Bhutto on flight to Pakistan, ending 8-year exile

Reuters (excerpt) ^ | October 18, 2007

[HAL9000]

Excerpt -

DUBAI, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was heading home on Thursday to end eight years in self-exile, making a comeback that could eventually lead to power sharing with President Pervez Musharraf. Waved off by supporters in Dubai, and accompanied by her sister, Sanam, Bhutto was due to land around 2:00 p.m. (0900 GMT) in Karachi, where al Qaeda-linked militants have threatened to assassinate her. For years Bhutto vowed to return to Pakistan to end military dictatorship, yet she is coming back as a potential ally for General Musharraf, the army chief who took power in a 1999 coup.

"Pakistan is standing at a very critical juncture. One route leads to democracy, and the other leads to dictatorship," Bhutto told journalists at Dubai airport, before saying goodbye to her two daughters and husband, Asif Ali Zardari.

~ snip ~

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Bhutto is on Emirates Airlines flight EK606 - Estimated Time of Arrival in Karachi: 1352 (0852 UCT/GMT)

Live video stream here -

pakistanvision.com

Click on "Live Stream 1" under "Live tv 1" in the Current Affairs column.

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The flight has landed. Bhutto will be tranferred to a bulletproof truck to carry her through the mob.

[Dog]

Folks the chit is about to hit the san..

[Mr. Jeeves]

She’s #1 on my “Won’t make it to Christmas” list.

[holden]

If this is to be as Khomeni's return to Iran nearly 30 years ago, yes, it could be a clear inflection downward for Pakistan.

Given the number of attempts on Musharraf's life, it would seem once again that someone is trying to tip the balance, one I suspect designed to put nukes under terrorist control.

I know the Pentagon has long worked out their optimum approach to Pakistani Islamicists with nukes, bent on taking out Israel (first), and so I'm confident we're not going to be surprised. Indeed, with W's address yesterday pointing toward our difficulty with nukes in terrorist hands, it's clear they're thinking hard about what's going on over there.

There'll hopefully be a round of voting before everything changes hands, but if not, the copious scimitars and bloodshed will give us a day or two of warning as the brutes try to figure out the targeting and firing mechanisms before there'll be no turning back from locally taking out all their nuclear installations before anything really "gets off the ground" on a flight to Tel Aviv.

HF

[Dog]

AQ just tried to kill her.

[jeffers]

Dog wrote:
Folks the chit is about to hit the san.

********

A little obvious, but in hindsight, perfect timing.

Great call!

[Dog]

:-)