There are so many things that upset me about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto that I don't even know where to begin. The whole thing seems so surreal, like something you would see on a movie or read in a Clancy novel. I remember feeling this way after 9-11, as though what we were witnessing was not reality, but just an out-of-control movie plot. But the same sick feelings of being forced to confront the situation as very real and very able to change world history are causing my stomach to churn.

There's something so raw about murder, and yet we are completely jaded to it. All you have to do is watch the evening news and the chances are great that you will be treated to the details of anywhere from 3-5 murders a day, or at least some form of great bodily harm and violence. Our culture is addicted to it. The news mantra is if it bleeds, it leads. Even my kids are jaded to violence at 6 and 8 years old. This is the reality of our world.

But it takes on a new tone when someone who you have watched being interviewed and listened to and hoped would succeed is just stripped of her life right before the camera's eye. Someone who had potential to stabilize a wavering nation is just assassinated, right there in living color. I guess it was a similar feeling when JFK was shot, except on a much grander scale for our country. There are millions of people in America who have no idea what's going on in Pakistan, I realize, nor would they care if they did. But they should.

What we need to understand is that Pakistan is a nuclear country. They have the potential to use nuclear weapons on their enemies. As of right now, the country is in chaos. There are militant Islamists who are doing everything they can to take over, much like the Taliban did in Afghanistan. Understand, this means that Osama bin Laden and his cohorts have the potential of taking over a country with nukes. The writers of 24 haven't even schemed up a plot this scary.

Bhutto wasn't perfect, by any means. But she was pro-Western, pro-Democracy and had a huge following. She and her party were very likely going to take over the government in the January 8 election, which would have been a good thing for the war on terror. Now everything is in complete turmoil, and the conditions are ripe for a disastrous result.

Keep in mind that we have funneled $10 billion into Pakistan since 2001 in the hopes of keeping them a strong ally in the war on terror. They've been supposedly helping us make life difficult for al-Qaida and helping us find bin Laden. We've needed them as a strategic ally in the war in Afghanistan.

But lately, President Musharraf has been doing some extremely unsettling things. Most recently, he suspended the constitution and threw his political opponents in jail, and refused to step down as the military commander. Our government was able to put enough pressure on him to change his mind a little bit, but relations are far from rosy at the moment.

Whether he is responsible for the death of Bhutto is the question of the day. Did he actually order her assassination, or was he more covertly responsible due to his failure to properly protect her from innumerable threats and barely looking into the attack on her back in October upon her return to Pakistan from self-imposed exile when 140 people were killed and about 450 others were injured? Will he now use this chaos as an excuse to suspend elections and impose some kind of martial law, allowing him to stay in power far past the intended January elections? All of these things remain to be seen.

For now, we need to be concerned. We need to be watching this situation very closely and understanding that things in the Eastern hemisphere could spiral downhill very quickly. Not to be an alarmist, but it is vital that we pay attention so we are not caught off guard.

We also have an election coming up in this country in a few months. It is in full swing right now. Imagine sometime in October that al-Qaida carries out an attack and the front-runner is assassinated. What would we do? This is unfortunately not implausible. Remember about four years ago, in March of 2004 in Spain, when al-Qaida carried out the commuter train attacks in Madrid, killing a couple hundred people and wounding ten times that many? Three days later the party in support of the war in Iraq was voted out of power, and al-Qaida received affirmation of their policies. They won in Spain that year.

What would happen if they managed a major terrorist attack sometime late this summer, or an attempt on the life of a candidate? It's worth thinking about, because the possibility is very real. If al-Qaida gets its hands on nukes, who do we think will be their first target?

We have gotten so complacent over the past six years because nothing else has happened to us. So much so that we are able to attack our own military for doing the very things they need to do to keep us safe. It is ludicrous. One major political party in our country believes the war on terror can not be won, and wants to be voted into office based on that premise. Could we make a bigger mistake as a nation when it comes to our national security?

The American Thinker has an article today quoting Fred Thompson that demonstrates he understands the problem. I believe that he would be a great man to have in office in these troubled times. I don't think he's going to be the guy, though. As much as he looks great on paper, he's just not coming across so well on TV, which I don't understand since he has been an actor all these years. While McCain has many years of experience in American foreign policy, I don't trust that he would be able to keep a cool enough head under pressure. I think Giuiliani would do well in national security, but I worry about returning the White House to an era of questionable ethics. I honestly have no idea what Romney or Huckabee would do, but I'm quite sure Huckabee would do it in God's name.

I have said it so many times, and I will say it again. National security should be on the top of every American's mind when voting this year. All the other issues should take the back burner, no matter how passionately you feel about them. If America does not stay at the top of her game and we allow our leaders to go back to squabbling over the trivial, we will leave ourselves dangerously vulnerable.