Bhutto murdered

[sasvermont]

Fasten your seat belts. This death will most likely take us into another tense and tangled mess. I thought it was matter of time until someone was suscessful at their attempt. How sad. How scarey. What is this world coming to?

[cassiesmom]

The Middle East is so volatile.

Edited to add: I heard on news radio last night that the brother of president Musharraf is a physician in the Chicago area. I would really not want to be in his shoes right now.

[Karen]

It is tragic, both for her family, for her country, and for the world. She just recently said, "No true Muslim would do that," referring to an assassination attempt.

[lizbud]

It is tragic, both for her family, for her country, and for the world. She just recently said, "No true Muslim would do that," referring to an assassination attempt.

She was referring to the fact that she was a woman, and said it was
against Muslim law to kill a woman & that's what she meant by that
statement. These extremists recognize no limits with their blind hatred.

One news report I saw yesterday mentioned that she was the last of
her family (Bhutto) Her father, who was also a former PM in Pakistan,
and her two brothers were also killed by assasinations.

[Karen]

She does have a sister, still, but her sister lives in London and has for years, and has not been involved in Pakistani politics.

[Edwina's Secretary]

I have always admired Benazir Bhutto. I do not know the right or wrong of her politics - whether her regime was corrupt or not, but I think she was a incredibly brave woman. To have lead a Muslim nation - as a woman took such courage. To return to her country, knowing the distinct possiblity of harm...I could not have done it for one minute.

In addition to a nation (and possibly beyond) left in chaos, she leave three children. Teenagers I believe.

It is so sad how often violence is the answer....

[caseysmom]

I read her autobiography several years ago. Even at a young age she was an extremely intelligent articulate young lady. Like ES said I don't know the right or wrong of her politics but I sure admired her.

[Catty1]

Interview: Benazir Bhutto
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan
October 27, 2000
London, England
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgur...ctive%26sa%3DG



Former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto (C) and her two daughters arrive at a press conference in Dubai 17 October 2007. Bhutto confirmed today that she will return home tomorrow, October 18, after eight years of self-imposed exile despite government pressure to delay her homecoming. AFP PHOTO KARIM SAHIB


Asif Ali Zardari, husband of Benazir Bhutto, is escorted by a Pakistani policeman outside his residence in Lahore on Saturday. — Reuters photo

[Pam]

Some of the news coverage that I watched last night expressed concern that such a thing could happen in a country that also has nuclear weapons. The worry was that if security was not good enough to keep this from happening just how good is their security with regard to their weapons. Then again, we have nuclear weapons here and all sorts of horrible things have happened to us. *sigh* Unfortunately I don't think there is any place safe from madness these days.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

She was such a pretty woman as well as courageous. I remember seeing on the news when she arrived back in Pakistan. I could tell she really loved her country.

Such a sad sad thing!

[caseysmom]

I recommend "Daughter of Destiny" which is basically her life story, it was very good reading.

[Lizzie]

I've been reading the comments on BBC online, most of which have come from people in South Asia, the Middle and Far East and Africa, so extremely interesting to read.

I, too, was awed by the fact that she would go back to a country where her life was in imminent danger and, while shocked, I am not at all surprised by her assassination. My ex-husband knew her slightly at Oxford, where she was still known as Pinky Bhutto. I'd never known him so inarticulate in describing someone, he just said something like she was "quite something, very opinionated and forceful" and seemed lost for words after that. Those must have been golden days for her, while her father was still alive and the future looked challenging but positive.

[Catty1]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/p..._investigation

Pakistan says Bhutto died of fractured skull, not bullet wounds

1 hour, 56 minutes ago

By Munir Ahmad, The Associated Press

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Benazir Bhutto died from a skull fracture suffered when her head slammed against her car during a suicide attack - not from bullet wounds, the government said Friday.

Pakistan's interior minister blamed al-Qaida and the Taliban for Thursday's assassination and said another key opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, is also under threat of militant attack.

The government released a transcript Friday of a purported conversation between militant leader Baitullah Mehsud and another militant.

"It was a spectacular job. They were very brave boys who killed her," Mehsud said, according to the transcript.

On Thursday, authorities said Bhutto died from bullet wounds fired by a young man who then blew himself up, killing 20 other people. A surgeon who treated her said earlier Friday she died from the impact of shrapnel on her skull.

But later Friday, Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said all three shots missed her as she greeted supporters through the sunroof of her vehicle, which was bulletproof and bombproof.

He also denied that shrapnel caused her death.

Cheema said Bhutto was killed when she tried to duck back into the vehicle and the shock waves from the blast knocked her head into a lever attached to the sunroof, fracturing her skull.

At a news conference, Cheema played a videotape of the attack showing Bhutto waving, smiling and chatting with supporters from the sunroof as her car sat unmoving on the street outside a campaign rally. Three gunshots rang out, the camera appeared to fall, and the tape ended.

Bhutto was slain while campaigning for the Jan. 8 parliamentary elections in which she hoped to return as prime minister. Upon her return from exile in October, she survived an assassination attempt. She had repeatedly complained that the government of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf did not give her adequate security.

On Friday, Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz told The Associated Press that the government had evidence that al-Qaida and Taliban were behind the suicide attack.

Later, Cheema blamed Mehsud, described him as an "al-Qaida leader" and said he was also behind the Oct. 18 bombing against Bhutto's homecoming parade through Karachi that killed more than 140 people.

Mehsud is a commander of pro-Taliban forces in the lawless Pakistani tribal region of South Waziristan, where al-Qaida fighters are also active. His forces often attack Pakistani security forces.

This fall, he was quoted in a Pakistani newspaper as saying that he would welcome Bhutto's return from exile with suicide bombers. Mehsud later denied that in statements to local television and newspaper reporters.

Cheema said Mehsud was "behind most of the recent terrorist attacks that have taken place in Pakistan."

He said Pakistani security forces would hunt down those responsible for Bhutto's death.

Cheema also said Sharif, also a former prime minister and now the most prominent opposition leader in Pakistan, was among several politicians under threat of militant attack.

He named others as Fazlur Rehman, the leader of an Islamist opposition party; former Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, a close ally of Musharraf; and former Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao, who narrowly escaped a suicide bombing last weekend that killed 56 people.

[dukedogsmom]

It's so tragic. I really admired her a lot. I was so glad when she escaped death a month or so ago. She was a very brave woman who won't be forgotten.

[Lady's Human]

The more I read, the more doubt I have.

For starters, Bhutto was not the angel depicted in the western media. There's a REASON most of that family have been assassinated.

Second.....Al Quaeda? Give me a break. There was no announcement from them (atypical at best), and the more I look at the sequence of events, the more it screams spec ops..........in the case of Pakistan the ISI. (Pak state intel agency) They are out of control of the central government and military, and have been for a long time. Al Quaeda has the capability to pull of a hit, but the combined bombing/sniping takes more coordination than AQ's typical minimally trained footsoldiers. It takes a hell of a lot of intel to pull off something like that, and the AQ just doesn't have the skills to do it. They're terrorists, not military.