BlackFive

This is very bad news for freedom and democracy.  Pakistan is a nuclear state that is relatively unstable.

According to breaking news on Fox, either a suicide bomber was a decoy and caused her to be channeled to an assassin or the assassin himself was the suicide bomber.  Regardless, a gunman shot former Prime Minister Bhutto at least twice (but might be as many as five times) and then detonated his suicide vest - killing him and at least 20 others.  Thirty minutes later, Benazir Bhutto was declared dead.

Benazir Bhutto, educated at Harvard and Oxford, was hated by the Taliban and Al Qaeda for being a woman in the highest position in the land, for being a supporter of the West and Democracy.  She also included in her election platform a promise to go after Al Qaeda in the tribal regions of Pakistan.

Make no mistake, this was a huge victory for Islamic extremists. 

The response by Bhutto's party and President Musharraf will decide whether or not Pakistan remains on the razor's edge of stability.  Bhutto's martyrdom could be used in a way that she would have wanted - to unify the forces for stability and democracy against the Islamic extremists.  Or her legacy will be used to plummit Pakistan into chaos.

Keep an eye on The Long War Journal for more analysis.