When a news organization as venerable as the BBC censors the reportage of a story as important as the assassination of Benzir Bhutto --a highly visible critic of Bush/British policy with regard to the "War on Terrorism" et al --it is fair to ask: who is the BBC protecting? Are they covering up the motive for her murder? Are they protecting the regimes that engineered her assassination?
You can watch the original, unedited version in which Bhutto states that Bin Laden had been murdered here
The "censored" version can be found here: BBC's Censored version.
Bhutto herself has exposed a motive for her murder. Solving the case is a matter of finding the gunmen whom Hilary Clinton thinks may be found found among Pakistani troops.
CLINTON, Iowa - Hillary Rodham Clinton waded into Pakistan's volatile internal political situation yesterday, raising the possibility the country's military might have assassinated Benazir Bhutto because the killing took place in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Clinton's remarks came as Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's government seemed to reject a call for an independent international investigation of the murder that Clinton and John Edwards proposed on Friday.
During a question-and-answer session at an elementary school here, Clinton offered a detailed prescription for the troubled country, suggesting that the U.S divert aid away from its military to social welfare programs.
And for the second time in as many days, she cast doubt on Musharraf's contention that the suicide bombing that led to the death of the country's most popular opposition leader was masterminded by al-Qaida.
"There are those saying that al-Qaida did it. Others are saying it looked like it was an inside job - remember Rawalpindi is a garrison city," she said.
--Hillary: Pakistan troops might have killed Bhutto
Isn't it interesting that it was Secretary of State Condoleezsa Rice who brokered Bhutto's return to Pakistan when even Bhutto knew that her life would be endangered? I smell the work of an axis of evil: neocons, Bush, and his puppet: Musharraf.
Bhutto herself has exposed the fraudulent nature of the Bush/Blair "war on terrorism". If Bin Laden is dead, as has been reported, then the various tapes that he is alleged to have made are all phony. The war on terrorism itself is a callous, calculated fraud perpetrated by a murderous Bush regime, a murderous Blair regime, a murderous puppet regime of Musharraf.
That's why Bhutto was murdered. She was the woman who knew too much. Bhutto exposed the fact that US policies cause terrorism and she stated the various ways in which groups inside the US and Britain benefited politically and materially from the phony war on phony terrorism, the failed war in Afghanistan, the war crime that is still perpetrated against the people of Iraq. Bhutto posed a threat to the culprits in the Bush regime to include Bush himself. She posed a threat to the kiss ups in Musharraf's regime to include Musharraf and the liars who tried to float the incredible "lone lever" theory. She was murdered. And the BBC has been caught censoring the most important piece of the puzzle. If Osama is dead, the war on terror is a bloody fraud!
Related developments from Information Clearing House:
Iraq: At least 16 killed in another bloody day of US occupation: The bodies of three people were found in different areas of Baghdad
Rioting in Pakistan continues: Nearly 50 people have been killed since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. President Musharraf vows to restore order after a third day of violence.
Pakistan TV station shows Bhutto shooter, contradicts government:The footage clearly shows Bhutto collapsing into her armoured- vehicle before the suicide blast, contradicting official government claims that she recoiled only after the blast and cracked her skull on the sunroof.
Pakistan rejects foreign help in Bhutto investigation:Pakistan rejected foreign help in investigating the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on Saturday, despite controversy over the circumstances of her death and three days of paralyzing turmoil.
Bolton: US 'helped precipitate' conditions for Bhutto's assassination: John Bolton, former US ambassador to the United Nations, said it was a mistake to collaborate with Bhutto's "desire to get back into the game in Pakistan" and view her as an alternative to the country's current leader, Pervez Musharraf.
Len Hart is a Houston based film/video producer specializing in shorts and full-length documentaries. He is a former major market and network correspondent; credits include CBS, ABC-TV and UPI. He maintains the progressive blog: The Existentialist Cowboy
You said "If Bin Laden is dead, as has been reported, then the various tapes that he is alleged to have made are all phony..." and I've been thinking that since I posted her tape and some comments on DU. She either had a slip of the tongue or she meant what she said. If it was a slip, neither she nor the experiencned & professional Frost caught it. There's a simple test. Frost needs to be contacted and asked what he thinks. This would not be conclusive, but why not do that?
If he is dead, andn that's what the speculation has been even among some military folks, then you are right - the entire war on terror is in question.
More specifically, if he was dead prior to the Oct. 2004 tape, we have unassailable proof for everybody that the 2004 election was a farce.
There are huge stakes here. Excellent article.
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Michael Collins (89 articles, 13 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 331 comments)
on Monday, December 31, 2007 at 4:53:28 PM
You are correct...there is no reason to believe that she misspoke. For years, various sources have said Bin Laden was dead. Bhutto's is the most credible and visible. It has simply been in Bush's interest to keep Bin Laden alive in order to exploit the fear factor.
