Arlen Specter Was Scheduled To Meet Bhutto Tonight

Islamabad, Pakistan (Dec. 27) – Senator Arlen Specter lays flowers for former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto after her assassination. Senator Specter visited Bhutto’s local party headquarters in the wake of the assassination with Representative Patrick Kennedy (left) and U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson

UPDATE: Bhutto had been scheduled to meet hours later with US Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island. Senator Latif Khosa, a lawmaker from Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party, said she had planned to give the lawmakers a report outlining complaints on “pre-poll rigging” by Musharraf’s government and the military-run Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. MORE

FRESH AIR: Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid, a regular guest on Fresh Air, returns to discuss developments in Pakistan, where former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto died after an attack at a political rally that also killed at least 20 others. Bhutto recently had returned to Pakistan from an eight-year exile to challenge President Pervez Musharraf for the country’s leadership. Ahmed Rashid covers Pakistani politics and culture for various Western publications; he has written extensively about the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the country. Listen Now [7 min 37 sec] [Editor’s Note: Learn more in seven minutes with this guy than you would in 24 hours straight watching Fox or CNN]