I have been reading this forum (again) since the elections.
Given the usual way of things on these forums that this wasn’t posted by anyone. While Benazir’s latest verbal venom against General Musharraf and the Islamic forces in Pakistan is nothing new , this is the first time she has gotten together with an Isreali Prime Minister to utter this poison.
Benazir Bhutto and Ex-Isreali prime minister Ehud Barak bot delivered lectures for the University of Arkansas last thursday and even addressed a joint press conferrence and jointly addressed a public rally.
What do the supporters of Benazir and Peoples Party on this forum have to say on this?
Was it just her natural hatred for Islam and the equally natural lust for power or did a pie of the handy $175000 for taking part in the event also play a part in her decision to join Ehud Barak for this joint public meeting.
While it is easy to imagine many liberal twists to this, it will still be interesting to know what the supporters have to say about this.
http://www.nwaonline.net/276165797126978.bsp
By Johnathon Williams
The Morning News/NWAonline.net •
FAYETTEVILLE – A military dictatorship with the support of the United States is allowing religious fundamentalism to gain power in Pakistan, a former prime minister of Pakistan said Thursday.
Benazir Bhutto, who served as prime minister of Pakistan until her government was unconstitutionally ousted by a rival political party, said the government led by General Pervez Musharraf has sabotaged attempts at free and honest elections and remains in power to the detriment of democracy in the nation.
The United States is seen as Musharraf’s strongest supporter, she said. U.S. leaders must tell Pakistan that only democratic governments and free markets can defeat extremism and terrorism, she said. The Pakistani government rightly joined America in the war on terrorism, she said, but other political parties in the country would have as well. The battle against religious extremism and terrorism is one that must be won, she said.
“America does not need to coddle dictators to promote its own interests,” she said.
Bhutto made the remarks during a number of appearances at the University of Arkansas. She was joined by Ehud Barak, a former prime minister of Israel. The pair were brought to campus by a lecture series created last year with the approval of a new student fee. The Distinguished Lecturer’s Fee generates about $175,000 per year and is administered by a committee of faculty members and students.
Bhutto and Barak spoke in a closed forum to a select group of faculty members and students at 4 p.m. in Giffels Auditorium. They spoke to local media representatives at 5 p.m.
They spoke again at 8 p.m. in Barnhill Arena to the general public. UA officials distributed about 6,500 free tickets for the public event.
At the news conference, both leaders spoke about the U.S.-led initiative to gather international support for military action against Iraq.
Barak said he believes the United States can get authorization for military action from the U.N. Security Council. France and Russia, two nations that have opposed any such military action, will agree to a “properly worded” resolution from the council authorizing the use of force against Iraq, he said. China, another nation on the security council whose support for such action is lacking, could abstain from voting on any such resolution, he said.
Barak said those who think the world should take a wait-and-see approach to Iraq and weapons of mass destruction should remember that Saddam Hussein has used such weapons against his own people. The world learned the price of such an attitude in Europe during World War II, he said. No one knows how close Hussein is to building even a crude nuclear weapon, he said.
Bhutto said President Bush has been wise to take the patient path toward gaining international support rather than leading the United States into a rash and unilateral military action against Iraq.
There is a lot of confusion in the international community as to America’s motivation for military action against Iraq, she said. U.S. officials have said it is to disarm the nation of weapons of mass destruction, she said, but there has also been talk of regime change and oil. This confusion can and must be dispelled, she said.
At the public event, Bhutto said terrorists have hijacked the religion of Islam just as they hijacked the American planes destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001. Terrorists have tried to paint their battle as a clash of cultures between the Western world and Islam, but it is not, she said.
“I want you to know that those who use violence in the name of Islam are hypocrites and heretics. … They are not clerics, they are criminals,” she said.
Barak said the terrorism inflicted upon Israel by the Palestinian Authority is an attempt to make suicide bombings a legitimate political force. The attacks on Israel by the Palestinian Authority are about terror, not about Israeli occupation or control of the Palestinian people, he said.
If the violence was only about occupation, he said, the Palestinian Authority would have agreed to the peace plan brokered by President Clinton at Camp David years ago.
The consequence of a united global community is that the future of the children of the affluent is directly tied to the future of the children of the impoverished, he said. All people must work to eliminate the poverty and disease that burden many developing nations, he said.
Bhutto became the youngest chief executive officer in the world and the first female prime minister in the Muslim world upon her election at the age of 35. After just 20 months in office, her government was unconstitutionally dismissed by a rival political party. She was again elected as prime minister in 1993. Bhutto resides in Dubai and makes frequent trips to the United States.
Barak was Israel’s 10th prime minister upon his election in 1999. His term saw the end of a prolonged recession in Israel, as an economic boom brought 5.9-percent annual growth, new foreign investments and near-zero inflation. He led Israeli efforts to negotiate a peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority, although those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. Before his service as prime minister, Barak served extensively in the Israeli military. He joined the Israeli Defense Forces in 1959 as a soldier and achieved the rank of lieutenant general – the highest in the Israeli military – in 1991.
Both leaders attended universities in the United States. Barak attended Stanford University, after the start of his military career. Bhutto attended Harvard University.
