Mark Siegel

Mark Siegel talked about former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s book Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West, published by Harper. Mark Siegel, Benazir Bhutto’s longtime friend and former speechwriter, assisted Ms. Bhutto in writing the book. He received her final edits just hours before her death. In the book, Ms. Bhutto looks at the conflict between Islam and the West, including the decades-long relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan which she argues has contributed to the problems Pakistan and the region now face. The guest interviewer was Akbar Ahmed, chair of Islamic Studies at American University and former Pakistani high commissioner to Great Britain.

Benazir Bhutto was the prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996. Born in 1953 in Karachi, Ms. Bhutto was the first woman ever to lead a Muslim state. She lived in exile since 1999 and had returned to Pakistan in October 2007. She was killed in Pakistan on December 27, 2007. At t close