Friday, December 28, 2007

Benazir Bhutto

Went out to the newsagent this morning after another bad day of flu, saw the news about Bhutto. Tariq Ali has a piece about her in the Guardian. In the early days they would discuss the future of Pakistan, what she might be able to do; she saw herself as on the side of the poor. Later he argued with her about some of her decisions; she would say she did not want to be on the 'wrong side' of history.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've come to know about her death only a few moments ago. It was a great shock for me, I wished her success in the elections.

War Horse said...

During her term as Prime Minister of Pakistan in the late 1980s, Benazir Bhutto gave a long interview in Islamabad to an American TV reporter. In the informal conversation that followed, she was asked what was the most important lesson she had learned while in office. "That power corrupts," she said without hesitation, "and absolute power corrupts absolutely." One of the conditions which allowed her return to the country recently was that corruption charges be dropped against her husband, known at the time she was in office as "Mister Ten Percent."