Sunday, January 13, 2008

Who Killed Bhutto?

The Times of London reports today:

British officials have revealed that evidence amassed by Scotland Yard detectives points towards Al-Qaeda militants being responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

Five experts in video evidence and forensic science have been in Pakistan for 10 days since President Pervez Musharraf took up an offer from Gordon Brown for British help in the investigation of the December 27 killing. Last week they were joined by three specialists in explosives.

Bhutto’s murder as she left a rally she had been addressing in Rawalpindi sparked an international outcry. Her body was flown home to be buried with no postmortem examination. Companions insist the cause of death - a bullet wound in her neck - was obvious.

Claims by the government that she had fractured her skull on the sunroof of her car while escaping the blast from a suicide bomb prompted fury from party supporters who insisted she had been shot before the explosion.

When footage of the incident clearly revealed a man waving a pistol in the crowd, the government was accused of a cover-up.
Further on in the story the Times reports:
“There was no cover-up,” [a government minister] insisted. “It was just unfortunate that in all the shock and confusion at the beginning, people shot their mouths off talking about sunroofs rather than simply saying it would be investigated.”

Scotland Yard has insisted that its task is not to establish who killed her but only how she died.

Even that is not straightforward. They cannot examine the body, and the crime scene and Bhutto’s vehicle were both scrubbed within hours.

Every day another conspiracy theory emerges. […]
I’ll bet a lot of you are asking why the crime scene and Bhutto’s vehicle were scrubbed within hours? Who gave the orders for that?

The Times of London story doesn’t say and it doesn't raise the questions.

In a case like Bhutto’s assassination, it’s usual practice to cordon off the area and spend days looking for evidence, undertaking forensic testing, and the like.

Why didn't that happen?

If you’ve seen published answers to that and the other questions I’ve asked, please give me a heads up.

I’m also emailing the Times and will let you know what I hear back.

Meanwhile, is it any wonder “[e]very day another conspiracy theory emerges?”

The entire Times of London story is here.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

'assignation'

Oops. You must have meant
'assassination', not a secret lover's rendevous.

Not Freudian, I hope.

TombZ

JWM said...

Thanks, TombZ.

I got it fixed.

Rushed now but look for a further comment here tonight by 8 pm.

John

JWM said...

Dear TombZ,

I responded to your subsequent comment on the other post already.

What I wanted to say to you earlier today is this: if I remember you rightly, when you first started commenting here you ID'ed as someone without a "lot of education."

Do I have that right?

On my end, I can easily accept you may not have a lot of formal education, but you sure know your way "around and through the barn."

So if you don't mind, straighten me out.

Best,

John

Anonymous said...

Hello John,

I looked around to see if I could find your email address, but so far have been unsuccessful. I'm responding here so as to not let too much time pass without answering.

Thank you for the 'barn' compliment, especially as I think we share similar values.

I don't recall claiming at the start to be without a lot of education. I may have done so in an attempt at humility while staking out a position or two without confidence of all the facts.

As it happens, I am a graduate of a large public university, but went no further in pursuit of subsequent formal education, unlike you. Sometimes I wonder if ...


Keep up the great work, John. You keep writin' it, I'll keep readin' it. And writing back sometimes, too.

TombZ