Tag: Benazir Bhutto

With government aid sporadic or non-existent, survivors of the October 29 6.4-magnitude earthquake that rocked the impoverished Pakistani province of Baluchistan are receiving assistance from local Islamist groups, some of which the US has condemned as “terrorist organizations.” Within hours of the quake, people from Jamaat-ud-Dawa–condemned by the US as the political wing of the Kashmiri liberation and alleged “Al Qaeda associated” outfit Laskhar-e-Taiba–were distributing blankets, food, milk, and biscuits, promising to return soon with tents, and pledging to construct 1000 temporary homes.

Through 2007, the Bush administration had awarded Pakistan more than $10 billion in overt War-on-Terra military aid, and an estimated additional $5 billion in covert funds. To assist the tens of thousands of Pakistanis injured and displaced by the October 29 quake, in danger of freezing to death or perishing of sickness in the frigid winter air, the Bush administration has ponied up . . . $1 million. Or approximately four to six times the suspected amount Sarah Palin recently spent on clothes, accessories, jewelry, luggage, and spray-on tans for herself, her husband, and her five-child brood.  

I received an e-mail this morning from The Existentialist Cowboy about an interview Benazir Bhutto gave to David Frost of the BBC’s “Frost Over The World!”

BBC’ Bhutto Interview.

At 5:01 of this video Bhutto tries to express the names of three individuals whom might be responsible for her attempted assassination in October ’07.  However, the camera leaves her for David Frost and cuts out her remaining two suspects, leaving the interview itself completely indiscernible.  Why would the BBC edit out this VERY important piece of information?

Here is the complete interview and at 6:13, you can hear her full list-the uncut version….



Did you hear that?  “Omar Sheikh the man who murdered Osama Bin Laden”

Wikipedia says this:

November 2007

In an interview with political interviewer David Frost, taken on November 2, 2007, the recently assassinated Pakistani politician, and Pakistan People’s Party chairwoman, Benazir Bhutto, claimed that Bin Laden had been murdered by Omar Sheikh. During her answer to a question pertaining to the identities of those who had previously attempted her own assassination, Bhutto named Sheikh as a possible suspect while referring to him as “the man who murdered Osama bin Laden.” Despite the weight of such a statement, neither Bhutto nor Frost attempted to clarify it and no other mainstream media appears to have further inquired about it.

Why not?  Where’s the outrage?  Shouldn’t we celebrate the fact that this man who purportedly was responsible for 9/11 is now gone?

Oh I have so many questions…if OBL is dead, then there is quite remarkably, complete silence from the MSM…Is this the reason why Bush closed up shop at the CIA’s OBL Station in 2005?

Is this the reason Bhutto was assassinated, because she knew too much and the powers that be needed her out of the way?

Len Hart of the Existentialist Cowboy writes;

Bhutto herself has exposed the fraudulent nature of the Bush/Blair “war on terrorism”. If Bin Laden is dead, as has been reported, then the various tapes that he is alleged to have made are all phony. The war on terrorism itself is a callous, calculated fraud perpetrated by a murderous Bush regime, a murderous Blair regime, a murderous puppet regime of Musharraf.

That’s why Bhutto was assassinated. She was the woman who knew too much. Bhutto exposed the fact that US policies cause terrorism and she stated the various ways in which groups inside the US and Britain benefited politically and materially from the phony war on phony terrorism, the failed war in Afghanistan, the war crime that is still perpetrated against the people of Iraq. Bhutto posed a threat to the culprits in the Bush regime to include Bush himself. She posed a threat to the kiss ups in Musharraf’s regime to include Musharraf and the liars who tried to float the incredible “lone lever” theory. She was murdered. And the BBC has been caught censoring the most important piece of the puzzle. If Osama is dead, the war on terror is a bloody fraud!

And indeed reactions all over YouTube are quite the same….

May Benazir Bhutto rest in peace, and may peace prevail!

Christmas is the time for forgiving; and it is in the spirit of Christmas that I had, well before I read his exemplary obituary of Ms. Bhutto, decided to grant Christopher a reprieve for his earlier sins as Bush cheer-leader and restore him to the ranks of scribes of wit, if not reliable common-sense.

Hitch does not disappoint. He is fulsome in his praise of Ms. Bhutto, citing her undeniable courage, before quickly moving in for the kill.

How prettily she lied to me, I remember, and with such a level gaze from those topaz eyes, about how exclusively peaceful and civilian Pakistan’s nuclear program was.

