Bhutto Murder

[Myra Bronstein]

People! At this stage, we still don't really know too much what happened. There are a few vids available for the event itself, but they don't clearly show rounds hitting targets, tell us intentions, etc.

...

I think this shows her being shot pretty clearly:

Given that the Pakistani government now claims she didn't die from gunshots (changing stories are a red flag in government crimes), this video seems to bring both the death and the deceit into sharper focus.

If it wasn't for the internet, e.g., back in 1963, we'd probably never see such evidence.

In fact, it sorta make me wonder if one reason for the bomb (which didn't kill anyone in the car if BB isn't counted) was to destroy as much evidence as possible, in addition to the logical goal of creating general mayhem and confusion.

[Len Colby]

People! At this stage, we still don't really know too much what happened. There are a few vids available for the event itself, but they don't clearly show rounds hitting targets, tell us intentions, etc.

...

I think this shows her being shot pretty clearly:

Given that the Pakistani government now claims she didn't die from gunshots (changing stories are a red flag in government crimes), this video seems to bring both the death and the deceit into sharper focus.

If it wasn't for the internet, e.g., back in 1963, we'd probably never see such evidence.

In fact, it sorta make me wonder if one reason for the bomb (which didn't kill anyone in the car if BB isn't counted) was to destroy as much evidence as possible, in addition to the logical goal of creating general mayhem and confusion.

Funny Paul sees video clips and thinks they show that Bhutto couldn’t have been shot by the gunman and you think the opposite that it shows she was (gov’t story # 1), I’m with you on this one it is close to conclusive. There is also no sign of a flash from inside the car. Note also all the people around it had to believe they would have all be oblivious to a shot from with in. The interviewed ballistics expert also disagreed with Paul but heck what does he know?

[Myra Bronstein]

People! At this stage, we still don't really know too much what happened. There are a few vids available for the event itself, but they don't clearly show rounds hitting targets, tell us intentions, etc.

...

I think this shows her being shot pretty clearly:

Given that the Pakistani government now claims she didn't die from gunshots (changing stories are a red flag in government crimes), this video seems to bring both the death and the deceit into sharper focus.

If it wasn't for the internet, e.g., back in 1963, we'd probably never see such evidence.

In fact, it sorta make me wonder if one reason for the bomb (which didn't kill anyone in the car if BB isn't counted) was to destroy as much evidence as possible, in addition to the logical goal of creating general mayhem and confusion.

Funny Paul sees video clips and thinks they show that Bhutto couldn’t have been shot by the gunman and you think the opposite that it shows she was (gov’t story # 1), I’m with you on this one it is close to conclusive. There is also no sign of a flash from inside the car. Note also all the people around it had to believe they would have all be oblivious to a shot from with in. The interviewed ballistics expert also disagreed with Paul but heck what does he know?

Paul bashing aside, you make a good point Len. I didn't think to look at the car windows, which are partially visible.

I don't see any sign of gunfire from within either, tho' I'm not sure how visible it'd be.

Anyway, so far I have no reason to suspect anyone inside the vehicle.

Something else that is very noticeable is that the big bodyguard in white on the side of her SUV ducks dramatically, seemingly to evade gunfire, immediately once the shots begin, and well before the bomb blast.

[Paul Rigby]

...the US protection racket can rachet up a level to ensure the newly-menaced Gulf States continue to trade oil in dollars...

Right on cue, up pops the dead guy to reinforce the message:

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSL...0071230?sp=true

Bin Laden remarks make Gulf dollar peg likelier

By Daliah Merzaban

DUBAI (Reuters) - Gulf Arab oil producers may be less likely to drop their currency pegs to the weak U.S. dollar after Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden criticized dollar pegs as "unjust and arbitrary", economists said on Sunday.

The Saudi-born militant leader urged Muslims in a video recording on Saturday to support militants so they can "preserve your oil and wealth and protect your money that is slipping between your fingers due to the unjust and arbitrary dollar pegs."

"Your support to sincere mujahideen (holy fighters) ... guarantees all aspects of your security," bin Laden said.

Saudi Arabia and four other Gulf countries have insisted on their commitment to maintaining pegs to the dollar, which hit all-time lows versus the euro and a basket of major currencies last month.

"Comments like this will make their commitment to the peg even stronger and it will be even harder for them to move away from the dollar," said Marios Maratheftis, regional head of research at Standard Chartered Bank.

