Bhutto assassinated-- Al Qaeda attempts to take responsibility and predictably Pelosi manages to send veiled threat to ally rather than Al Qaeda.

According to ABC news, an obscure Italian Web site said Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, al Qaeda's commander in Afghanistan, told its reporter in a phone call, "We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahedeen."

It said the decision to assassinate Bhutto was made by al Qaeda's No. 2 leader, Ayman al Zawahri in October. Before joining Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, Zawahri was imprisoned in Egypt for his role in the assassination of then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

(editor comment)Pelosi issued the following statement which does not mention the people responsible for the assassination but does manage to implicitly denigrate and obliquely threaten one of America's allies. Musharraf obviously is more important to criticize than Islamic extremists since he has been important to the Bush administration; the real enemy to the Democrats.

"The brutal assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is a tragic setback for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan. Her courageous return to Pakistan this year gave hope to all those concerned by efforts to extinguish rule of law there. "Our nation must stand with the Pakistani people in their struggle for democracy and continue to press the Musharraf government to ensure that the coming election is free and fair." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

President Bush strongly condemned the attack "by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy."