Could Saying Osama is Dead Have Led to Bhutto's Assassination?

On November 2nd, 2007 two weeks after the first attempt on her life resulted in the deaths of 158 people, former Pakistani President Benazir Bhutto spoke with British interviewer David Frost about her plans for Pakistan, the botched assassination and her feelings about working with current President Pervez Musharraf. (In light of her death, this is a difficult video to watch.) In the course of the past few days, however, FOX News has aired short clips from this interview on Special Report. No one - including Frost - seems to have picked up on an astounding claim made by Mrs. Bhutto, namely, that Osama bin Laden is dead. Mme. Bhutto claimed that a man named Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh is "the man who murdered Osama bin Laden." With video.

Progressive talk show host Mike Malloy first broke this story, followed up by Thom Hartmann. Right-wing sites like Michelle Malkin's Hot Air have jumped in and are claiming that Bhutto misspoke. However, if you listen to the tape, she took a short break before saying the name "Osama bin Laden." Someone who misspeaks does not hesitate before making a slip of the tongue. Bhutto was a woman who chose her words very carefully, and to my ears, it sounded like she was making a statement of fact.

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (Omar Shekh) is in a Pakistani jail, facing a death sentence for his role in the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. He is a British national whom Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has indicated was recruited at one point by British MI6. According to Wikipedia:

"On October 6, 2001, a senior-level U.S. government official told CNN that U.S. investigators had discovered Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (Sheik Syed), using the alias "Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad" had sent about $100,000 from the United Arab Emirates to Mohammed Atta. Investigators said Atta then distributed the funds to conspirators in Florida in the weeks before the deadliest acts of terrorism on U.S. soil that destroyed the World Trade Center, heavily damaged the Pentagon and left thousands dead. In addition, sources have said Atta sent thousands of dollars -- believed to be excess funds from the operation -- back to Saeed in the United Arab Emirates in the days before September 11. CNN later confirmed this. ... More than a month after the money transfer was discovered, the head of ISI, General Mahmoud Ahmad resigned from his position. It was reported that the FBI was investigating the possibility that Gen. Ahmed ordered Saeed Sheikh to send the $100,000 to Atta; there were also claims that Indian intelligence had already produced proof for the Pakistani administration that this was so. The Wall Street Journal was one of the only Western news organizations to follow up on the story."

Through his dealings with Gen. Ahmad Mahoud, Omar Sheikh had clear ties to Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's security agency.

Daniel Pearl was in Pakistan investigating connections between the ISI and Islamic militant groups.

The former head of the ISI - Gen. Ashfaq Kayani - has been featured all week on FOX News and elsewhere as the newly appointed Chief of the Army and the United States' go-to guy in Pakistan. However, NPR reports that Kayani has a dark side. Under Kiyani's leadership, the ISI arrested thousands of alleged terrorists who have simply disappeared. Additionally, the Taliban has grown much stronger.

In the Bhutto interview below she states that, if she is killed, one must look to the ISI for the perpetrators. One wonders if Gen. Kiyani - our new best friend in Pakistan - is entirely in the clear.

FOX News & Other Media Outlets Ignore Benazir Bhutto's Claim That Osama bin Laden Is Dead

Reported by Marie Therese -

(The second video below is representative of the kind of unquestioningly positive coverage Gen. Kiyani has been getting on FOX and in other mainstream media outlets.)