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ZetaTalk: Bhutto's Assassination
written December 29, 2007


Considering the administration's previous snubbing of Pakistan while overtly stroking India in an attempt to create discord, as discussed on ZetaTalk Live a few years back, considering Pakistan is a nuclear nation and therefore, perceived as a clear danger if gripped with anarchy and fanatics, considering calls to send special units in to seize Pakistani nukes, considering a previous attempt to abscond with nuclear weapons from the United States, considering the administration's keen desire to invade Iran, considering Pakistan and Afghanistan boarder Iran and the administration's new fear that chaos will spill over into Afghanistan, considering the administration's previous attempts to foster chaos in the Middle East in order to justify a draft and a greater U.S. presence in the region and to hopefully justify an invasion of Iran, considering the administration brokered the popular Bhutto's return to Pakistan, I can't help wondering if there was a White House agenda behind the "cowardly" assassination. Am I paranoid or is my skepticism warranted?

Bhutto was not killed by extremists, though this will be the public line from Pakistan and the Bush administration alike. She was clearly killed by insiders within the Pakistani government, long known to resent her and others trying to reinstate a democratically elected prime minister. These elements within the Pakistani government like the cloak of martial law, whether in place officially or unofficially. They have tentacles throughout the Pakistani government and military, as can be seen by the fact that security forces stepped away, abandoned their posts, during Bhutto's assassination, and the fact that street lights went out and security forces were absent during the prior assassination attempt. Her death is intended to put an end to all discussion of elections, as turmoil will necessitate the continuation of essential martial law, which was their goal. This is not Musharraf, but elements within his government so entrenched he could not root them out. The ISI is like the CIA, very secretive and with an arrogant assumption that they can form governments, topple governments, and not be called to account.

What hand did the Bush administration have in Bhutto's death? Although in the past Bush and especially Cheney wanted turmoil in Afghanistan and Pakistan to incite war with Iran, it has become increasingly obvious to them that the US military would not engage Iran simply because of shouted claims about Iran's hand in the Iraq turmoil or claims that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Attempting to goad Iran into battle also has not worked, and an attempted theft of a US nuclear warhead to precipitate a confrontation in the Middle East also was foiled. Creating turmoil in Iraq by blowing up the Golden Mosque also did not tumble the Iraq conflicts over the border into Iran, and fomenting Iran rebellion by supporting Iran's internal rebels likewise failed. Thus, starting a war with Iran in order to sit on their oil fields has not become the central focus of the Bush administration of late. Instead, Bush and Cheney have become concerned that they may in fact be removed from power altogether shortly, if by no other reason than the general elections to be held in 2008.

Bhutto was unquestionably encouraged by the Bush administration to return to Pakistan. In a complete about face, they now wanted to suppress turmoil, as the situation in Iraq had become so unstable that they feared being run out of Iraq. The US military is frankly wanting to exit Iraq, and only cooperated with the surge on the surface. If deaths have gone down, statistically, it is not because the surge has worked, but because soldiers are no longer being sent out on dangerous missions. They are hunkering down at the bases, allowing the country to establish whatever local rule evolves. The US military, like the British and Australian forces, are withdrawing, by this means. If they are no longer involved in local rule, keeping the peace, then a quick exit from the bases can be accomplished without much fuss and even without much notice! If Afghanistan and Pakistan blow up, then because of the nukes Pakistan is known to possess, the focus of the US military would move there, and Iraq's oil fields abandoned. Thus, Bush and Cheney and Condi hoped to bolster Musharraf's popularity with the public by an alliance with Bhutto, to avoid the turmoil that was seething just under the surface in the populace.

Responsibility for Bhutto's assassination also lies with Bhutto herself. She knew, acutely, that an assassination was likely to be attempted not just once but repeatedly. The prior attempt in October which she escaped only because she ducked into the inner bunker on her bus in time to escape the blast told her that, if nothing else. Where at that time she was listening to her intuition and wanted to escape assassination, she had since become jaded and discouraged. She had once fled Pakistan, and did not want to repeat that humiliation. It was no accident that she escaped the assassination attempt in October, no accident that her timing in seeking the safety and comfort of her bunker because of sore feet was such that she barely escaped the bomb blast. She was under protection of benign aliens who were advising her. But the rule in Service-to-Other alien cultures is that if an entity wishes to commit suicide, or become a martyr, they are allowed to do so. Whatever was Bhutto thinking, to be sticking her head out of the sunroof of her car in that manner, like a duck in a shooting gallery, virtually asking for a bullet!

What now? Will Pakistan's nukes be put into play, potentially slipping into the hands of terrorist elements? This is highly likely, especially because in the past the CIA encouraged the ISI to side with the Taliban in their battles with Russia, which had invaded Afghanistan. It is not by accident that Bin Laden is rumored to be in the mountains of Pakistan, as the government is not pursuing the Taliban, so recently their old friend. The US will be frantic to assist Musharraf in guarding these arsenals, and high drama may ensue, but because there are no oil fields in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Bush administration will not hoping for a nuclear disaster. This would, at this point, only point the finger back at them for poor policy. They pointed at Iraq and Iran as the enemy, while North Korea and Pakistan were the real worry. Yet another failure by the Bush administration, who are now frankly hoping for a secure retirement within the continental US, and a well stocked and protected bunker during the pole shift. They do not wish for more of their Republican friends to turn away from them in disgust.

Main Suspects are Warlords and Security Forces
December 28, 2007
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3100052.ece
The main suspects in the assassination are the foreign and Pakistani Islamist militants who saw Ms Bhutto as a Westernised heretic and an American stooge, and had repeatedly threatened to kill her. But fingers will also be pointed at the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, (ISI) which has had close ties to the Islamists since the 1970s and has been used by successive Pakistani leaders to suppress political opposition. Ms Bhutto narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in October, when a suicide bomber struck at a rally in Karachi to welcome her back from exile. She indicated that she had more to fear from unidentified members of a power structure that she described as allies of the "forces of militancy".
 
Opposition Leader's Assassination 'Moves us Closer' to Potential Nuclear Apocalypse
December 27, 2007
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Opposition_leaders_assassination_moves_us_closer_1227.html
The death of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has left the US lacking in options for dealing with the tumultuous, nuclear-armed, militant-rich nation and has raised the possibility that the country's weapons will fall into the wrong hands, leading to a possible apocalypse.
 
U.S. Brokered Bhutto's Return to Pakistan
December 27, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22414361/
For Benazir Bhutto, the decision to return to Pakistan was sealed during a telephone call from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just a week before Bhutto flew home in October. The call culminated more than a year of secret diplomacy - and came only when it became clear that the heir to Pakistan's most powerful political dynasty was the only one who could bail out Washington's key ally in the battle against terrorism.
 
U.S. Fears Spillover into Afghanistan
December 28, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22424298/
President Bush held an emergency meeting of his top foreign policy aides yesterday to discuss the deepening crisis in Pakistan, as administration officials and others explored whether Thursday's assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto marks the beginning of a new Islamic extremist offensive that could spread beyond Pakistan and undermine the U.S. war effort in neighboring Afghanistan.
 
Police Abandoned Security Posts Before Bhutto Assassination
December 28, 2007
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Police_abandoned_security_posts_before_Bhutto_1228.html
Police abandoned their security posts shortly before Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's assassination Thursday, according to a journalist present at the time.
 
Bhutto Aide Suggests Cover-up
December 29, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/29/bhutto.death/index.html
A top aide who helped bathe Benazir Bhutto's body after her death said it was clear that the former Pakistani prime minister suffered bullet wounds to her head, contrary to a government report that she died because she hit her head on a sunroof lever.