If you thought Condi Rice was strong...

introduce your daughters to this woman.

We throw around words hero and bravery like they were penny candies these days. For the survivors, to comfort them. Often these souls are generous, willing to share themselves and what they have for a greater purpose. But heroes and bravery, to me, should be reserved for those who know full well what they are getting into, what price they and their families will pay, and what ugly end surely will greet them.

And then they march forward, knowing what awaits...

This woman surely knew what the fates held: if not today, then tomorrow, or one day. I suspect like Dr. King, like Prime Minister Rabin, she knew what price she'd pay for her work. And yet still, she was fully willing to march forward on principle, and if necessary pay for it.

This is what heroism really looks like folks. She joins a long list of martyrs, who weren't just mouthing the words, but were really singing out what her people needed, what they believed in. As an American, I wonder what my country's meddling has contributed, what role our good intentions played in letting another people determine their own futures and course of action. It might be hard to sit on the sidelines and not interfere, but in the end, it's not our game. Never was. And all the money in the world is less than the spilt blood of a martyr working on behalf of her own.

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally, aides said.

"The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred," Bhutto's lawyer Babar Awan said.

A party security adviser said Bhutto was shot in neck and chest as she got into her vehicle to leave the rally in Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad. A gunman then blew himself up.

"At 6:16 p.m. she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital where she was taken after the attack.

Her supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog, Musharraf, dog," referring to Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf.

Some smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears. One man with a flag of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party tied around his head was beating his chest.

At least 20 others were killed in the blast that took place as Bhutto left a political rally where she addressed thousands of supporters in her campaign for Jan. 8 parliamentary elections.

Bhutto served twice as Pakistan's prime minister between 1988 and 1996. She had returned to Pakistan from an eight-year exile Oct. 18.

Her homecoming parade in Karachi was also targeted by a suicide attacker, killing more than 140 people. On that occasion she narrowly escaped injury.