Benazhir Bhutto Blames Musharraf for her Assassination

Wolf Blitzer reported that an e-mail sent 2 months ago by Benazir Bhutto blames Musharraf for any successful assassination attempt against her. He says that he promised not divulge the e-mail contents until such assassination did occur. It seems too convenient that the greatest threat to dictator Pervez Musharraf should have two assassination attempts against since she returned to Pakistan in October. In the e-mail Bhutto complains about the lack of security surrounding her. It is also suspicious that the assassination is already being blamed on "extremists," and comes just before an election that threatened Musharraf's power:

Another similar view:

Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated in Karachi, at the center of Musharraf's support base. Her security people complained that the official protection had been inadequate.

A couple of days before her assassination this courageous woman, spoke out to condemn Musharraf for blocking democratic reform while being soft on extremism. Now she is dead, a victim apparently of the extremism she accused Musharraf of enabling though his lack-of-action.

Opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, has gone further. He holds Musharraf responsible for the killing.

There was an earlier assassination attempt when Bhutto arrived back in Pakistan. It also took place in Karachi and resulted in the deaths of 140 people. After that attack, Bhutto pointed the finger directly at conservative members of the government. She also suggested that Pakistan's powerful intelligence service, the ISI, had been involved.

Benazir Bhutto's family history was marked by tragedy. Her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was executed by the then government of Zia-ul Haq. Her youngest brother, Shahnawaz, died in France under mysterious circumstances. Members of the family were convinced that he had been poisoned. In 1993, another brother Murtaza was killed in a gun battle with police.

There was also an attack on other political adversaries of Musharraf. What are the odds that these incidents occur on the same day. There is a pattern here:

At least four supporters of former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were killed Thursday when unidentified gunmen fired at his party's procession in the outskirts of Islamabad, local press reports said.

Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), was due to address election rallies in the eastern Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, some 30 kms south from Islamabad.

A procession was taken out to welcome Sharif when unidentified gunmen opened fire from a house at Karal Chowk on the main Islamabad airport road, the PML-N said.

Around 16 other supporters were also injured in the attack. Seven are listed as critical condition, the PML-N was cited as saying.

According to reports from local media, Sharif blamed supporters of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) for the violence at Karal Chowk of Rawalpindi.

"Some Q League workers fired at our people," Sharif said, referring to the PML-Q which supports President Pervez Musharraf.

And if Musharraf suspends the elections wouldn't that also suggest his complicity in the Bhutto killing:

Of course, Musharraf, who has used terrorism as a justification to exercise extraconstitutional authority such as martial law, is blaming the "terrorists" and is considering postponing elections which were scheduled for two weeks from now. How convenient. Why did you refuse to give Bhutto adequate security if you were so afraid of the terrorists?

After the first bombing, I expressed the following concern: "I wonder about the assassination attempt on Bhutto a few weeks ago. If Bhutto is an opponent of Musharraf’s, wouldn’t he have had some interest in seeing that attack succeed? Has anyone else asked this same question?" Now we have a second attack that did succeed and may succeed in keeping Musharraf in power. I'm doubly skeptical now.

This was an organized attack. There was a sniper that shot Bhutto from a building and knew the route of her vehicle, which drove right into a suicide bombing later. This is NOT garden variety terrorism. The clear objective was to knock off Bhutto, then perhaps to use a suicide bombing to distract from the shooting. Think about it: if Bhutto was simply shot, it would not be "terrorism." The objective to wipe out Bhutto would have been met, but you couldn't blame 'extremists' or 'terrorists'.