Posted on 02/08/2008 8:19:18 AM PST by jdm
Scotland Yard has concluded that Benazir Bhutto did not die from a gunshot wound, but instead died from the blast of the suicide bomber's explosion immediately afterward. The Bhutto family and her political party have rejected the findings, and they have renewed their calls for a UN investigation:
Scotland Yard said in a report released Friday that Pakistan's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto died as a result of a suicide bomb blast, not a gunshot — findings that support the Pakistani government's version of the events.
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party immediately rejected the British conclusion and repeated its demand for a U.N. investigation.
The party says Bhutto was shot and suspects a government cover-up because Bhutto had accused political allies of President Pervez Musharraf of plotting to kill her.
The British probe also found that a single attacker both fired the shots at Bhutto and detonated the blast by blowing himself up moments later.
That conclusion appears to disregard the video evidence of a shot apparently hitting Bhutto's head moments before the explosion. In the final frames before the detonation, Bhutto's hair and head appeared to react to a gunshot. The images helped force the Pakistani government into asking for Scotland Yard's assistance in the first place.
With this conclusion, Scotland Yard essentially confirms the Pakistani government's conclusions, which were roundly derided by the Pakistani people. Only an autopsy would be able to settle the question, but so far Bhutto's family has resisted one. They claim that a Pakistani autopsy would cover up evidence, and they claim that the British have too limited a mandate to conduct a truly independent probe.
At some point, the Bhutto family should have their own expert conduct an autopsy, open to the media for more credibility. Otherwise, we will continue to have nothing but conjecture and accusation, and it will continue to prove destabilizing. Perhaps that is what some would prefer.
Dead is dead.....the perps seemed to have the deck stacked against her at the time of her death.
They shot her and then they blew her up. They probably poisoned her too, when nobody was looking.
Without an autopsy, what exactly did Scotland Yard do?
I've seen the video, and it's possibly that the shot just hit her hair and scarf. Anyway, who cares? They shot at her and blew up a bomb in front of her. She was killed. I don't get all the Colonol Mustard in the parlor with the candlestick brouhaha about the details.
It’s not often you get to take the lazy way out in one of these contests. But I’ll go with Scotland Yard.
I guess I’m a concrete reader. I don’t see anything that says she wasn’t shot. It says she didn’t die from shots, but bomb blast. Am I supposed to infer that she was not shot and wounded and then died when the bomb exploded?
"How many holes in Blackburn Lancashire?"
10,000
Does it really matter if she was killed by a shot or a bomb? The assassin is dead. There is no evidence of any other assassin. The family of the deceased, who ought to be first in line to find the truth, refuse to allow an autopsy. Time to stamp the case closed.
I’d rank Scotland Yard and the FBI as the two best investigative agencies in the world and I’m not sure in which order I’d rank them. Looks to me like the Bhutto family is blowing smoke, intentionally clouding the picture. They cannot prove that the Musharraf government had any involvement, but as long as there’s no firm conclusion they can float the possibility in an atmosphere of doubt.
Examine the scene, the vehicle, the video and photo evidence, the eyewitness statements, the assassin's weapon, and the bits and pieces of his carcass.
They did what they could I guess, but the only definitive answer would come from an autopsy. And even then, whoever didn't want to believe it wouldn't believe it anyway.
Islamic nutjob douchebags shot at her and blew up a bomb in her face. She's dead. I'm closing the case on my end.
Ten thousand. Although the holes were rather small, they had to count them all. Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.
Oh, nevermind..
I saw the photograph! She didn’t notice that the lights had changed.
Really there were 4000 holes, but we adjusted for inflation since 1967.
Darn it, I was still trying to count it in shillings and pence.
Darn it, I was still trying to count it in shillings and pence.
A crowd of people turned away, but I just had to look ...
Have you read the book ?
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