto Clan Leaves A Trail Of Corruption In Pakistan. The article was written in 1998 and does not reflect later charges of corruption, or the ensuing conviction by Swiss courts on money laundering charges.

Flashback:The Fraud That Is Benazir Bhutto, The Taliban And The Leftists Who Love Her

The following was originally published on November 14, 2007.

As the idiot brigades opines on the situation in Pakistan turn into anti Bush bash, (here is an example of stupidity on display), completely ignoring Bhutto’s corrupt and dictatorial past, there is at least one Pakistani who knows Benazir Bhutto and has plenty to say. One absolute idiot asks that leftists ’stand united’ with Bhutto and Hillary Clinton.

In an editorial in today’s LA Times, entitled Aunt Benazir’s False Promises, Fatima Bhutto, niece of Benazir Bhutto, clarifies a few issues.

Perhaps the most bizarre part of this circus has been the hijacking of the democratic cause by my aunt, the twice-disgraced former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto. While she was hashing out a deal to share power with Gen. Pervez Musharraf last month, she repeatedly insisted that without her, democracy in Pakistan would be a lost cause. Now that the situation has changed, she’s saying that she wants Musharraf to step down and that she’d like to make a deal with his opponents — but still, she says, she’s the savior of democracy.

…Yes, she now appears to be facing seven days of house arrest, but what does that really mean? While she was supposedly under house arrest at her Islamabad residence last week, 50 or so of her party members were comfortably allowed to join her. She addressed the media twice from her garden, protected by police given to her by the state, and was not reprimanded for holding a news conference. (By contrast, the very suggestion that they might hold a news conference has placed hundreds of other political activists under real arrest, in real jails.)

It is widely believed that Ms. Bhutto lost both her governments on grounds of massive corruption. She and her husband, a man who came to be known in Pakistan as “Mr. 10%,” have been accused of stealing more than $1 billion from Pakistan’s treasury. She is appealing a money-laundering conviction by the Swiss courts involving about $11 million. Corruption cases in Britain and Spain are ongoing…

Why did Ms. Bhutto and her party cronies demand that her corruption cases be dropped…?

Ms. Bhutto’s repeated promises to end fundamentalism and terrorism in Pakistan strain credulity because, after all, the Taliban government that ran Afghanistan was recognized by Pakistan under her last government — making Pakistan one of only three governments in the world to do so. [emp-SC&A]

My father was Benazir’s younger brother. To this day, her role in his assassination has never been adequately answered, although the tribunal convened after his death under the leadership of three respected judges concluded that it could not have taken place without approval from a “much higher” political authority…

The entire editorial can be read here.

Benazir Bhutto’s younger brother is by no means the only death in which she has been implicated. Killings and death plots are common in that part of the world and Ms Bhutto has clearly shown she can ‘play with the boys.’ In fact, another of her brothers died under mysterious circumstances in 1996. The suspicion that surrounded her was so great that she was forced to resign, with most Pakistanis believing she was implicated in the killings.

She only returned to Pakistan after Musharraf agreed to drop corruption charges against her, as part of a power sharing agreement. Under current Pakistani Constitutional laws, Bhutto is not allowed to run for the Prime Minister’s office, having already served the maximum two terms, something Ms Bhutto will not discuss.

The Bhutto government sang a nice song when it came to women’s issues in Pakistan. Her speeches voicing concern for women’s social, health and discrimination issues were widely noted. Benazir Bhutto announced plans to elevate and entrench womens’ rights into the Pakistani society, but despite the well publicized promises, Bhutto did not propose or introduce any legislation to improve welfare services for women. She promised to repeal laws (such as Hudood and Zina ordinances) that curtail the rights of women in Pakistan, but even those blatantly discriminatory laws were never addressed or challenged by her government. Despite her majority in Parliament, she blamed the opposition.

Benazir Bhutto and Hillary Clinton have strong ties. Bhutto has hired Clinton campaign staffers. See this for some Bhutto background on corruption and political ties here in the US. It’s no wonder the Clinton campaign has been silent on the matter of Pakistan and Ms Bhutto.

For more, see Benazir Bhutto, AQ Khan And Potatoes…

Given Bhutto’s track record of corruption (documented in small part here and here), her potential access to a nuclear weapons program and technology ought to scare the hell out of any sane person. By contrast, AQ Khan is small potatoes.

*UPDATE*

The Sanity Squad will be podcasting live on BlogTalkRadio tonight, Monday 26 November, beginning at 9:30 pm. PLEASE NOTE THE TIME CHANGE…due to time difference between here and Karachi, Pakistan.

In what promises to be a fascinating podcast, The Sanity Squad’s Dr Sanity, Neo-neocon and Shrinkwrapped will interview Fatima Bhutto, niece of Benazir Bhutto who is one of the opposition leaders in Pakistan. We will discuss the state of emergency in Pakistan; upcoming elections and the prognosis for that country and its relations with the U.S. and the West.

The podcast with Fatimah Bhutto can be found here.  In light of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, the interview proved to be prescient and offers listeners some real insight into the political quagmire that is Pakistan. Given that nation’s nuclear capability, instability is a danger that cannot be overlooked.