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Friend Tracks Bhutto's Final Trip Home

Ex- Newsweek editor found joy, horror in e-mail from Pakistan

By Caroline Zimmerman,  Newser User

Posted Jan 3, 2008 5:16 PM CST
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(Newser) – In her last e-mail to Benazir Bhutto, Linda Bird Francke asked: "Are you sure you want to be Prime Minister?" The former Newsweek editor, who helped Bhutto write her 1989 memoir "Daughter of Destiny," never did get a straight answer before her friend was assassinated Dec. 27. In homage, Francke gives a window into two decades from friendship with the Pakistani leader.

It wasn't all business, with one e-mail revealing Bhutto's maternal side: "I measure time by looking at trees and my children," she wrote. But it wasn't all roses, either. "Mush has hired an additional lobbying firm for dollars 650 thou to malign me. But we r fighting on," she wrote last month of conflict with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

Pakistani women light candles in front of a portrait of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto during a vigil at her Pakistan Peoples Party office in this Saturday, Dec. 29, 2007 file photo in Lahore, Pakistan. Many in the West eagerly cast Benazir Bhutto as an icon for Muslim women....
Pakistani women light candles in front of a portrait of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto during a vigil at her Pakistan Peoples Party office in this Saturday, Dec. 29, 2007 file photo in...   (Associated Press)
Women supporters of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto pray during a ceremony at the spot where she was assassinated in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008. Bhutto's death in a suicide bomb and gun attack plunged already volatile Pakistan deeper into crisis and stoked fears of a political meltdown as...
Women supporters of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto pray during a ceremony at the spot where she was assassinated in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008. Bhutto's death in a suicide bomb...   (Associated Press)
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto speaks at a campaign rally in Pabbi, 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007. Bhutto repeated accusations that Musharraf will try to cheat by using police, judiciary officials and administration functionaries. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto speaks at a campaign rally in Pabbi, 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007. Bhutto repeated accusations that Musharraf...   (Associated Press)
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto arrives at Karachi airport on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007. Both Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have hit the campaign trail this week after abandoning threats to boycott the Jan. 8 elections. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto arrives at Karachi airport on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007. Both Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have hit the campaign trail this week after abandoning threats to boycott...   (Associated Press)
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email • Benazir Bhutto • Bhutto assassination • Linda Francke

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