Lessons of Bhutto’s death

Re “Assassination rocks Pakistan,” Dec. 28

The death of Benazir Bhutto is a blow not only to the people of Pakistan but to all people around the world who love democratic principles. I will not use her assassination as an excuse to criticize President Bush’s policies in the region. But as rioting and turmoil sweep Pakistan, it clearly shows the faulty logic in backing puffed-up potentates and militarists instead of supporting real democratic reform. We must remember that the war on terrorism can never be won by sacrificing the principles on which our nation was founded.

Oliver Cutshaw

La Habra

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Bhutto’s assassination highlights once more the deep contradiction between America’s stated aim of advancing democracy around the world and our actual practice of backing friendly dictators like Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf whenever we think it suits our interests. Even as the Bush administration downplays worldwide suspicion that Musharraf or elements of his government may have been complicit in Bhutto’s killing, it will retreat to its codependent relationship with the dictator as the only remaining bulwark against a Taliban-style fundamentalist theocracy armed with nukes, likely flirting no further with notions of a truly democratic Pakistan. These chickens, also, will one day come home to roost.

Mark C. Eades

Oakland

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Bhutto’s assassination should be an example to everyone that the war on terrorism has nothing to do with U.S. policy in the Middle East and everything to do with radical Islam’s fight against liberty, freedom and democracy. This is why we do not see any Islamic nation anywhere in the world with the liberties and freedoms we enjoy in the United States. Radical Islam will kill to ensure that liberty and freedom never come to the Middle East.

Rod Guyton

Torrance

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Freedom fighter Bhutto stated that she believed in the Pakistani people and God. The God part is probably what influenced the assassin to do what he did. Just think what a great idea it was that the Pentagon sold a bunch of F-16 fighter jets to such a stable country as Pakistan.

Steve Blackwelder

Dana Point

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It is unfortunate that Bhutto’s supporters are rioting throughout Pakistan. The peace-loving, democratic-oriented Bhutto wouldn’t have wanted it that way.

Kenneth L. Zimmerman

Huntington Beach