Benazir Bhutto Death - Another Sign of a Failed Policy

The tragic death of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan this week highlights the abyssmal failure that is Bush Administration foreign policy in the region. In the country where Osama bin Laden, this country's greatest nemesis. may very well be living, Ms. Bhutto, a beacon of hope for the Pakistani people's effort to return to democracy, was gunned down by an act of terrorism that was eerily foreseen and very much preventable. That Pakistan remains so lawless and such a rich proving grounds for terrorism in general, and Al-Qaeda in particular, is due in no small part to the Bush Administration's attention elsewhere, namely Iraq.

The Iraq war was sold to the American people with an argument that it was better to fight terrorism on foreign soil than American soil - a hugely attractive argument considering that nobody really desires a war in their own back yard. The trouble with choosing Iraq as the place to fight Al-Qaeda, however, is that Iraq isn't Al-Qaeda's back yard. Pakistan and Afganistan are!

The Bush Administration's lack of attention in Pakistan and Afghanistan has left Al-Qaeda free to regenerate on their own soil, in the comfort of their own back yard, free to pick and choose when they will attack U.S. interests and how. The killing of Benazir Bhutto proved just how effective Al-Qaeda's strategy has been...and just how little the Bush Administration has actually accomplished in fighting terrorism.