Pakistan in a State of Emergency

[coemgen]

This is the breaking news on CNN.com:

"Benazir Bhutto died from hitting her car's sunroof; no bullet or shrapnel found in her, Pakistan's Interior Ministry says."

This whole thing is crazy.

[coemgen]

Update:

"Benazir Bhutto died from a fractured skull after hitting her head on a lever -- not from a bullet or shrapnel, Pakistan's Interior Ministry says."

[ntalwar]

Interesting - what would have been another failed assassination attempt succeeded by circumstance and by accident. It's possible the intent was not to kill her.

[coemgen]

I doubt the intent was not to kill her. It's al Qaeda we're talking about. (supposedly)

The interesting thing to me is those who wish to see Bhutto martyred are going to claim she was killed by a bullet or shrapnel still. The fight over what her life, and now death, meant is only going to create a stronger sense of myth surrounding her "martyrdom."

[AngelofHarlem01]

On reports I saw on CNN yesterday they had accounts by witnesses saying that they saw the attacker run up and shoot her. Then they had annonymous quotes from doctors at the hospital saying she died as a result of a gun shot wound to the neck.. This was all wrong then? I don't know what to believe at this point..

[U2democrat]

What this means is she was shot but the bullet wounds were not fatal, the fatal blow was when she hit her head.

[anitram]

Originally posted by U2democrat
What this means is she was shot but the bullet wounds were not fatal, the fatal blow was when she hit her head.

Actually the Pakistan Interior Ministry is saying she was never hit at all.

The whole thing is very fishy, and of course they didn't bother carrying out an autopsy. Classic.

[ntalwar]

Originally posted by coemgen
I doubt the intent was not to kill her. It's al Qaeda we're talking about. (supposedly)

The last attempt failed to kill her. I'm not sure it's "al Qaeda" (a very loosely used term by the media).

It's interseting that no one else in the car was injured, three shots missed supposedly, and the fact that she would stand up could not have been known in advance.

[coemgen]

Just because the attempt failed, doesn't mean the intent to kill never existed.

Also, it looks al Qaeda could very well be involved:


U.S. suspects Taliban leader behind Bhutto plot

* Story Highlights
* NEW: U.S. official says Taliban leader a suspect in Benazir Bhutto's death
* NEW: Baitullah Mahsud overheard congratulating operatives, Pakistan says
* No one claims responsibility for Bhutto's death on radical Islamist Web sites
* Pakistan TV report says suicide bomber part of militant group with al Qaeda ties

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN -- U.S. officials suspect a Taliban leader from Afghanistan may be behind the plot to assassinate former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a senior official said Friday.

The official identified Taliban leader Baitullah Mahsud as a leading suspect, saying there's "good information that leads us to believe he is the guy responsible."

Earlier Friday, the Pakistani Interior Ministry said it had "intelligence intercepts" indicating Mahsud was behind the opposition leader's death the day before in Rawalpindi.

"As you all know, Benazir Bhutto had been on the hit list of terrorists ever since she had come to Pakistan," said the Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema. "She was on the hit list of al Qaeda."

Cheema said the Pakistani government intercepted a communication Friday in which Mahsud "congratulated his people for carrying out this cowardly act."

Robert Grenier, former CIA station chief in Pakistan and former head of the CIA's counterterrorism center, describes Mahsud as an Islamic radical leader in South Waziristan closely associated with the Taliban.

Grenier said that Mahsud spoke publicly before Bhutto's return to Pakistan in October after eight years in self-exile that the former prime minister was marked for assassination.

The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that Mahsud allegedly pledged to dispatch suicide bombers against Bhutto but that Mahsud has denied that allegation.

The Interior Ministry also said earlier the suicide bomber belonged to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim militant group with links to al Qaeda, Pakistan's GEO TV reported.

There was no sign the group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Pakistan opposition leader.

The U.S. State Department lists Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as a terrorist organization and said it had links to the Taliban. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf banned the group in 2001.

"In January 1999, the group attempted to assassinate former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif," the State Department Web site says.

Also Friday, the state-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan reported al Qaeda had claimed responsibility for killing Bhutto.

The agency quoted Cheema as saying, "Al Qaeda in a statement has accepted the responsibility of her assassination, as in the past she had been receiving life threats from this terrorist group."

