Bhutto's Assassination Anniversary: Claims, Wild and Otherwise

A year ago today somebody killed Benazir Bhutto, who might have made a fine leader for Pakistan. Pakistanis are mourning the anniversary of her death with an enthusiasm that reminds me of the years following the JFK assassination.

And, we still don't know exactly who killed Benazir Bhutto.

A Pakistani government investigation found that she died as a result of a bomb blast. British detectives recently came to the same conclusion.

Whaddaya Mean, a Bomb Killed Bhutto?!

That's the 'wrong' answer, so now the U.N. may be getting involved.

Asif Ali Zardari, Benzair Bhutto's husband won the presidential election, and he's managed to alienate his own party, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). It didn't help that he replaced many of Bhutto's staff with his own people. News outlets like The Hindu seems to have decided that people like Safdar Abbasi, a PPP member who doesn't like Zardari, are right, and that Zardari is a crook - or worse.

Yes, I'm overstating the case a bit. But I think their article carrys that implication:

"Many leading party members accuse her widower, President Zardari, of suppressing the investigation. 'It is intriguing why the Government has not even ordered any investigation into Ms Bhutto’s killing,' said Safdar Abbasi, a senator."
(TimesOnline)

Bhutto's Assassination: It Must be a Government Conspiracy!

'Obviously,' for some of the PPP people, Bhutto was killed by a gun, not a bomb, and that proves that the gov'mnt did it, and there's been a cover-up. They could be right. The October, 2007, bombing in Karachi that didn't kill Bhutto involved some very odd coincidences. It's possible that people in the Pakistani government were involved.

But that doesn't mean that the Pakistani government is involved. From what I've seen, Pakistan's civilian government just barely contols parts of the major cities, most of the time. The military isn't quite under the control of the civilian government, and neither of them have much to say about what the ISI does. The ISI is supposed to be Pakistan's intelligence agency. At this point, it's more of a state within a state: which leads me to another topic, for another post.

Bhutto's Assassination: Cover-Up, or Uncomfortable Reality?

There's something to the claim that Pakistani president Zardari 'suppressed' the investigation of his wife's killing. The previous administration's investigation had come up with answers. Asif Ali Zardari has a country to run now, and redundant investigations might do more harm than good. "Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Mr Zardari, confirmed that the Government was not conducting an investigation. 'We do not want to appear witch-hunting,' he said." (TimesOnline)

Bhutto's assassination was an international incident, so of course another set of investigators looked into the evidence:

"...Earlier this year, British detectives investigating the fatal attack in Rawalpindi said Mrs Bhutto had died from the effect of a bomb blast, not gunfire.

"Their account matched that of the Pakistani authorities...."
(BBC)

'Wrong' answer again.

Some discussion of Bhutto's assassination remind me of claims that George W. Bush blew up the New York World Trade Center, back in 2001. Maybe now, if the U.N. gets involved, someone can 'prove' that George W. killed Bhutto: which might satisfy some of America's more earnest thinkers. What their counterparts in Pakistan want to be true, I'm not quite sure.

List of related posts:

• "Individuals and the War on Terror -
  Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan"

News and views:

• "Bhutto’s Vision for Democratic Pakistan Crumbles (Update2)"
  Bloomberg (December 27, 2008)
• "Zardari suppressing Benazir probe: PPP leaders"
  The Hindu (December 27, 2008)
• "Pakistanis mourn Bhutto a year after killing"
  Reuters (December 27, 2008)
• "APP employees union offers fateha for BB"
  The Associated Press of Pakistan (December 27, 2008)
• "Pakistani mourners honour Bhutto"
  BBC (December 27, 2008)
  (with video)
• "Remembering Bhutto one year on"
  BBC (December 27, 2008)
• "U.N. to launch Bhutto death investigation"
  CNN (December 26, 2008)
• "Asif Ali Zardari’s purge 'betrays' Benazir Bhutto's legacy"
  TimesOnline (August 31, 2008)

Domestic Terrorism? Obama Assassination Plot Thwarted

An assassination attempt involving a suicide attack on a prominent official was thwarted.

Baghdad? Islamabad? Fallujah?

Nope. Jackson, Tennessee.

