On Thursday October 18, 2007 a group of militants tried to kill former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, by blowing up her motorcade which killed 133 people and wounded 290 others. On Friday Bhutto said she would not surrender the great nation of Pakistan to militants and those who want to destroy democracy in her country. Bhutto was returning home after eight years of exile from Pakistan, and was welcomed by hundreds of thousands of people. She was unharmed in the attack due to a truck reinforced to withstand bomb attacks. Pakistan is a key ally with the U.S. in the war on terror, and this attack defiantly shows why. There were two attempts that day to try and kill Bhutto; the first one was with a hand grenade and the second was by a suicidal bomber who ran into the crowd with 15 to 20 kg of explosives strapped to his body and blew himself up. However Bhutto also claims that there were shots fired at her truck meaning there was more than two attackers trying to kill her. There are still no groups such as Al Qaeda that are claiming responsibility for the attack.
This is another attempt by groups like Al Qaeda to show that all countries that support the U.S. are fair game and no one will be spared. This was not only an attempt to kill Bhutto but an attempt to destroy democracy itself. It is a government of the people, not radicals and needs to be kept that way. We as Americans need to step up and find some way to help the Pakistani people fight terrorism in their country. Maybe not by U.S. military force but by public support for the people and those willing to preserve democracy. They are an ally to the United States and we need to keep that in mind and not let it pass us by as a country that might be harboring terrorists. I don't understand sometimes when people claim that Pakistan is helping the terrorist in Iraq, when these same terrorist are attacking their own country. To me it makes no sense at all.
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