This ‘Letter of Apology’ was written by Lieutenant General Chuck Pitman, US Marine Corps, Retired.

It is the epitome of exactly how I feel in regards to the current world state of things. It’s nice to know that there are others out there who share my convictions.

Enough from me, let’s get to the goods.

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I can not claim to know much of anything about former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Being very American, I am guilty of knowing a lot more about people like Brittany, Paris, Lindsay & Kyla Ebbert than about those people in the world who might actually matter. I like to think that is as much the fault of American media as it is my own…but we will save that for another days discussion.

I know she was born in Karachi, the eldest daughter of former Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. I know her father was hung in 1979, vaulting her into a leadership role as the new leader of the Pakistan People’s Party. Forced to spend seven years either in exile or under house arrest, I know she became Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1987. I know that when she was sworn in as Prime Minister in December of 1988, she was not only the first woman ever to head the government of an Islamic State, but also the youngest at only 35 years of age. I know she left her office in 1996 under the weight of accusations about corruption during her reign. I know her fall from grace lead to her living in exile once again in the UK while her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, spent the next eight years in jail until his release in November of 2004. I know she was, in recent years anyway, pro-democracy and anti-terrorism, fighting for stability in her homeland against a powerful and oft invisible enemy. I know she has lost.

I did not know Benazir Bhutto personally and barely knew her as a public figure, but I know she was a mother, a wife and a human being. She lead a life far removed from my own experiences and she obviously has touched many, many lives so I ask the good Lord to have mercy on her soul and those that love her. Her death, regardless of your political orientation, is tragic and senseless. The loss of a mother, a wife or a friend is, I’m sure, no less tragic in Pakistan than it is here in the USA. May time and God heal your wounds.

Benazir Bhutto was 54 years old.

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