Two men were going to go out in what I suppose they thought was a blaze of glory, killing a whole lot of blacks, beheading 14 of them, and winding up by gunning down Barack Obama. Wearing white tuxedos, yet.

Apparently, they didn't expect to complete their 'mission,' but were determined to try.

Domestic Terrorism? Sounds Like It

I don't know if what these two white supremacists had in mind was what the courts will call 'terrorism,' but what this pair of wannabe assassins had in mind sounds like terrorism to me.

I've said this before, but it bears repeating:

• Not all terrorists are Muslims
• Not all Muslims are terrorists

Maybe they'll see it as a sort of consolation prize: these two wunderkinds did shoot out the window of a church.

In the news:

• "Men charged with plotting to kill Obama"
  CNN (October 27, 2008)
• "Government Foils Skinhead Plot to Assassinate Obama"
  FOXNews (October 27, 2008)
  • Link to Affadavit (in *.pdf format)

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Update (October 28, 2008)

It looks like the third time that law enforcement has stopped a plan (however spaced out) to kill Obama:

• This 'White Tuxedo Duo'
• "Obama Assassination Plot and/or Meth Bust: Close Call in Colorado
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (August 26, 2008)
• "Florida man pleads not guilty in Obama threat case
  CNN (August 20, 2008)

Obama Assassination Plot and/or Meth Bust: Close Call in Colorado

Update October 28, 2008

Related Post:

• "Domestic Terrorism? Obama Assassination Plot Thwarted"
  (October 27, 2008)

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Looks like some white people were going to kill Barack Obama.

Or, a bunch of meth-heads with guns and scrambled minds picked 'kill Obama' out of the swirling chaos in their heads.

Or, something else was going on in Colorado, near the Democratic National Convention.

Update: Threat probably rooted in racism and more 'aspirational than operational,'... "

The fact is that several people were arrested in Colorado yesterday, with meth. And, what put this in the national news, firearms that included a sniper rifle. And, for at least one of them, a stated intention to kill Barack Obama.

Of course, that could be the meth talking.

The FBI is being sensibly cautious. An FBI spokesman assigned to the Denver Democratic National Convention said: "This is a methamphetamine and firearms case that arose from a traffic stop made by an Aurora Police officer," which is true. And, may make prosecution of attempted murder charges possible later. The way American justice works, defense lawyers love it when law enforcement accuses suspects without solid evidence.

On the other hand, nobody seems eager to let this bunch loose. For which I'm duly grateful.

After seeing photos of the suspects, I wasn't surprised to discover that they're thought to be tied to white supremacists.

Muslims Have No Monopoly on Fanaticism

Any group - Whites, Muslims, video game players - are going to have fanatics in their number. Fanatic video game players may never threaten western civilization: apart from overloading the health care system with carpal tunnel injuries.

Violent individuals and groups like white supremacists and Muslim terrorists, on the other hand, are real threats.

That doesn't mean that all Muslims are terrorists, or all Americans with melanin deficiency are white supremacists, any more than all American blacks were members of the Black Panthers, forty years ago.

Terrorism is an Equal-Opportunity Destroyer

Right now, the most obvious terrorists are Muslims who think that anyone their imam doesn't like should be dead. My guess - and hope - is that this is as representative of Islam, as the KKK is of Christianity, or Timothy (Oklahoma City) McVeigh is of rural white people.

The point is that people who destroy buildings with other people still inside are dangerous: whether they're (maybe) part of a militia, or part of Al Qaeda.

I think that Colorado and federal law enforcement is taking sensible steps with Sunday morning's meth-and-guns bust. The suspects are still in custody, the claims they made about wanting to kill Obama are being taken seriously. On the other hand, they're not taking former Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong as their role model.

I also think that the odds are good that the lot arrested yesterday was planning to kill Barack Obama. Particularly since one of them said they were, and another expressed the opinion that a black man shouldn't be president.

These are, in all probability, very dangerous people who should not be allowed to roam around.

But I'm not going to assume that they are white supremacist racist assassins, until we know a bit more. Quite a bit more.

There's a press conference this afternoon, about the possible Obama assassination plot. Maybe we'll learn more then.