No one has accepted responsibility for Bhutto's death on radical Islamist Web sites that regularly post such messages from al Qaeda and other militant groups.

CNN could not independently confirm that al Qaeda has claimed responsibility.

Bhutto, 54, died as a result of a fractured skull after hitting her head on a lever in the vehicle she was riding in, Chema said.

He said Bhutto suffered no bullet or shrapnel wounds, contradicting all previous government statements regarding her injuries. Authorities had said Bhutto was targeted by gunshots seconds before a suicide bombing as she was leaving a rally.

On Thursday, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin citing an alleged claim of responsibility by the terror network for Bhutto's death, a DHS official said.

But FBI and other law enforcement officials said that the claim is unsubstantiated and that federal officials are not making any comments about its validity.

Italian news agency Adnkronos International apparently was the source of this claim, saying the terror network's Afghan commander and spokesman Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid had telephoned the agency with it.

"We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahedeen," the Italian news agency quoted Al-Yazid as saying.

The agency said that al Qaeda's No. 2 official, Ayman al-Zawahiri, set the wheels in motion for Bhutto's assassination in October.

One Islamist Web site repeated the assertion, but experts in the field don't consider the site to be a reliable source for Islamist messages.

The DHS official said the claim was "an unconfirmed open source claim of responsibility" and the bulletin was sent out at about 6 p.m. Thursday to state and local law enforcement agencies. VideoWatch as an analyst says the killing gives al Qaeda "running room" »

The official characterized the bulletin as "information sharing."

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said the validity of such a claim is "undetermined." Kolko said the FBI and the intelligence community is reviewing it "for any intelligence value."

[ntalwar]

Taliban ≠ al Qaeda

[coemgen]

Did you read these parts?:

"Also Friday, the state-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan reported al Qaeda had claimed responsibility for killing Bhutto."

"The agency quoted Cheema as saying, "Al Qaeda in a statement has accepted the responsibility of her assassination, as in the past she had been receiving life threats from this terrorist group.""

"The agency said that al Qaeda's No. 2 official, Ayman al-Zawahiri, set the wheels in motion for Bhutto's assassination in October."

[coemgen]

There's also this from the AP:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - As hundreds of thousands attended the burial of Benazir Bhutto at her family's mausoleum Friday, Pakistan's interior minister blamed al-Qaida and the Taliban for the assassination and said another key opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, is also under threat of militant attack.

“We have the evidence that al-Qaida and Taliban were behind the suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto,” Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz said.

[MrsSpringsteen]

The whole thing is very fishy. Either they don't want AQ to have the satisfaction of thinking they actually killed her, or something far more sinister than that is going on.

[coemgen]

Like I read earlier today, Bhutto's death is Pakistan's JFK assassination . . .

[U2democrat]

^The same thing went through my mind.

[ntalwar]

Another bizarre twist - she states in a recent interview that Osama Bin Laden was murdered. Not sure if she misspoke.

Around 6:10 in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIO8B6fpFSQ

[sue4u2]

Originally posted by MrsSpringsteen
The whole thing is very fishy. Either they don't want AQ to have the satisfaction of thinking they actually killed her, or something far more sinister than that is going on.

Even Anderson Cooper, who was reporting from Pakistan said this.
At this point AQ WANTS! the blame even if they didn't do it.

The Pakistani govt should have done an autospy.
Or maybe they did.. In any case it leads to exactly what is going on, speculation.

[verte76]

Terrible.

[angelordevil]

Originally posted by AngelofHarlem01
On reports I saw on CNN yesterday they had accounts by witnesses saying that they saw the attacker run up and shoot her.

Definitely points to a lapse in security--the very fact that someone could approach so nonchalantly is a huge issue. It's absolutely horrible that she's gone...whether you admired her, or not, is really secondary to the way in which she was eliminated. It's really a kick in the gut of the democratic process, the election, and whatever advancements the country was reaching for. Bhutto was a divisive figure, yes. However, with her gone, the potential fallout--nuclear, and all--is extremely frightening for the entire planet.

Interesting in this story how she once said if something like this were to happen to her, Musharraf should be held responsible.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...hub=TopStories

[dazzledbylight]

Originally posted by Zoomerang96
this is far bigger news that most people realize.

exactly WHY i half-freaked out las nite!