Even knowing that, when I later learned that she had been assassinated, I still felt a sense of shock.
There had been other attempts on her life, but now it's accomplished.
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan -- Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday by an attacker who shot her after a campaign rally and then blew himself up. Her death stoked new chaos across the nuclear-armed nation, an important U.S. ally in the war on terrorism.
At least 20 others were also killed in the attack on the rally for Jan. 8 parliamentary elections where the 54-year-old former prime minister had just spoken.
Her supporters erupted in anger and grief after her killing, attacking police and burning tires and election campaign posters in several cities. At the hospital where she died, some smashed glass and wailed, chanting slogans against President Pervez Musharraf. One person was killed in the violent aftermath of the assassination.
Musharraf blamed Islamic extremists for Bhutto's death and said he would redouble his efforts to fight them.
"This is the work of those terrorists with whom we are engaged in war," he said in a nationally televised speech. "I have been saying that the nation faces the greatest threats from these terrorists. ... We will not rest until we eliminate these terrorists and root them out."
In the U.S., a tense looking President Bush strongly condemned the attack "by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy."
Musharraf convened an emergency meeting with his senior staff, where they were expected to discuss whether to postpone the elections, an official at the Interior Ministry said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
Nawaz Sharif, another former prime minister and opposition leader, said his party would boycott the elections.
The attacker struck just minutes after Bhutto addressed thousands of supporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, 8 miles south of Islamabad. She was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who then blew himself up, said Rehman Malik, Bhutto's security adviser.
Sardar Qamar Hayyat, a leader from Bhutto's party, said he was standing about 10 yard away from her vehicle at the time of the attack.
"She was inside the vehicle and was coming out from the gate after addressing the rally when some of the youths started chanting slogans in her favor. Then I saw a smiling Bhutto emerging from the vehicle's roof and responding to their slogans," he said.
"Then I saw a thin, young man jumping toward her vehicle from the back and opening fire. Moments later, I saw her speeding vehicle going away," he added.
The unrest in Pakistan has enormous ramifications for the U.S.
(What would a President Hillary Clinton do, or a President Obama do? What about a President Huckabee? I know what President Ron Paul would do. He'd abolish the IRS.)
Bhutto's death and the chaos in Pakistan really brings home for me that, for all its flaws, the American system of government and its peaceful transfer of power is a model for the world.
Yes, we've had political assassinations in our history. We aren't immune to that sort of violence.
Still, I'm reminded that all systems of government aren't created equal. I'm so thankful to be an American.
"You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done."
--Ronald Reagan, October 27, 1964 (from "The Speech")
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U.S. Checking al Qaeda Claim of Killing Bhutto
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