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On a related topic: the American Presidential election is coming up. Get ready for misinformation, disinformation, and just plain stupid talk. "Online dirty tricks may mar U.S. elections " (CNN (August 26, 2008)) points out that the Internet makes it easier than ever to spread facts, half-truths, lies, and crazy ideas.

I sincerely hope that Americans who vote take a little time to think about what they read: and not make up their minds based on what some guy said he read in an email that some other guy forwarded.

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Possible Obama assassination attempt, still a developing story, in the news:

• "Obama Assassination Attempt Possible Attack on Race or Resistance to Change"
  Associated Content (August 26, 2008 )
  • "Police in Colorado, the Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are investigating a possible Barack Obama assassination attempt. Aurora, Colorado police arrested 3 men and a woman on drug and weapons charges Sunday. Three of the arrests occurred as the result of a vehicle stop; evidence uncovered in the vehicle led police to a hotel room where a fourth suspect jumped from a fourth floor window to avoid being taken into custody. The suspects in the alleged Obama assassination atttempt are believed to be linked to a white supremacist organization...."
• "Nevada Man Accused in Obama Assassination Plot"
  Las Vegas Now (August 26, 2008)
  • "A Nevada man sits in the Denver jail, along with three others, accused of plotting to kill Senator Barack Obama.
  • "Police arrested 28-year-old Tharin Gartrell of Lincoln County early Sunday for driving erratically in a Denver suburb. But what they found in his rented pickup is what landed him in jail.
  • "Police found two high-powered scoped rifles, a bulletproof vest, two wigs, a gun scope, and three identity cards with other people's names. Police also discovered methamphetamine in Gartrell's car.
  • "Police believe Gartrell was involved in a plot to assassinate Senator Obama during his acceptance speech Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. That's when the FBI stepped in and arrested three other people in a nearby hotel. Thirty-three-year-old Shaun Adolf, 32-year-old Nathan Johnson and Natasha Gromek are also in a Denver jail.
  • "Johnson spoke to a Denver television station and said this regarding Adolf and the rationale behind the assassination plot.
  • " 'He made a comment in the past and I cannot tell you exactly when, but he said he didn't believe a black should be a leader of this country,' Johnson said...."
• "Feds Investigate Possible Obama Assassination Plot in Denver"
  FOXNews (August 26, 2008)
  • "Three men arrested in Aurora, Colo., on methamphetamine and firearms charges may have been plotting to assassinate Barack Obama, FBI authorities told FOX News late Monday, although local officials are still pondering the intent of the suspects.
  • "Aurora Police Detective Marcus Dudley identified Tharin Gartrell, 28, as one suspect pulled over for a routine traffic stop Sunday and found to be wanted on numerous warrants. Two rifles, including a sniper rifle, and methamphetamines were found in the car.
  • "KCNC in Denver reported that Gartrell led police to a hotel in Glendale, where a second man, who police did not identify, tried to jump out a six-story window. He landed on an awning and took off, but broke his ankle. He was eventually taken into custody and a third man was also arrested.
  • "The men may have ties to Sons of Silence, an outlaw biker group, and are believed to have connections with white supremacists. Federal sources said this incident may have had more to do with methamphetamine than with any plot to assassinate Obama, but local police did not say why they connected the men to the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
  • "Federal officials said verbal threats against Obama were made, but were not considered credible...."
• "Plot to Kill Obama: Shoot From High Vantage Point"
  KCNC / cbs4denver
  • "Denver's U.S. attorney is expected to speak on Tuesday afternoon about the arrests of four people suspected in a possible plot to shoot Barack Obama at his Thursday night acceptance speech in Denver. All are being held on either drug or weapons charges.
  • "One of those suspects spoke exclusively to CBS4 investigative reporter Brian Maass from inside the Denver City Jail late Monday night and said his friends had discussed killing Obama.
  • " 'So your friends were saying threatening things about Obama?' Maass asked.
  • " 'Yeah,' Nathan Johnson replied.
  • " 'It sounded like they didn't want him to be president?'
  • " 'Well, no,' Johnson said.
  • "Maass reported earlier Monday that one of the suspects told authorities they were 'going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a ... rifle ... sighted at 750 yards.'
  • "Law enforcement sources told Maass that one of the suspects 'was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative.'
  • "The story began emerging Sunday morning when Aurora police arrested Tharin Gartrell, 28. He was driving a rented pickup truck in an erratic manner, according to sources...."

