A Penguin in the Orchard

Bhutto

I’ve been listening to CNN on XM at my desk this morning, as I did most of the morning yesterday. The developments in the Bhutto assassination today are telling. They have the distinctive whine of a heavy propaganda machine spinning up.

My first thoughts on hearing of Bhutto’s assassination yesterday were that Musharraf had successfully managed to eliminate his strongest opposition in the upcoming Pakistani elections. I’m sure I’m not alone in that thought. His actions in declaring a state of emergency in the past few months convey a real sense of desperation about his ability to retain power. Bhutto’s return to Pakistan barely more than 70 days ago had to add to that desperation. I listened to the coverage throughout the day yesterday waiting for the first indications that the assassination was carried out by someone within the security team assigned to Bhutto - a team provided by the government; by, in many ways, Musharraf himself. There were questions, but no real indication that that was the case.

Of course, the assassin immediately blew himself into the waiting arms of Allah. That does make it a bit difficult to identify a body and impossible to question the assassin about the source of the assassination plot. In a part of the world where suicide bombings are a frequent tool, the idea of assassination by suicide blends pretty seamlessly into the background news noise, remaining relatively unquestioned. As one of many chosen terror methods of both the Taliban and Al Qaeda, an assassination by suicide bombing also makes it pretty easy to point the finger toward those organizations as the guilty party or parties.

But, even more than 24 hours later, neither group has made a public statement regarding Bhutto’s assassination. There’s been no claim of responsibility nor, in fact, any public comment at all from these groups. If the goals of a political assassination are to send a terroristic message and boost the standing of the responsible organization, why would they not immediately lay claim to the act? It’s curious and inconsistent with their known modus operandi that we’ve heard no claim of responsibility from them on this act that’s captured the world’s attention.

Another thought is that either terrorist organization could gain further credibility among its terror-inclined faithful by even falsely claiming responsibility for the assassination. But, they’re no friends of Musharraf, either. If those terrorist leaders believe the assassination was conducted by Musharraf’s people, silence becomes another effective weapon. They could simply choose to let the public outcry and global scrutiny lead to the truth of the matter, bringing down Musharraf in the process.

Pakistani officials, in the meantime, claim to possess intelligence intercepts in which Taliban officials congratulate each other for the assassination. They’re alone in this claim. None of the other major intelligence organizations can confirm this information. I’m not at all convinced that Pakistani intelligence has “scooped” the rest of the world intelligence community with this information. It has the feel of fabrication, intended to divert responsibility to a group the world is all too willing to blame. It’ll be interesting to see if we ever get independent confirmation of these intercepts.

Aside from diversion and obfuscation, the Pakistani government has also begun to roll out what appears to be a purely propagandistic message. Throughout the day yesterday, we heard that Bhutto died of gunshot wounds to the neck, inflicted by the suicide bomber just prior to detonating his device. This was confirmed both by doctors and government officials. Today, however, the cause of death has apparently changed. The new claim by the government is that Bhutto died of a fractured skull, inflicted by hitting her head on the edge of the sunroof of her vehicle. That’s a much more awkward cause of death, and one that’s certainly much less worthy of martyrdom. The subtle message is that Bhotto wasn’t martyred by an assassin’s bullet, she was just fatally clumsy. She’d be alive today but for being a massive klutz. That goes a long way toward taking the edge off the hero worship many in Pakistan felt for her. And, given that it occurred in a country that by religious preference does not conduct autopsies, it’s a propaganda thread that’s unlikely to ever be exposed as false.

So, as always, there are just too many questions unanswered to take at face value today’s reporting on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. There are too many possibilities for motive and method that are at least as compelling as the official line, and that, in some cases, make more political sense than what we’re hearing. I can only hope that the world doesn’t accept as pure truth the crap being spoon fed to us by the government officials via the media. For the final truth, we have to hope for a young-gun journalist or journalistic organization with the inventiveness to get to that truth and the credibility to carry it to the world. Honestly, I’m not optimistic.