Was Benazir Bhutto Assasinated through an International Conspiracy?

As an observer watching the events of 27 December 2007 very closely and seen the original photographs within hours of her death, I subscribe to the hypothesis that Benazir Bhutto was not a victim of any rag tag militants, but rather an international, well rehearsed plot with active cooperation from within Pakistan. Not only was she eliminated in a fail safe operation, the crime scene was also washed immediately with emergency doctors becoming mum after their first exciting disclosures. Thereafter the story kept taking twists.
No one other than the Secretariat of PPP on Embassy Road Islamabad had the original and most incriminating video which they later handed over to Channel Four and some stills to DAWN TV. The video was taken by a Jiyala sitting in a Pajero Jeep immediately behind Benazir’s Land Cruiser. These pictures were up on the net within hours of her assassination and much before the handle theory and washing of the crime scene took place.
A friend HP (Peter Hoss) made these comments.
TPM today reported that “CIA Assassin Program Could Operate Anywhere -- Even inside U.S. This is a follow up on a story TPM ran earlier and WSJ reported too.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124736381913627661.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-yn/content/article/2009/07/15/AR2009071503856.html
“We may have gotten a good piece of the answer here: The Washington Post reports today on how the program had been revived and then put on hold several times since 2001. But it also says, referring to the "presidential finding" with which President Bush authorized the program in 2001:
“The finding imposed no geographical limitations on the agency's actions, and intelligence officials have said that they were not obliged to notify Congress of each operation envisaged under the directive.”
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/report_cia_assassin_program_could_operate_anywhere.php?ref=fpb
Seymour Hirsh couple of month ago already commented that assassination squads were put in place by CIA under Cheney’s orders. Now the issue is the interpretation of "No geographical limitations” presumably means that operations could potentially be carried out in countries, friendly or unfriendly, that are far from any war zone -- including even the US itself. And it seems likely that they would be carried out without notifying the foreign country in question.”
There plenty of comments on this report but two of them really stand out I quote of them here:
From TPM comments by readers.
Posted BY: FPN
"On July 22, 2002, Prince Ahmed died unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 43, and on July 23, 2002, Prince Sultan bin Faisal bin Turki al-Saud was killed in a car accident at the age of 41. A week later, Prince Fahd bin Turki bin Saud al-Kabir was found dead, having "died of thirst" at the age of 25. Prince Turki was fired from his position as head of Saudi Intelligence on September 1, 2001, and became the Saudi ambassador to Great Britain in 2002.
On February 20, 2003, Pakistani air force chief Mir, his wife, and fifteen others were killed in a plane crash.
None of this appeared in the 9/11 Commission Report, though it might have been planned for that document. This is because the Bush administration censored 28 pages of material about Saudi connections to 9/11 from the report on the grounds of national security."
http://lippard.blogspot.com/2008/06/real-911-conspiracy.html
http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2003/10/18/saudis/index.html
I would recommend readers to visit the two links especially the article at Salon to get a drift of what was taking place.
One more reader commented:
“I would like to know more about the unexplained disappearances or violent deaths of 40 high level micro-biologists in the 4 years after 9/11.
This has been quashed under the suffocating label of “Conspiracy Ttheory,” even though so many of the microbiologists were found in the trunks of cars, fell off bridges, or died in car wrecks because the brake fluid had been drained.
Apparently they were all either working for the government, government contractors, or involved with projects related to bio-terrorism or anthrax. We know the anthrax came from US government labs. Who would benefit from their silence?
How much of this is verifiable? “
Posted by Edna Gardener
Now some of it may qualify as mere conspiracies theories but the way the US is trying to hide evidence makes things do look really suspicious.
Yet another reader commented:
Bush was strangely eager to have the UN investigate the presumed perpetrators of the Hariri assassination, while he showed his usual lack of interest in the UN investigating Bhutto's assassination.
It did seem odd.
Posted by diachronic in reply to a comment from Lafontaine
Though I agree with some of the posters at TPM but my suspicion is that there is something more behind this and the news being leaked through the US establishment friendly outlets such as Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and even TPM café(it is a democratic party sponsored site) Sounds somewhat strange.
I also believe that eventually this whole thing would be covered up after a few trial balloons like we see above. But enough is out there to say that there are many things that go on behind the scenes and sometimes they have more impact on the events than what we see and read in Newspapers and analysis by Pundits.
Now Benazir’s murder is being investigated by the UN…What do a couple of diplomats know about investigations? Another cover up or scapegoat expedition perhaps…
PS. all the links above need to be read carefully to grasp what my contention is.
HP