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Update August 26, 2008

A little over 24 hours after the traffic stop that led to a drugs-and-guns arrest, more details are coming out:

• "U.S. Attorney: Threat against Obama not 'operational' "
  CNN (August 26, 2008)
  • "DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- There is not enough evidence to conclude that three people arrested with drugs and weapons posed a "true threat" to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, the Denver U.S. Attorney said Tuesday.
  • " Troy Eid called the suspects 'meth heads' who, because of their drug addiction, were likely not capable of carrying out a plan to hurt Obama.
  • "Their alleged plot to harm Obama was apparently fueled by racism and was more 'aspirational than operational,' Eid said.
  • "The suspects face federal and state charges in connection with the drugs and weapons, according to authorities.
  • "An affidavit filed Tuesday cites an unnamed female informant who notified law enforcement that there was some kind of threat being made against Obama's life...."
• "Fed official: Colo. men no true threat to Obama"
  International Herald Tribune (August 26, 2008)
  • "DENVER: A group of suspected drug users arrested in Denver this weekend with methamphetamine, guns and bulletproof vests made racist threats against Barack Obama but posed no true danger to the presidential candidate as he accepts the Democratic nomination here this week, federal authorities said Tuesday.
  • "The three men — all said to be high on methamphetamine when arrested — are the subject of an assassination investigation, but so far, authorities say, it appears they had no capacity to carry out any attack on Obama.
  • " 'The law recognizes a difference between a true threat — one that can be carried out — and the reported racist rantings of a drug addict,' U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said.
  • "He said the men's plans were "more aspirational, perhaps, than operational."..."

I was happily surprised to find very little hysteria in the blogosphere.

Okay: I didn't find any. For this sort of thing, I generally do a Google search with terms like 'obama assassination' - and look at what comes up in the first twenty hits.

One reason I limit my search this way, when looking for alternatively-rational material, is laziness - and very real time pressure. Another reason is that I am not looking for an isolated loony, hunched over a keyboard, wearing a tinfoil hat. I look for people with enough of a following, or audience, to generate the traffic and links that Google seems to like.

With the exception of a couple of hits that seemed more intent on generating traffic, than proclaiming sincerely-held beliefs in odd ideas, there was nothing. The closest was an old UK news item about some Nobel Prize winner who thought that those Yanks would shoot Obama: and that Hillary Clinton should be president.

I also found a very interesting op-ed piece, but that's for another post. ("Barack Obama: Upstart Young Whippersnapper?" (August 26, 2008).)

Assassinations, Weapons of Mass Destruction: Nothing's Simple

Yesterday, Imad Mughniyeh was in Syria: specifically, in the Kafar Suseh neighborhood of Damascus. Then, a car blew up, killing him. Obviously, the Jews are to blame.

At least, that's the line that Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, took at a rally today.

"You have killed Hajj Imad outside the natural battlefield," fingering Israel. Hezbollah says that it only fights Israel within Lebanon and on their common border.

"You have crossed the borders," Nasrallah said. "With this murder, its timing, location and method — Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, let the whole world listen: Let this war be open."

It may be that Hezbollah isn't one of those collections of Islamic enthusiasts who blow up people in strategic markets and tactical stores. Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have been so inhibited.

Before being promoted from Hezbollah commander to martyr, Imad Mughniyeh was a busy terrorist. The "International Herald Tribune" put together an impressive list of his accomplishments, including:

• 1983: killing over 300 people with bombs in Beirut¹
• 1985: planning the hijacking of a TWA flight, (American Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem was killed)
• 1985: Involvement in hijacking two Kuwait jetliners
• 1992: according to Israel, bombing Israel's embassy in Argentina (29 dead)
• 1994: according to Israel, bombing a Buenos Aires Jewish center (95 dead)
• 1996: connections with the Khobar Towers bombing (19 American soldiers dead)

That's an impressive resume.

Assuming that Imad Mughniyeh didn't get killed by a clumsy colleague, or that a clerical error in the Hezbollah car pool didn't send a limousine to some enemy of Islam and a car bomb to Imad, somebody has succeeded in removing one of the movers and shakers of the "Death to Israel!" crowd.

