Super Moderator
Location: essex ma
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so it appears that the drama of the mobile fatal wound has acquired enough separate momentum that it has required a response from musharraf. this from this morning's ny times:
Quote:
Musharraf Says Bhutto Took Risks With Her Safety
By GRAHAM BOWLEY
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan engaged his international critics for the first time on Thursday, denying accusations of government involvement in the assassination last week of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and instead publicly criticizing Ms. Bhutto for being reckless with her own safety.
Speaking at a news conference with foreign journalists in Islamabad, the capital, he said Ms. Bhutto had been warned repeatedly of threats against her. He said the police had provided her with ample protection, including four squads of about 30 people permanently detailed with her and more than 1,000 police officers at the site of her assassination. All the surrounding roofs were occupied by the police, he said.
Asked whether he had “blood on his hands,” he visibly bridled and said, “Frankly, I consider the question below my dignity to answer.” But he said he would answer it anyway. “I am not a feudal leader, not a tribal leader,” he said. “I come from a family which believes in values, which believes in principles, which believes in character.”
In answering the frank questions, Mr. Musharraf displayed an air of confidence that suggested he believed he would survive the current crisis gripping his country, and told the reporters that he retained widespread support across Pakistan.
He said parliamentary elections set for Feb. 18 would be “inherently fair” — noting with mild jocosity that the date was also his wife and daughter’s birthday.
He denied accusations that his ruling party would tamper with the results.
“There is no possibility of rigging,” he said. Foreign election observers “must come and visit and see the polling themselves,” he said.
He signaled that even if the main opposition party, the Pakistan Peoples Party, won the election, he would be able to work with it.
He said that there was no cover-up by Pakistan authorities in Ms. Bhutto’s death, but said that he was not fully satisfied with the investigation.
British detectives from Scotland Yard, who are traveling to Pakistan to help with the inquiry, would be able to look at “pieces of detailed evidence that we are looking at,” he said. “They will look at it and then decide who did it.”
In its early findings, the Pakistan government has blamed terrorists linked to Al Qaeda for the killing.
He acknowledged that the crime scene had been quickly hosed down after the death but said that this was not to cover up evidence but because of inefficiency.
“I’m not fully satisfied,” he said, The Associated Press reported. “I will accept that: cleaning the area. Why did they do that? If you are meaning they did that by design I would not say no. It’s just inefficiency, people thinking things have to be cleared, traffic has to go through.”
On Wednesday, the main opposition parties denounced the government’s decision to postpone parliamentary elections for six weeks after the assassination of Ms. Bhutto, but they said they would abide by the ruling.
The Election Commission set Feb. 18 as the date for the elections, citing the time needed to recover from the violence that followed Ms. Bhutto’s death last week. Nearly 60 people were killed, election offices were damaged and parts of Ms. Bhutto’s home province, Sindh, were paralyzed.
Condemning the violence and expressing his sorrow at the death of Ms. Bhutto, Mr. Musharraf went on national television on Wednesday to explain the elections’ delay and to dampen public anger.
He acknowledged that the government’s conflicting reports had created confusion over how she had been killed, and he said he had requested the assistance of a team from London’s Metropolitan Police Service, Scotland Yard, to help with the investigation.
“I myself want to go into its depths and want to tell the nation,” Mr. Musharraf said. “It is extremely important to bring the nation out of confusion.”
“I am sure this investigation with the help of Scotland Yard will remove all doubts and suspicions,” he added.
Carlotta Gall contributed reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/wo...hp&oref=slogin
a detail that i find interesting is the choice of scotland yard--presumably the americans are not understood as neutral....the responses to the khosa report are interesting as well. so we've reached a little dramatic turning point, but it's probably only a transition moment within the first act, from one scene to another....
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