no surprise...
in the first attack witnesses said the streetlights went out and police pulled back...
Police abandoned security posts before Bhutto assassination
Nick Juliano
Raw Story
Saturday, December 29, 2007
No autopsy performed on body; docs say bullet wounds not found
Police abandoned their security posts shortly before Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's assassination Thursday, according to a journalist present at the time, and unanswerable questions remain about the cause of her death, because an autopsy was never performed.
Pakistan's Interior Minister on Friday said that Bhutto was not killed by gunshots, as had been widely reported, and doctors at Rawalpindi General Hospital, where she died, say there were no bullet marks on the former prime minister's body, according to India's IBNLive.com. Furthermore, according to the news agency, there was no formal autopsy performed on Bhutto's body before she was buried Friday.
CNN is now reporting that it wasn't gunshots or shrapnel that killed Bhutto, but that she died from hitting the sunroof of the car she was riding in. The network said sources in Pakistan's Interior Ministry said nothing entered her skull, no bullets or shrapnel.
Apparently there was some kind of lever on the sunroof she was standing through, and she hit her head on that CNN reported Friday morning.
Earlier in the day Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz told a Pakistani news channel, “The report says she had head injuries – an irregular patch – and the X-ray doesn’t show any bullet in the head. So it was probably the shrapnel or any other thing has struck her in her said. That damaged her brain, causing it to ooze and her death. The report categorically says there’s no wound other than that," according to IBNLive.
Perhaps more shockingly, an attendee at the rally where Bhutto was killed says police charged with protecting her "abandoned their posts," leaving just a handful of Bhutto's own bodyguards protecting her.
"Police officers had frisked the 3,000 to 4,000 people attending Thursday's rally when they entered the park, but as the speakers from Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party droned on, the police abandoned many of their posts," wrote Saeed Shah in an essay published by McClatchy News Service. "As she drove out through the gate, her main protection appeared to be her own bodyguards, who wore their usual white T-shirts inscribed: 'Willing to die for Benazir.'"
While some intelligence officials, especially within the US, were quick to finger al Qaeda militants as responsible for Bhutto's death, it remains unclear precisely who was responsible and some speculation has centered on Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI, its military or even forces loyal to the current president Pervez Musharraf. Rawalpindi, where Bhutto was killed, is the garrison city that houses the Pakistani military's headquarters.
"GHQ (general headquarters of the army) killed her," Sardar Saleem, a former member of parliament, told Shah at the hospital.
Whatever the case, Bhutto's precise cause of death may never be known because of the failure to administer an autopsy. The procedure was not carried out because police and local authorities in Rawalpindi did not request one, according to IBNLive, but the government plans a formal investigation why this was the case.
Musharraf initially blamed her death on unnamed Islamic militants, but Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz told The Associated Press on Friday that "we have the evidence that al-Qaida and the Taliban were behind the suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto."
He said investigators had resolved the "whole mystery" behind the opposition leader's killing and would give details at press conference later Friday.
DEVELOPING...
Police abandoned security posts before Bhutto assassination
Nick Juliano
Raw Story
Saturday, December 29, 2007
No autopsy performed on body; docs say bullet wounds not found
Police abandoned their security posts shortly before Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's assassination Thursday, according to a journalist present at the time, and unanswerable questions remain about the cause of her death, because an autopsy was never performed.
Pakistan's Interior Minister on Friday said that Bhutto was not killed by gunshots, as had been widely reported, and doctors at Rawalpindi General Hospital, where she died, say there were no bullet marks on the former prime minister's body, according to India's IBNLive.com. Furthermore, according to the news agency, there was no formal autopsy performed on Bhutto's body before she was buried Friday.
CNN is now reporting that it wasn't gunshots or shrapnel that killed Bhutto, but that she died from hitting the sunroof of the car she was riding in. The network said sources in Pakistan's Interior Ministry said nothing entered her skull, no bullets or shrapnel.
Apparently there was some kind of lever on the sunroof she was standing through, and she hit her head on that CNN reported Friday morning.
