Response to The New York Post

e Assassination of Benazir Bhutto:

            Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan was assassinated on December 27, 2007. There was a lot of speculation regarding the terrorists who killed Bhutto and their group affiliation. Initially, Bhutto was blamed by the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.  He claimed that Bhutto unnecessarily stood outside her car, and therefore she was responsible for her own death.

            A couple of weeks later, it was revealed that messengers of the government killed Bhutto. Musharaff blamed Islamic extremists for the attack. A few days following this revelation, it was reported that that the CIA blamed al Qaeda as well as allies of a Pakistani tribal leader.  This attack questioned the stability of Musharaff’s government. On January 20, 2008, a young Pakistani admitted to his participation in killing Bhutto under the authority of al Qaeda and Taliban. Additionally, he revealed that he was one of five terrorists involved in Bhutto’s assassination. The terrorists were given a wide array of explosives and were also responsible for many other attacks.

            Bhutto’s assassination put Pakistan into an even more precarious position and has caused Pakistan to fall into a worse political situation. The results of Bhutto’s death included chaos and riots throughout the streets. The Bhutto regime had now completely fallen.

1.     The audience of The New York Post seems to attract American, Blue-Collar citizens.  The lack of extensiveness following the assassination proves that there wasn’t such a strong interest in Bhutto from the local New York community. The Post’s audience is generally more concerned with local news, while less concerned with international affairs.  The syntax in the Post could very well be found in a magazine. The title for the January 20^th article about Bhutto is titled “Bhutto Slay Bust.” The word “bust” takes away from the credibility of the article and proves that the audience is more heavily geared towards Blue- Collar society.

2.     In the first article, Bhutto is portrayed as the villain.  The Post brings quotes such as “responsibility is hers” and “Bhutto was warned” to prove that she was at fault. The rest of the articles appear to be minimally more factual. This could have been because more information was unleashed after the first terrorist was interrogated. It is interesting to see that there are even “villains” in the case of natural disasters.  For example, after Hurricane Katrina hit, the mayor of New Orleans was blamed for his lack of effort to help the community. The Post needs a villain in most stories in order to make the news more captivating and to show its viewpoint on the subject at hand.

3.     Musharaff is considered to be the hero. Although it is assumed that he organized the assassination, he is portrayed in a positive light in the article. He seems to be quite arrogant and therefore felt that he had the right to organize an attack such as this one. He rules a corrupt country as a corrupt leader. His assurance when he says he “absolutely believed it was possible that Bhutto died  of a gunshot wound,” shows his confidence in his decision. 

The Economist

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10430324&CFID=7375857&CFTOKEN=ce27200b0fdc5797-EDBFFF9B-B27C-BB00-012B8A33E2B139A2

News Coverage of the Assassination of Benazir Bhutto

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3639515685986253545&q=assassination+of+benazir+bhutto&total=877&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Questions for New York Times Articles Elizabeth John

1) The audience seems to be individuals who are interested in the American government and its involvement in the Pakistan government. " That leaves Mr. Bush with the principled if unfamiliar, option of using American prestige and resources to fortify Pakistans badly battered democratic institutions." This quote is a good example of who the audience of these articles. Bush is left with a huge decision on how he is going to deal with the Pakistan and its leaders, his decision is going to affect all Americans. 2) The villans in the story are suspected individuals responsible for the assasination. These individuals consist of Mr. Mehsud a military leader and President Musharraf. they appear in all talks of suspects of the assasination. 3) The hero in these stories is Bhutto. Her leadership and determination put her so close to becoming the prime minister for a third time, where she could have bought great change to the Pakistan government. The hero is also the Bush Administration because they are going to have to help the election to not be fixed and for it to be fair. 4) The New York Times focuses more on the American Governments involvement with the Pakistani Government. The events of our involvement and future involvement in the country are described in more detail than any other paper. In this paper there was an article published on August 9 1990 that described the past events before Bhutto and Musharraf which gave me great insight to how the events unfolded and where they are today. This article showed how far back the story goes between the two pakistani political parties and no other paper has provided that information.

