By David N. Rahni, reporting from New York

Benazir Bhutto, along with several dozen others, was assassinated in a gun, bomb attack in Rawalpindi, Pakistan yesterday. This was the second assignation attempt on her life in the past several months, where in the first instance well over a hundred were killed.

Benazir, a Harvard-Oxford educated aristocratic elite, who had served twice as the first woman prime minister in an Islamic state, was the eldest child of the former premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a Pakistani of Sindhi descent, and Begum Nusrat Bhutto, a Pakistani of Iranian-Kurdish descent. Her father also lost his life after a bitter political battle in Pakistan.

The growing volatile circumstances in Pakistan will once again confirm the far overdue, nonetheless, meritorious and urgent need to rethink our strategy in the region as a whole. Our foreign policy in the region must, therefore, be realigned to a factual, on the ground Reality check, rather than manipulating reality in Washington to fit the agenda by special or lobbying entities. Such fundamental policy rethinking requires a bold leadership in Washington which does not any longer envisage problems in the so-called [Middle East] as a Palestinian-Arab-Israeli, Shiite-Sunni, Persian-Arab, Kurdish-Turkish, Christian-Moslem, or Pakistan-Afghanistan conflicts, but rather a people-to people predicament that can only be resolved through the ultimate home-grown empowerment of the masses anchored on education, socio-economic equity, and political parity.

In such equation, Iran or its alleged proxies in Iraq or Lebanon can not any longer be deemed as the culprits, but rather Iran should be brought to the table of negotiation as equal respectable partners. Such critical engagement will not only contribute to the regional stability but that in the long run should serve the ultimate aspiration of Iranian people for true independence, freedom and democracy. As paradoxical as it may seem, this is the only dire hope of re-establishing the U.S. Credibility and regaining our respect worldwide.

... Payvand News - 12/28/07 ...