In this post I put up the video that seemed to dispute the notion that Bhutto died from hitting her head. Now Pakistan has confirmed it, they lied:
In a dramatic U-turn, Pakistan government has “apologised” for claiming
that former premier Benazir Bhutto died of a skull fracture after
hitting the sunroof of her car during a suicide attack.Caretaker Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan has asked the media and
people to “forgive and ignore” comments made by his ministry’s
spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema which were slammed by her Pakistan
People’s Party as “lies” and led to an uproar at home and abroad.The Interior Minister made the apology during a briefing for Pakistani
newspaper editors on Monday. Punjab province on Tuesday issued a
front-page advertisement in newspapers that offered a reward of Rs 1
crore for information about a gunman and a suspected suicide bomber
seen in the photos and video footage of the assassination.The government’s apparent damage control exercise on Cheema’s comments
made at a news conference a day after Bhutto was assassinated at
Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi on December 27, came after TV channels aired
privately shot photos and video footage which showed a gunman shooting
at Bhutto.The Pakistan People’s Party leader is seen in the footage falling
through the sun-roof before the suicide bomber detonated his
explosives. The briefing by caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian
Soomro was also attended by the foreign, interior and information
ministers and senior officials.
I just don’t get it. If she died from hitting her head because a bomb went off in an attempt to kill her, what difference does it make? She died because of the actions of those looking to assassinate her.
Why the made up story?
I have to tell ya, I’m getting more nervous by the day knowing this country has nukes.
UPDATE
More:
Pakistani authorities have pressured the medical personnel who tried
to save Benazir Bhutto’s life to remain silent about what happened in
her final hour and have removed records of her treatment from the
facility, according to doctors.In interviews, doctors who were
at Bhutto’s side at Rawalpindi General Hospital said they were under
extreme pressure not to share details about the nature of the injuries
that the opposition leader suffered in an attack here Dec. 27.“The
government took all the medical records right after Ms. Bhutto’s time
of death was read out,” said a visibly shaken doctor who spoke on
condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Sweating and putting his head in his hands, he said: “Look, we have
been told by the government to stop talking. And a lot of us feel this
is a disgrace.”
UPDATE II
And the conspiracies rage:
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.
See author page
If we are uncomfortable,how do you think India feels, but your right this is a very scary precarious situation. They seem to lie as good or at least as good as the Democraps. Threw that poor spokesman under the bus with out a look back, just like Hillery.
Speaking of Hillary, did you notice she is completely clueless on Pakistan politics. And no one has called her on it. That should scare us more that our elected leaders have no clue about international politics.
The government probably made up the story for the same reason for the made up the story of Pat Tilman’s death. In Tilman’s death it was an inside job and not the work of some outside organization.
Imagine if she was shot from a person inside her car and the high ranking police were in on it. That would defiantly cause the police to want to hide the body/evidence and for there to be no autopsy evidence, such as photos, not to be available for even other governments to look at. Would people hear the shots coming from the fire? Not when somebody else is shooting. The explosion could have even made it even easier for people to get confused.
I hope that is what you meant.
There is video of the shooters outside the car.
And Tillman wasn’t murdered. He was accidentally killed by friendly fire and the military brass tried to hide it, not our elected leaders so your analogy doesn’t add up. But I do agree Pakistan was trying to cover up something.
Hmm, there was supposed to be a strike through of the words “an inside job” in my last post, but it does not seem to have worked. Sorry about that.
I fixed it Michael. Apparently the comment section wouldn’t allow the strike code but have changed it to allow it.
“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.
That those two named US politicians are trusted by anyone is scary.
I think this situation calls for a joint Huckabee/Obama task force. But seriously, this is the consequence of the “gentle push towards democracy”, and deep inside everybody knows the house of cards is about to fall.
I know hindsight is easier than foresight but it does seem to have been a mistake to encourage her to return without adequate protection.
There was no chance that the current military government of Pakistan was going to allow any sort of democratic election: in 2008 or ever.
It was not a case of IF she would be assasinated, but WHEN.
All that is left is for the election to be deferred and the Bush Administration (the only external support Musharif has)to support that decision.
Although, granted that the Taliban and al Qaeda have been allowed to rebuild in sanctuaries in Afghanistan and Pakistan, there is no longer any actions that the United States can take that will prevent a permanent military dictatorship in Pakistan, with Taliban and al Qaeda continuing to use Pakistan as their base for recruiting and controlling their worldwide operations.
I what I mean by inside job was the military created a unit that shouldn’t have existed, the unit fell apart because of the dediciencies that existed, and then the brass tried to cover it up to save the ranger image. If it was a fog of war thing, the U.S. there would be no reason for anybody to lie about story number one. I think the true cover up in the case was at least that ranger unit should not have existed. I remember reading the final report in a newspaper that at least one guy had poor eye sight, one guy later on shot at two rangers in a village during daylight, the commander went against training to split up his men and then somebody bothered to use shock paddles on a long dead body which was not guarded. That sounds like something out of the comic show F-Troop rather than the image of an elite force and that image is what the U.S. military is trying to protect. I never said anything about elected officals.
Musharraf has less and less friends now. Giving him money for arms didn’t work, the cover up of Benazir Bhutto was amateurish and his backing down against the northern tribes didn’t win him any friends with Afganistan or NATO. I wonder how the CIA is doing in finding quality leadership for Pakistan which wouldn’t get assassinated. I sense they have found no good options. An invasion of Pakistan would be unlikely. Dropping support for Musharraf would still be unlikely ( NATO would have to depend on Afganistan for everything since Pakistan would revoke air flights over Pakistan). The alternative is going from Turkey or Iraq over Amermenia over Azerbaijan over the Caspian sea, over Turkmenistan and down into Afganistan. NATO troops dressing up as Afganistan soldiers, Pakistani soldier or local tribesmen and going after people in Northern Pakistan would be more likely.
How in the world does someone not take that statement as you saying Tillman was murdered. And whether you believe a certain Ranger unit or not existed matters not. That’s up to the military. They covered up a bad scene and they got caught, but to try and compare the two incidents is just plain wrong.