New York Times Articles Elizabeth John

Political issues in Pakistan have been occuring for decades. The political forces consist of the Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party and the anti-peoples party force represented by the Zia Ul-Haq constituency. Benazir Bhutto is the daughter of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was overthrown by General Zia in 1977 and hanged in 1979. Benazir Bhutto had wide public sympathy when she won the election in November 1988. Benazir Bhutto was Prime Minister for two years from 1988 to 1990 until her government was dismissed by the president of Pakistan. General Zia died in a plane crash that also killed the U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphael. The ceremony for General Zia was held where is son Mr. Ijaz planned to speak for his own political future. He planned to exploit Bhutto's husband and father-in law. After Bhutto was Prime Minister again from 1993 to 1996 she had exiled herself to London. Upon returning to Pakistan there was raised hopes in Pakistan that democracy and stability may be obtained, but with her assasiantion Pakistan may be from achieving anything of this sought. Her death leaves the Bush Administration with a question and no strategy for helping Pakistan especailly with the unaccountable dictation of President Musharraf. Mr. Bush and Washington must now call new rules to assure a truly democratic vote in the upcoming elections. Pakistans People Party must be allowed to select a new candidate and launch a campaign. Washington has also demanded that Pakistans other main opposition leader Nawaz Sharif be allowed to run. Washington must also try to get President Musharraf to reinstate the impartial supreme court he fired last month in order to block a rigged election. The Bhutto family are democratic but imperfect political leaders. Even though the father was imperious and Benazir was brought on corruption charges these two leaders both had electoral legitimacy. The Bush administration has to rethink alot. We have been supplying billions of dollars to Pakistan's Military. The money is supposed to finance the fight against Al Queda and the Taliban. A report in the Times has stated otherwise, it showed that Washington hasn't been keeping a close watch and much of the money has been going to projects that interest President Musharraf and the army. Pakistan has been building weapons against our allies India while Al Queda and the Taliban continue to make gains. American policy must now be set on building a strong democracy in Pakistan that the respect and support of its own citizens and the will to fight Al Queda and the Taliban. CIA's judgement is the first formal assessment by the American government about who was responsible for the assasination which took place in a rally in the Garinson city of Rawalpindi. Officials have obtained different pieces of information that have painted to the man responsible for the assasination is Mr. Mehsud. Pakistani authorites announced that they intercepted communications between Mr. Mehsud and militant supporters in which Mehsud congratulated his followers for the assasination and seemed to take responsibilty for it. But Mehsud has denied responsiblity and suggested the assasins were directed by Musharraf who is a longtime rival of Bhutto. Family and friends balme Musharraf for not supplying Bhutto with adequete security while campaigning. American and Pakastani officials have blamed Mr. Mehsud's followers for many recent suicide attacks against government military and intelligence in Pakistan.

Elizabeth John's Questions for International Newspapers

1) In the articles that were obtained more from International newspapers the audience seems to be people who would be affected by the assasination. I feel this way because the articles focus on the political issues and concerns around the assasination. The articles state facts about what is to come for the people of Pakistan and its surrounding countries. 2) The villan in these stories is President Musharraf. This man is the man who is preventing Pakistan from becoming a civilain government. He is also horrible for acknowledging the report that stated the crime scene had been hosed down immediately after the death destroying any possible evidence. Pakistans People do not trust this man. 3) The hero is Bhutto's husband Zardari. He is going to try to continue what his wife started and continuing to campaign on her behalf. 4) This newspaper describes the events before, during and after Bhutto's death in full detail. These papers emphasize on the political issues between the people of Pakistan and the army controlled government. These papers described Bhutto as being a huge asset to changing this government back to a democracy.

Elizabeth John Synopsis of International New Articles

Before her death Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was trying to achieve the change of Pakistan's government from a military controlled government to a democratic government. Benazir Bhutto traveled across Pakistan campaigning her Pakistan's People Party (PPP) telling people to vote for her. Her extensive campaign has attributed to this party being the largest in Pakistan today. It is now difficult to tell with her death, if her gaol will be achieved.
There are alot of political issues occuring in Pakistan today. The main issues have been created by the ethnic separitism in Balcuhistan and Sinah provinces, and the recent uprisings in the Federal Administerd Tribal Area (FATA) bordering Afghanistan. Each of these areas require a certain political solution.
Benazir Bhutto was trying very hard to bring Pakistan back to democracy. Bhutto even went out of her way to show herself associated with the Bush Administration and the war on terror, which then put her in a negative light with the Pakistani Military. Now with her assasination the process of change from a military government to a civilian government is going to be very difficult. Elections have been postponed until Feburary. Pakistan's future remains in the hands of President Pervez Musharraf and the government can either remain a government that is controlled by the military or back to a civilian governement.
Pakistan has requested help from the Scotland Yard to probe at the investigation because civilians in Pakistan do not trust there government. President Musharraf blames Al Queda, but he has also acknowledged reports stating the scene of Bhutto's death was quickly hosed down destroying any possible evidence. The Pakistan People's Party blames Musharaff. Musharraf also did not grant the Scotland Yard permission to question any important politicians that could of had inside information.
Campaigning has been non-existent prior to Bhutto's death, but banners continue to hang in every town and village. Police have arrested a teenager who is suspected to be involoved, and police are still searching for two of his accomplices. Bhutto's husband Zardari will now continue to battle for votes after the forty day mourning period. Pakistan can only hope that the PPP will in the end be the winning party.