Many people have expressed shock this morning at the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan and opponent of President Pervez Musharraf -- and a target of Islamist extremists.

At the risk of sounding callous, I'm not sure why anyone should be shocked. Given the fanaticism of her enemies and their complete disregard for human life, one should have seen this morning's tragedy in Rawalpindi as entirely predictable. In October, they tried to kill her within hours of her return to Pakistan.

A major question for me is how did her assassin manage to get close enough to shoot her in the neck and chest before detonating his or her bomb?