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Len Hart (124 articles, 159 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 489 comments)
on Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 4:33:04 AM
thanks len. while others ignored or shrugged their shoulders over the discovery of the original video posted by al jazeera english, others like yourself are pursuing it. i came across the bbc edit yesterday, got all excited to post an article here only to find you were already on the case - great job.
now, let's keep pressing and force this into the mainstream. if it's not too late, can you go in and edit the end of your piece and offer the option for people to submit to their newspapers?
Thanks...and that's a great idea. I will add a link to my original blog article. You may be interested in a "quick link" I posed just a few minutes ago. Seems that FOX news has likewise "censored" Bhutto's claims that Bin Laden is dead. There is simply no reason to believe she misspoke. Her comments are consistent with the increasingly obvious conclusion: tapes of bin Laden are fake. The war on terrorism is phony. In fact, FBI stats prove conclusively: terrorism is worse under GOP regimes. Without a "boogie man", the GOP was simply fall into a memory hole of its own devising.
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Len Hart (124 articles, 159 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 489 comments)
on Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 7:15:04 AM
that Bush needed hidden. I read one article about her statement that OBL was dead and the writer had the most ridiculous statement. It said that she had mispoked and actually meant to say Daniel Pearl. Now, I can understand the average clueless American mispeaking like that as so many probably have no idea who Pearl was. BUT for a leader of her stature to mispeak like this is ridiculous. She of all people knew the differance between the two.
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shanti (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 38 comments)
on Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 12:11:04 PM
There is, of course. no reason to believe that Benazir Bhutto ever misspoke and certainly not this time. Secondly, I am SO sure that people were constantly confusing Perle and Obama. How bloody ridiculous!!!
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Len Hart (124 articles, 159 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 489 comments)
on Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 2:30:50 PM
There's a very good reason to believe that she misspoke. She was talking about the man that Omar Sheikh murdered. OSM did not murder OBL. She clearly misspoke. Omar Sheikh killed Daniel Pearl according to most accounts. She was probably referencing his murder, while thinking about bin Laden. We've all misspoken in such ways before.
She very clearly didn't mean to say bin Laden, because she says that he was murdered by Omar Sheikh. To believe this wasn't a slip of the tongue is to believe that Omar Sheikh killed bin Laden. That's clearly a misstatement.
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Jeremy R. Hammond (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 81 comments)
on Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 9:42:52 PM
<em>There's a very good reason to believe that she misspoke. She was talking about the man that Omar Sheikh murdered. OSM did not murder OBL. She clearly misspoke.</em>
That is pure supposition. Omar Sheikh may have murdered several people. And it is difficult to believe that someone who is articulate in every other instance would mistake two people as disparate in background, description, culture and apprearance as Osama Bin Ladin and Daniel Perle. The human mind associates SIMILAR things --not "objects" as disparate as Perle and Bin Laden. They nothing in common. And Bhutto would not, did not make that mistake.
There is only supposition to support the claim. There is not a single verifiable fact in support of it. There is more than enough disinformation about not just this even but the entire "war on terrorism". Clear thinking is needed. Jumping on somthing for no logical reason and no empirical evidence whatsoever is NOT clear thinking.
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Len Hart (124 articles, 159 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 489 comments)
on Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 4:08:04 AM
i'm with you len. to state adamantly "She very clearly didn't mean to say bin Laden," is absurd. how would anyone know that? based on what? because he happened to kill someone else?
plus, it was said so clearly that at some point someone would have pointed that out to her and she would have issued a statement clarifying. she was a former prime minister of Pakistan, not some low level nobody. that is way too important of a statement to not retract or address.
bottom line for me, though, is not whether bin Laden is dead or alive (though i do think he is dead - even my own child saw the last couple videos of him lined up with earlier ones and saw instantly it was not the same person). but, that aside, the issue really is the media response or lack thereof. to collectively ignore something like this is and make an effort to suppress it is deeply concerning. i saw the daniel pearle post somewhere else too. i also saw a post that said people asking about this are "insane." it's ignoring and looking the other way when something is presented to you that is so blatantly off that is pathological.
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Cheryl Biren-Wright (17 articles, 16 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 323 comments)
on Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 2:11:58 PM
I agree Cheryl. I've even gone back to listen several times. Bhutto simply said what she meant. There was no pause to search for words, no hesitation. She stated a "fact" as she knew and understood it.
She would never has misstaken Perle for Bin Laden.
Initially, those promoting the "Bhutto misspoke" theory were also promoting the lie that Bhutto was killed as a result of the explosion. But the fact is the explosion occurred after the fatal shots had been fired. This was no terrorist attack. It was state sponsored murder.
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Len Hart (124 articles, 159 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 489 comments)
on Thursday, January 3, 2008 at 2:20:42 AM
