CIA links al Qaeda, allies to Bhutto attack: paper

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CIA blames al Qaeda and allies of a Pakistani tribal leader for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, CIA Director Michael Hayden said in a Washington Post interview published on Friday.

Hayden's comments were the most definitive public assessment by a U.S. intelligence official of who was responsible for the assassination of the former Pakistani prime minister and opposition leader on December 27, the Post said, adding that the CIA assessment mirrors that of Pakistan.

Hayden said Bhutto was killed by fighters allied with Baitullah Mehsud, a tribal leader in northwestern Pakistan, with support from al-Qaeda's terrorist network, Post reported.

Hayden declined to discuss the intelligence behind the CIA's assessment, the newspaper said.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080118/wl_nm/pakistan_bhutto_blame_dc

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CIA Places Blame for Bhutto Assassination
Hayden Cites Al-Qaeda, Pakistani Fighters

By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 18, 2008; Page A01

The CIA has concluded that members of al-Qaeda and allies of Pakistani tribal leader Baitullah Mehsud were responsible for last month's assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and that they also stand behind a new wave of violence threatening that country's stability, the agency's director, Michael V. Hayden, said in an interview.

Offering the most definitive public assessment by a U.S. intelligence official, Hayden said Bhutto was killed by fighters allied with Mehsud, a tribal leader in northwestern Pakistan, with support from al-Qaeda's terrorist network. That view mirrors the Pakistani government's assertions.

The same alliance between local and international terrorists poses a grave risk to the government of President Pervez Musharraf, a close U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism, Hayden said in 45-minute interview with The Washington Post. "What you see is, I think, a change in the character of what's going on there," he said. "You've got this nexus now that probably was always there in latency but is now active: a nexus between al-Qaeda and various extremist and separatist groups."

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080118/wl_nm/pakistan_bhutto_blame_dc

[saigon68]

1. look no farther than Mushariff

[jonnyra]

2. Funny how they arrive

at these convenient conclusions so quickly and yet the anthrax attacks are still a total and complete mystery. Funny isnt it.

[donkeyotay]

3. I suppose they also released the report on election fraud

that Bhutto was giving to Specter? Something about portions of the $10 billion we have Musharraf being used to spy and rig elections. Something about computers. Thank god that couldn't happen here.

[dipsydoodle]

4. More fairy stories are available

from Amazon. Just search Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson under books.