More meat below the fold…

The US had chosen who to back in Pakistan, and that was Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.  Not surprisingly, it’s blown up in our faces.  We have no idea where things will lead, but the world is an ever more dangerous place tonight.  With an unstable Afghanistan on one border, Iran on another, longtime rivals India on another and China on the fourth, the instability that this adds could lead to a regional war involving the world’s two most populace countries (and Pakistan is no slouch at over 164 million people.

Accusations, riots, and political instability are among the immediate reactions to the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Here’s a roundup.

Talking Points Memo:

A longtime adviser and close friend of assassinated Pakistani ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto places blame for Bhutto’s death squarely on the shoulders of U.S.-supported dictator Pervez Musharraf.

After an October attack on Bhutto’s life in Karachi, the ex-prime minister warned “certain individuals in the security establishment [about the threat] and nothing was done,” says Husain Haqqani, a confidante of Bhutto’s for decades. “There is only one possibility: the security establishment and Musharraf are complicit, either by negligence or design. That is the most important thing. She’s not the first political leader killed, since Musharraf took power, by the security forces.”

Haqqani notes that Bhutto died of a gunshot wound to the neck. “It’s like a hit, not a regular suicide bombing,” he says. “It’s quite clear that someone who considers himself Pakistan’s Godfather has a very different attitude toward human life than you and I do.”

Times of India:

The immediate finger of suspicion though pointed to Pakistan’s security establishment. A key Benazir aide said the country’s military government had much to answer for the assassination because it had not met certain security arrangements required and officials were “dismissive” about Bhutto’s requests in this regard.

“They could have provided better security. Even the equipment they gave consistently malfunctioned. Bhutto had asked for independent security arrangements,” Hussain Haqqani, a US-based former Bhutto aide told CNN .

Haqqani and other analysts like Peter Bergen also pointed out that the attack took place in Rawalpindi, the military garrison town outside Islamabad that is crawling with security personnel and spooks. The fact that she had been shot dead following up a suicide bombing pointed to a concerted effort to finish her off.

Haqqani said he had spoken to Benazir two days ago and she was concerned about the security arrangement and the military government’s effort to rig the election.

This just in from NBC news.  Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a suicide bombing in Pakistan:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22…

VIDEO LINK:   http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21…

Here’s the BBC Report

[UPDATE] Eye witness report from the assassination:

Sardar Qamar Hayyat, a leader from Bhutto’s party, said at the time of the attack he was standing about 10 yards away from her vehicle _ a white, bulletproof SUV with a sunroof.

“She was inside the vehicle and was coming out from the gate after addressing the rally when some of the youths started chanting slogans in her favor. Then I saw a smiling Bhutto emerging from the vehicle’s roof and responding to their slogans,” he said.

“Then I saw a thin, young man jumping toward her vehicle from the back and opening fire. Moments later, I saw her speeding vehicle going away,” he added.

Mangled bodies lay in a pool of blood and pieces of clothing and shoes were scattered on the road. The clothing of some victims was shredded and people covered their bodies with party flags.  There was an acrid smell of explosive fumes in the air [following the bomb detonation].

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan – Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto died shortly after being seriously wounded in an attack after a rally in the city of Rawalpindi, news agencies reported on Wednesday.

This is both horrible and dangerous.

More news will follow on the above link.  This is breaking now.  If you have access to MSNBC, they have brought on Madeline Albright to comment.

She referred to this as a “coup against the rule of law.”

Bhutto’s husband has reported that his wife was shot in the neck during the suicide bombing.

To say that this is a potential disaster for so many is an understatement.  This will put the West in the position to have to strengthen their ties with Mussharaf and cause further destabilisation in what is a nuclear power under pressure from both Al Quaeda and the Taliban.

Madeline Albright: “This has made things even worse in the most tragic way.”

The gunman shot at her as she stood in her vehicle, exposing herself through the sunroof and then detonated his bomb.  It was thought that a bullet severed her spine at her neck and came out through her cheek, but after surgery, reports are emerging that is was the force of the blast that caused her death.

This was a true assassination.   The rally was supposed to be secured by the government security forces with metal detectors and body searches.   That the bomber blew himself up after shooting at her raises the question:  Was it to inflict chaos, maximum damage, kill her supporters or to hide his own identity (or all of the above)?

[UPDATE] VIDEO LINK

The question becomes how both the bomber gained access and who he was that it was important he blow himself up beyond recognition.

Another point of interest:  She met with Karzai of Afghanistan just before the rally.

[UPDATE] The BBC has just filed their report with Mussharaf’s response.

The funeral will be very telling in terms of where the Pakistani people stand and how much further they and the stability of the region are at risk.

[UPDATE]  al Qaeda has claimed responsibility and the Pakistani authorities said they intercepted a phone call from an al Qaeda suspect congratulating someone for the assassination.