If you can't beat 'em, kill 'em

News out of The Republic of Robert Mugabe:

HARARE, Zimbabwe: The prime minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, was hurt and his wife, Susan, fatally injured on Friday (March 6) in a car crash about 45 miles south of the capital, according to officials of Tsvangirai's political party, the Movement for Democratic Change. Tsvangirai was heading to his rural home for a Saturday rally when the crash occurred Friday afternoon. From his hospital bed in Harare on Friday, he told one of his aides that a large truck driving on the other side of the road had come toward his Land Cruiser, the middle vehicle in a three car convoy. "What he told me was that the truck went for his car," Dennis Murira, director of public affairs in the prime minister's office said. "That's how he put it."

The crash, coming less than a month after Tsvangirai was sworn in as prime minister in a tense and long-negotiated power-sharing government with his rival, President Robert Mugabe, stirred deep suspicions in his party, but most officials were careful to say not enough was known about the collision to make any accusations of foul play. "I was looking for someone to get to the site because I was very suspicious about the circumstances around the accident," Hendrick O'Neill from Movement for Democratic Change said in a phone interview. "Morgan has been a target for some time."

Tsvangirai has been the victim of multiple assassination attempts. He fled the country after he outpolled Mugabe in March presidential elections, fearing for his life. Forces loyal to Mugabe had begun a campaign of violence, attempting to intimidate the opposition prior to a June runoff election. Tsvangirai ended up withdrawing before that second poll because of attacks on thousands of his supporters.

I'd bet $1,000 that Mugabe ordered the truck driver to try to kill his rival, Tsvangirai; and I won't be shocked at all if that truck driver mysteriously dies in custody in the next few days. Mugabe surely doesn't want this guy around to testify, saying just why he steered his truck into the middle car of a convoy carrying Mugabe's enemy.