"They don't want this to become more of a political topic than it already is."

Annual inflation in Saudi Arabia, which has not changed the riyal's rate against the dollar since 1986, hit 5.35 percent in October, the highest since at least 1995.

Its smaller, wealthier neighbors, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, are concerned the weaker dollar is eroding savings of expatriates, who dominate their workforce, and hampering their central banks in the fight against inflation.

Price rises in Qatar are just off a record 15 percent and inflation in the UAE hit a 19-year high of 9.3 percent last year.

The UAE dirham hit a 17-year high last month after Central Bank Governor Sultan Nasser al-Suweidi said he was under mounting social and economic pressure to sever the dirham's peg and track a currency basket.

Suweidi backtracked on his remarks after Gulf rulers agreed at a summit in Qatar this month to retain dollar pegs and keep any talks on currency reform secret.

KUWAIT DROPS PEG

Kuwait broke ranks with its neighbors and dropped its dollar peg in May, saying dollar weakness was driving up imported inflation by making some imports more expensive.

The Middle East's fourth-largest oil exporter has allowed the dinar to rise almost 6 percent since adopting a currency basket on May 20 comprised mainly of dollars.

Despite growing pressure to do the same, Gulf countries could have less political will to follow for fear of appearing to be yielding to pressure from bin Laden, said a Gulf-based economist, who did not want to be identified.

"Bin Laden's comments do make it less likely that Gulf countries will move away from their pegs," the economist said.

Dollar pegs force Gulf countries to track U.S. monetary policy at a time when the Fed is cutting rates to contain the fallout of a mortgage crisis.

A group of Saudi clerics issued a rare warning earlier this month to Saudi leaders that they must take action to curb rising inflation, which has prompted public anger. (Additional reporting by Inal Ersan, editing by Jacqueline Wong)

© Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

Assassination as integrated component of imperial strategy. Turning into a bit of a text book example, this one.

[Craig Lamson]

Bhutto report: Musharraf planned to fix elections

By Saeed Shah | McClatchy Newspapers

Posted on Monday, December 31, 2007

email | print

NAUDERO, Pakistan — The day she was assassinated last Thursday, Benazir Bhutto had planned to reveal new evidence alleging the involvement of Pakistan's intelligence agencies in rigging the country's upcoming elections, an aide said Monday.

Bhutto had been due to meet U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., to hand over a report charging that the military Inter-Services Intelligence agency was planning to fix the polls in the favor of President Pervez Musharraf.

Safraz Khan Lashari, a member of the Pakistan People's Party election monitoring unit, said the report was "very sensitive" and that the party wanted to initially share it with trusted American politicians rather than the Bush administration, which is seen here as strongly backing Musharraf.

"It was compiled from sources within the (intelligence) services who were working directly with Benazir Bhutto," Lashari said, speaking Monday at Bhutto's house in her ancestral village of Naudero, where her husband and children continued to mourn her death.

The ISI had no official comment. However, an agency official, speaking only on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak on the subject, dismissed the allegations as "a lot of talk but not much substance."

Musharraf has been highly critical of those who allege that his regime is involved in electoral manipulation. "Now when they lose, they'll have a good rationale: that it is all rigged, it is all fraud," he said in November. "In Pakistan, the loser always cries."

According to Lashari, the document includes information on a "safe house" allegedly being run by the ISI in a central neighborhood of Islamabad, the alleged headquarters of the rigging operation.

It names as the head of the unit a brigadier general recently retired from the ISI, who was secretly assigned to run the rigging operation, Lashari said. It charges that he was working in tandem with the head of a civilian intelligence agency. Before her return to Pakistan, Bhutto, in a letter to Musharraf, had named the intelligence official as one of the men she accused of plotting to kill her.

Lashari said the report claimed that U.S. aid money was being used to fix the elections. Ballots stamped in favor of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, which supports Musharraf, were to be produced by the intelligence agencies in about 100 parliamentary constituencies.

"They diverted money from aid activities. We had evidence of where they were spending the money," Lashari said.

Lashari, who formerly taught environmental economics at Britain's Cranfield University, said the effort was directed at constituencies where the result was likely to be decided by a small margin, so it wouldn't be obvious.

Bhutto was due to meet Specter and Kennedy after dinner last Thursday. She was shot as she left an election rally in Rawalpindi early that evening. Pakistan's government claims instead that she was thrown against the lever of her car's sunroof, fracturing her skull.