Readers must also link this post by HP with Ijaz Gul's Gallery at following link. These pictures appeared within hours of her assassination and perhaps the first ones on an open blog. Hospital witnesses who first attended to BB said that she had one entry wound exiting the right side of head (later Blunt Handle theory), one through the back of the neck through the front neck ( Later obliterated due to special cardiac surgical procedures) and one graze on forehead. Nahid Khan and Dr Safdar, a practicing doctor denies that she had as big a hole as is cited by the doctors. Sherry Rehman insisted, though now is silent that she herself saw entry and exit wounds. This is information within the first few minutes. Within an hour, all stories changes while Rehman Malik kept babbling that she was OK.
Readers must read the discussions on the gallery and unplugged on chowk from 27 Dec 2007-31 Dec 2007.
http://www.chowk.com/gallery/681/32558

A storm is brewing up and let us see whether it is just a balloon or more.

Mush: The Reformer (that never was) haunted by Political Legitimacy

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=116974839046&comments#/note.php?note_id=116974839046&ref=mf

General (r) Pervaiz Musharraf had been the GOC in Okara and a role model in all respects. Training, administration, welfare or extra curricular, he was seen everywhere. In the evenings, he with his wife were a common sight, sitting at the bedside of patients and inquiring their welfare as also keep the hospital staff on toes. I remember my course mate Lt. Col Zia getting a cardiac arrest. The couple sat through the night outside the CCU and wept profoundly when his death was announced in the morning. His presence brought a big developmental and social change in the deserted garrison. He played sports with youngsters, took care of their professional development and was always considered a mentor. I remember him as a Corps Commander in Mangla, when he brought me his personal life jacket for surfing and looked after my family as a personal guest.He was a commander and leader who lived in hearts and minds.

I knew him close enough to be candid and tell him his wrongs on his face. He always accepted criticism positively and sometimes graciously conceded. The day he took over, he was obsessed with devolution. As a staff officer, I had to remind him through presentations that devolution and local self government were two different things. He never comprehended and kept vacillating between the two and thats when a rigidity in his mindset became apparent. Some of his immediate staff members like the DGMO did not persevere either. Had they been as apt as I was, things could have been different. Today, we see a renewal of this concept in devolution of Punjab.

I protested that Seven Points Agenda was Utopian and beyond reach. I wanted it to be reduced to Law and Justice at Grassroots, Education and Fast Track Socio Economic Development. I reminded him of Khalil Gibran who said that a day would come when even monkeys would disclaim kinship with us. As they gathered around him and we got isolated, he persisted that he could could power through all difficulties and achieve the impossible. Thats when the real Musharraf I saw as a GOC began to fade away.

I insisted through noting that we were a declared nuclear state and ought to manifest very responsible international behavior as also get Kargil off our backs. I was most vocal of the rising tide of militancy. Perhaps he still does not realize the damage it caused to Pakistan.

In a noting on 13 October 1999, I warned him to beware of Fly by Night Reformers as they would lead him off course. He entertained all of them with Shaukat Aziz in command. As he isolated himself from well wishing critics, a jingoist began to emerge.

I was weary of the CBR plans for Tax Reforms ( Value addition through Sales Tax). I told both the DGMO and CGS that Pakistan was economically doomed. Shaukat Aziz launched a strong protest for my removal. As of today, this reform has led to a berserk Sales Tax regime, more a levy than a value addition. It has closed small scale manufacturing sectors, discouraged growth and ushered consumerism.

I noted that the biggest test of his sincerity would be his honorable retirement on the due date. In the same note I also warned against the hazards of pro military political groupings. He underlined my comments and proceeded to make PMLQ.

There is a lot more but......................