Bhutto assassinated

SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images

I'm in shock, and yet not altogether surprised. Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated. Reports are still sketchy, but apparently there was an explosion and she was also shot. The former prime minister was then taken to a hospital in Rawalpindi, where she died of her injuries.

Needless to say, this shakes up the Pakistani political scene before the elections, which were supposed to be held January 8. Angry riots and a reimposition of martial law are probably a foregone conclusion. And for the United States, it probably means that U.S. policymakers now see President Pervez Musharraf as their only option.