(Shah is a McClatchy special correspondent.)

McClatchy Newspapers 2007

So WERE IS this report???????

[Christopher Hall]

The more I learn about the late BB, the less I like.

I like what she appeared to represent for Pakistan, but she was, without a doubt, a pampered aristocrat, and, very possibly, the corrupt scion of a corrupt politacal family.

I certainly liked her better than PM.

Who benefits from all this? PM and the US.

Moreover, PM is clearly a thug, but he is our thug.

Take heart, though, Arlen Specter is in Pakistan and, presumably, on the job.

Maybe PM can form a Blue Ribbon Panel to investigate the assassination and appoint Arlen (on loan from the Senate and Pa.) as its counsel, and we can leave it up to him to figure all of this out for us.

[David G. Healy]

[...]

Take heart, though, Arlen Specter is in Pakistan and, presumably, on the job.

[...]

LMAO!

[Myra Bronstein]

The more I learn about the late BB, the less I like.

I like what she appeared to represent for Pakistan, but she was, without a doubt, a pampered aristocrat, and, very possibly, the corrupt scion of a corrupt politacal family.

...

I would like to understand why she's being called corrupt by so many people.

Anyone willing to elaborate on that?

[Guest David Guyatt]

People! At this stage, we still don't really know too much what happened. There are a few vids available for the event itself, but they don't clearly show rounds hitting targets, tell us intentions, etc.

...

I think this shows her being shot pretty clearly:

Given that the Pakistani government now claims she didn't die from gunshots (changing stories are a red flag in government crimes), this video seems to bring both the death and the deceit into sharper focus.

If it wasn't for the internet, e.g., back in 1963, we'd probably never see such evidence.

In fact, it sorta make me wonder if one reason for the bomb (which didn't kill anyone in the car if BB isn't counted) was to destroy as much evidence as possible, in addition to the logical goal of creating general mayhem and confusion.

Very interesting footage Myra, and again it reminds me quite sharply of similarities with Rabin's assassination where conflicting reports of how he died took place (sowing confusion) and also how the hospital reports later changed to comply with the official version of events (kill first, spin later).

It's amazing how many people can be foxed by the media. And how few "bots" it takes to spin additional confusion.

[Len Colby]

People! At this stage, we still don't really know too much what happened. There are a few vids available for the event itself, but they don't clearly show rounds hitting targets, tell us intentions, etc.

...

I think this shows her being shot pretty clearly:

Given that the Pakistani government now claims she didn't die from gunshots (changing stories are a red flag in government crimes), this video seems to bring both the death and the deceit into sharper focus.

If it wasn't for the internet, e.g., back in 1963, we'd probably never see such evidence.

In fact, it sorta make me wonder if one reason for the bomb (which didn't kill anyone in the car if BB isn't counted) was to destroy as much evidence as possible, in addition to the logical goal of creating general mayhem and confusion.

Very interesting footage Myra, and again it reminds me quite sharply of similarities with Rabin's assassination where conflicting reports of how he died took place (sowing confusion) and also how the hospital reports later changed to comply with the official version of events (kill first, spin later).

It's amazing how many people can be foxed by the media. And how few "bots" it takes to spin additional confusion.

Nothing in the footage indicates anything other than she was killed by the gunman and/or the suicide bomber, no one (except Paul) has disputed that.

[Guest Gary Loughran]

It's amazing how many people can be foxed by the media. And how few "bots" it takes to spin additional confusion.

Ho ho ho. Gave me a nice chuckle. Nice word work David.

[Paul Rigby]

Nothing in the footage indicates anything other than she was killed by the gunman and/or the suicide bomber, no one (except Paul) has disputed that.

Oh dear, wrong again, Len - and that's discounting other contributors to this thread:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/1...led_bhutto.html

December 27, 2007

Who Killed Bhutto? (updated)

Rick Moran

Conventional wisdom would point the finger at Islamic extremists in Pakistan as the ones who pulled off the successful assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. They made no secret of the fact that killing Bhutto was their number one priority.

They despised her relative secularism and the fact that she was a woman doing man's work. But most of all, they needed to kill her in order to bring unrest to Pakistan, thus setting the stage for what they hope could turn into a bloody civil war and the victory of extremists.