The nordo-celtic pagan in me finds a sort of grim satisfaction in the explosive death of one who killed so many in the same way.

However, since my ancestors abandoned the "Grendel" approach to conflict resolution roughly a millennia ago, I have to consider finer points of ethics and morality than 'you hit me, I hit you.'

Something I've noticed as the decades pile up is that, despite the existence of simple principles, their applications get complicated. Fast.

In this case, the starting point is pretty obviously the "You shall not kill" rule. Discussion of that part of the Decalogue on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) website goes on at some length.

The word "innocent" came up quite often (sections 2258, 2261, 2263, 2270, for starters). The prohibition against killing clearly and specifically refers to the taking of innocent human lives. Although Imad Mughniyeh is certainly a human being, considering him "innocent" takes a greater willing suspension of disbelief than I'm likely to make.

Defense of individuals and groups is permitted. Again, it's complicated. For example: 2309 spells out the basic rules for the defense of countries; 2312 points out that moral law isn't suspended in wartime; Section 2313 spells out groups that must be treated humanely (non-combatants, wounded soldiers, and prisoners).

I understand that many people, including myself, have serious reservations about selecting the leader of a dangerous group, and killing that person. On the other hand, I haven't been able to see how it's better to let hundreds of relatively innocent people be killed in order to preserve the life of the person who plans the killings.

As I said, it's complicated:

• Imad Mughniyeh's death won't bring any of his victims back to life
  • But his death may prevent more deadly attacks
• With Hezbollah promising "open war," more deaths are likely
  • But Hezbollah has one less leader to help plan more attacks

I think one thing is certain: With few exceptions, the world's nations are either unable or unwilling to stop terrorist organizations from killing people.

I'm less certain of this, but I think it's true: Although it might be easier to obliterate cities like Beirut which harbor terrorists, mass murder is not the answer to purveyors of mass murder.

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¹ In 1983, attacks on the U.S. Embassy and Marine Barracks in Beirut killed hundreds of people: 63 in April, when a 2,000-pound truck bomb demolished the U.S. Embassy's front; 241 in October, when the First Battalion, 8th Marines Headquarters building in Beirut was destroyed by another truck bomb.

Bhutto Assassination: Gun = Government Involvement?

I've heard a plausible explanation for why the Pakistani Interior Ministry tried to find a cause of death other than a bullet.

According to someone I heard on cable news,* the Pakistani on the street is likely to assume government involvement, if a gun was involved in the assassination. That would explain a lot.

I'm a little surprised. Pakistan has never been cited by gun control advocates as a country with effective control over whether law-abiding citizens own weapons or not. On the other hand, in the videos showing the probably assassin, he's holding a handgun.

I understand that handguns take more training to use effectively than rifles: so maybe it's the handgun that points to government involvement. Reasonable or not, it's probably easier to imagine a government agent attached to that handgun.

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* About that "someone I heard:" I don't like giving that kind of citation, but it's as good as I've got. I wasn't looking at the screen, and didn't catch the name or title of the speaker.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.

Brave Words, Prudent Words

When Benzair Bhutto was returning to Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud said he'd meet her with suicide bombers.

Now Bhutto's dead. Part of the team that killed her was a suicide bomber. And, more Pakistanis have died in the following riots than the suicide bomber killed.

Baitullah Mehsud, Al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban commander who probably plans to spend the rest of his life in Pakistan, says he didn't do it."

Whether or not he had a hand in the hit, I think that Mehsud is showing good judgment. Apart from a few special-interest groups, I doubt that anyone with a hand in Bhutto's assassination is likely to win Pakistani popularity polls.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.

Benzir Bhutto, June 21, 1953 – December 27, 2007

An assassin killed Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of Pakistan, at a political rally today. Her supporters are taking it none too well: understandable, under the circumstances.

Some of them, at the hospital where she died, shouted "dog, Musharraf, dog!" according to the news. That must be a translation into English. In my opinion, killing Bhutto would be about the stupidest thing Musharraf could do, but people have pulled bonehead stunts before.

Meanwhile, Benazir Bhutto's family is going through a very rough time. My family and I pray for them. I hope that those who read this will do so, too: and pray for all victims of terrorism.

Related posts, on Individuals and the War on Terror.

Posts about Benazir Bhutto.