Earlier in the day Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz told a Pakistani news channel, “The report says she had head injuries – an irregular patch – and the X-ray doesn’t show any bullet in the head. So it was probably the shrapnel or any other thing has struck her in her said. That damaged her brain, causing it to ooze and her death. The report categorically says there’s no wound other than that," according to IBNLive.
Perhaps more shockingly, an attendee at the rally where Bhutto was killed says police charged with protecting her "abandoned their posts," leaving just a handful of Bhutto's own bodyguards protecting her.
"Police officers had frisked the 3,000 to 4,000 people attending Thursday's rally when they entered the park, but as the speakers from Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party droned on, the police abandoned many of their posts," wrote Saeed Shah in an essay published by McClatchy News Service. "As she drove out through the gate, her main protection appeared to be her own bodyguards, who wore their usual white T-shirts inscribed: 'Willing to die for Benazir.'"
While some intelligence officials, especially within the US, were quick to finger al Qaeda militants as responsible for Bhutto's death, it remains unclear precisely who was responsible and some speculation has centered on Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI, its military or even forces loyal to the current president Pervez Musharraf. Rawalpindi, where Bhutto was killed, is the garrison city that houses the Pakistani military's headquarters.
"GHQ (general headquarters of the army) killed her," Sardar Saleem, a former member of parliament, told Shah at the hospital.
Whatever the case, Bhutto's precise cause of death may never be known because of the failure to administer an autopsy. The procedure was not carried out because police and local authorities in Rawalpindi did not request one, according to IBNLive, but the government plans a formal investigation why this was the case.
Musharraf initially blamed her death on unnamed Islamic militants, but Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz told The Associated Press on Friday that "we have the evidence that al-Qaida and the Taliban were behind the suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto."
He said investigators had resolved the "whole mystery" behind the opposition leader's killing and would give details at press conference later Friday.
DEVELOPING...
posted by dsekou at 1:50 PM
3 Comments:
I have a problem here. What does the outing of street lights have to do with anything since it was still daylight when she was shot at? The quotes story here would make it seem as if it was dark and it was not.
How does the person in attendance know that the police abandoned their posts? Do they know the schedule? Are they security experts? Why were they paying so much attention to where the police were?
Given that Bhutto as told by the ISI that it was not safe to hold outdoor rallies why did she do so and why did she pop her head out of a tall truck giving any shooter a clear shot at her head? Not even the Pope will put his head and body out there like that.
It seems to me that had Bhutto's security been on point and not allowed her to poke her head out the truck she would still be alive today.
I think her security is suspect or she was very hard headed and didn't listen to her security people.
hey sondjata loong time man . how you been ? what ever happened to the old hang out ? weren't they once talking about reviving it ?
but on the original topic , the "streetlights went out and the police pulled back" thing was from an interview bhutto gave that was in the asian papers.
she was describing a bomb attack that took place when she first arrived back in Pakistan.
no doubt she was foolish for standing up exposed in that sunroof , and no doubt she was foolish to believe bush admin assurances that if she returned musharraf's arms would be twisted to make him share power with her , but she seemed to think it was her destiny to return and face whatever... i think from past experience with immigrants here from that region there is a cultural fatalism combined with a belief in divine protection involved. it's like they have each foot planted in a separate world.
one side is the logical rational side that went to oxford and harvard , the other is the side that believes in destiny , fate and spiritual magic .
because she was from a feudal landowning family the people around her would be very subservient and she would be hard for them to say no to . even if the suggestions they gave her would save her life.
she did say she was trying to hire blackwater or british bodyguards who probably would not have let her take un necessary risks like that sunroof stunt , but Musharraf wouldn't allow the british or american bodyguards into the country...
Ok. Thanks for correcting me on that.
Did you see the interview with Musharaff? I don't think he's completely clean but I think he was right, especially after seeing the video that showed that the truck took the blast so it is fact that she would be alive now. I remember back in school when I was in "an organization." we took security very seriously. You need to trust and then listen to your security people.
On the old hangout: Went down, I got one mail and then poof it was gone. I would put up another site but I'd like to make sure it is being used before I put up the cash for the bandwidth and hosting.
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