George Bush on Benazir Bhutto

As an update to my post on Benazir Bhutto (beːnɜziːr bʰʊʈʈoː), I am posting a video of George Bush's statements regarding her death:



I find it interesting how he continues to call Pakistan's government a democracy. Maybe I'm getting my definitions mixed up. When I consider Pakistan (اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستا), my first thought isn't, "This is what democracy looks like." My concern is that Bush views Musharaff democracy to be completely acceptable.

If I understand correctly, there is a bit of a difference between a democracy and a democratic republic. I have listed former and current democratic republics below in an attempt to illustrate the differences I am speaking of:

Former Democratic Republics (per Wikipedia):

• Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1978-1987)
• Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (1918-1920)
• People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1987-1991)
• Sovereign Democratic Republic of Fiji (1990-1998)
• Finnish Democratic Republic (1939-1940)
• Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921)
• German Democratic Republic (1949-1990)
• Democratic Republic of Madagascar (1975-1992)
• Moldavian Democratic Republic (1918)
• Somali Democratic Republic (1969-1991)
• Democratic Republic of Sudan (1969-1985)
• Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (1918)
• Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945-1976)
• People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (1970-1990)

Current Democratic Republics:
The Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of East Timor
The Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe
The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
The People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria
The Lao People's Democratic Republic
The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara)

Goodbye Benazir Bhutto

Another sad day in international politics.

Benazir Bhutto (beːnɜziːr bʰʊʈʈoː)has been assassinated in Pakistan. The lady on FOX News said it was inevitable. I had hoped it wasn't.

The man George Bush calls "My Buddy" declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution November 3rd thru December 15th of this year. Bhutto, the only real opposition to Pervez Musharraf, was placed under house arrest just before she was due to give a speech and lead a rally against the state of emergency that Musharraf had ordered.

After Musharraf "freed" her, he continued to prohibit other opposition party leaders from speaking in public. Ms. Bhutto was killed while leaving a political rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Although George Bush supported Musharraf throughout suspending of the constitution, raiding TV stations and taking their equipment, the arrest of political opposition and the imposition of martial law, he said in a public address:

``Mrs. Bhutto served her nation twice as prime minister and she knew that her return to Pakistan earlier this year put her life at risk, yet she refused to allow assassins to dictate the course of her country,'' Bush said.

"We stand with the people of Pakistan in their struggle against the forces of terror and extremism. We urge them to honor Benazir Bhutto's memory by continuing with the democratic process for which she so bravely gave her life."