In this scenario, al-Qaeda and those who sympathize with them both in and out of government could be responsible for her death. The intelligence service, ISI, has many Islamist sympathizers in its ranks and getting through the security that surrounded Bhutto could have been facilitated by the professionals in Pakistani intelligence. As details of the attack are revealed, that aspect of the puzzle may come together.

Who else might have carried out such an attack? The Pakistani people are apparently blaming President Musharraf, thinking he offed her in order to get rid of a rival for power. Or, their reasoning goes, he had Bhutto killed in order to re-establish some kind of one man rule.

The problem with blaming Musharraf is that the last thing the Pakistani president wants at this point is violence in the streets. Dawn is reporting that tear gas is already being used against protestors in Peshwar and the possibility of millions of Pakistanis rioting in the major cities is Musharraf's main nightmare at the moment. This is not to say, as I mention above, that elements of the government weren't in on the plot. But Musharraf would have to have a death wish to kill Bhutto.

Is it possible that this was a lone nut? Possible but not very likely. Security surrounding Bhutto was several layers deep and it would seem extremely unlikely that someone could wander through the security net and blow himself up. This is why the finger keeps coming back to a detailed plot with perhaps complicity among Bhutto's bodyguards. The reason for that speculation is that early reports indicate that shots were fired inside the vehicle immediately before the suicide bomber detonated himself.

[Christopher Hall]

The more I learn about the late BB, the less I like.

I like what she appeared to represent for Pakistan, but she was, without a doubt, a pampered aristocrat, and, very possibly, the corrupt scion of a corrupt politacal family.

...

I would like to understand why she's being called corrupt by so many people.

Anyone willing to elaborate on that?

I will try to find a post a link or 2.

I don't take what I read as gospel, and I don't vouch for its accuracy.

It's hard to not like what she appeared to represent to the Pakistani people.

[Len Colby]

Nothing in the footage indicates anything other than she was killed by the gunman and/or the suicide bomber, no one (except Paul) has disputed that.

Oh dear, wrong again, Len - and that's discounting other contributors to this thread:

Wrong again? If you ever pointed out an error I made on this forum I missed it though I think you found some small ones I made on the McCarthy thread

This is why the finger keeps coming back to a detailed plot with perhaps complicity among Bhutto's bodyguards. The reason for that speculation is that early reports indicate that shots were fired inside the vehicle immediately before the suicide bomber detonated himself.

So I stand corrected I said “no one (except Paul) has disputed that” “she was killed by the gunman and/or the suicide bomber” but it turns out a blogger thinks otherwise. He claims that “the finger keeps coming back to a detailed plot with perhaps complicity among Bhutto's bodyguards” and “early reports indicate that shots were fired inside the vehicle immediately before the suicide bomber detonated himself” but provide no references for either claim. Paul when you locate the “early reports” he refers to get back to us, since no one else I’ve seen has made reference to them I doubt they exist.

For this to make sense everyone in the car would have had to have been “in on it” which even Ron indicated makes no sense. If she had been so compromised that her closest aides would plot to kill her she wouldn’t have been a threat to anyone. Also there presumably would have been blood splatter in the car that others would have noticed when she was transferred to the second car. You also have to deal with there being no RELIABLE reports of her being shot below the neck and the video showing her veil being pushed away from the direction of fire fractions of a second after one of the shots. Yes, yes you can point to Naik’s statement about her being shot in the abdomen but he was quoting the people you think killed her. Why would they have told him this if he wasn’t “in on it”? Were the doctors, her husband and the others who saw her corpse “in on it” too? Almost everyone in the PPP upper leadership except for Bhutto herself and Naik sounds like a cross between Stone's "JFK" and "Murder on the Orient Express"

[Len Colby]

The more I learn about the late BB, the less I like.

I like what she appeared to represent for Pakistan, but she was, without a doubt, a pampered aristocrat, and, very possibly, the corrupt scion of a corrupt politacal family.

...

I would like to understand why she's being called corrupt by so many people.

Anyone willing to elaborate on that?

I will try to find a post a link or 2.

I don't take what I read as gospel, and I don't vouch for its accuracy.

It's hard to not like what she appeared to represent to the Pakistani people.

Her Wikipedia bio has a section about the corruption charges against her with 25 refernces so far I looked at 4 or 5 and they check out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benazir_Bhutt...s_of_corruption

This for example was written by Bhutto's neice. Peter indicated the US killed Bhutto's brother his daugter blames her.

http://www.despardes.com/articles/2007/200...tima-bhutto.htm