GO BENAZIR BHUTTO

This from Arnaud deBorchgrave, perhaps the best foreign correspondent in our lietime:

“Twice deposed as prime minister, Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan October 18 after eight years of self-imposed exile, in what she thought was a power-sharing deal with General Musharraf. He had agreed to doff his uniform and run for president in a free election. As head of her Pakistan People's Party, Pakistan 's most popular, Mrs. Bhutto would run in elections scheduled for January and if her party won a majority, she would become prime minister.

“General Musharraf also guaranteed the deletion of a little constitutional impediment — political leaders are barred from serving three times as head of government. Everything began to unravel when two suicide bombers attacked her triumphal homecoming parade, killing 142 and injuring more than 400.

“General Musharraf, meanwhile, got himself re-elected president by a majority of members of four provincial assemblies, the federal assembly and the senate — but all opposition parties boycotted the balloting and General Musharraf feared the Supreme Court would not validate his election. His second coup d'etat followed.

“Mrs. Bhutto flew back to Dubai , her residence in exile, to reassure her three children who had watched the attack on television. She returned to Karachi as security forces deployed throughout major cities. In a Nov. 3 e-mail to this reporter, Mrs. Bhutto said, ‘Those who support the Taliban and oppose me continue to have high positions in government. Musharraf doesn't remove them nor has he kept any of the promises he made guaranteed by third parties. Yesterday [before Musharraf's state of emergency], television channels broadcast a meeting in Bajaur [one of the seven tribal agencies that border Afghanistan ] by a mullah claiming that he and his group will kill me in Rawalpindi (where she was scheduled to attend a PPP rally, now banned).

“Mrs. Bhutto's e-mail added, ‘The fact that militants hold open meetings without fear of retaliation proves the Musharraf regime is totally inept, unwilling or colluding in their expansion.

"Our rapprochement talks with Musharraf have foundered in the quicksand of his failing promises. There is no move towards democracy. It's either back to dictatorship [1999] or back to a rigged election [2002]. Or Musharraf is replaced with a pliant interim government for two years run from behind the scene by the same military hard-liners. They claim in two years they can push NATO out of Afghanistan and replace president [Hamid] Karzai with one of their own, betting that the U.S. will be caught up in presidential elections for one year and it will take another year for the new administration to settle in.

“By way of conclusion, Mrs. Bhutto's e-mail said, "The situation is grim, the risks are high, but I have faith in the people to turn around the problem if we can get a real election." That horizon seems to be receding.

“In recent opinion polls, General Musharraf was in single digits, President Bush in the teens, and Osama bin Laden close to 50 percent. Pakistan 's extremist militants reject a woman as the nation's leader, as well as an alliance with America “

The beat goes on.

I say, go Benazir Bhutto, a proven leader in charge. Where is Hillary Clinton, supposed supporter of the world's women, when our country needs to support a global woman leader in one of the most important regions of the world? Nowhere to be found.