Pakistan matters: Let politicians know we care.

Sad and shocking news today: former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhuto was assassinated after a political rally. She was an amazingly brave woman, who returned to Pakistan to stand up for freedom and democracy, and to fight against General Musharraf's tyranny. This general, in case you weren't noticing, seized control of Pakistan several years ago in an armed coup.

When Bhuto returned from exile in October, she was almost killed when a bomb blew up 130 of her supporters in an assassination attempt. No arrests have been made, and the Musharraf administration has refused to call in credible outside investigators.

Then today, only a little more than 2 months after the last attempt, Bhutto was shot and then blown up by an unknown assassin. Where was the overwhelming security that should have been present? Musharraf either ordered this killing himself, or at least allowed the lax security that was clearly to blame.

Why should we care? Here is why, from the CNN headline story tonight:

"Pakistan is the only Islamic state with a nuclear arsenal. And Washington has private concerns about the security of those weapons. Those worries will intensify in the wake of Benazir Bhutto's assassination. An arms control expert says one thing is certain: It is "not a good idea to have 70 nuclear weapons in the hands of a country that is falling apart."