Fair Proxy Web

How did Pakistan’s Bhutto die?

(CNN) — Conflicting reports about what caused the death of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto are fueling questions about the circumstances of her assassination.

Bhutto’s political party disputed official versions of the incident, accusing the government of lying. Video footage of Thursday’s attack on Bhutto contains a murky shot of a hand firing a pistol three times, but the Pakistani government said Bhutto — who was standing through her vehicle’s sunroof — was not hit.

The latest explanation Friday by Pakistan’s Interior Ministry said Bhutto, 54, died from a fractured skull after hitting her head on a piece of the vehicle.

Immediately following the gunfire, a suicide bomber ignited explosives near Bhutto’s motorcade. Watch the video

An Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema, said Bhutto fell down or perhaps ducked and apparently hit her head on a lever connected to the car’s sunroof. Cheema added that the lever was stained with blood.

Cheema’s version of events conflicts with that of the government-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan, which at first quoted the Interior Ministry as saying shrapnel from the bomb blast killed Bhutto. The suicide bomb killed more than 20 others, and at least 100 were wounded.

On Thursday, an initial report from the Interior Ministry said Bhutto died of a gunshot wound to the neck.

Bhutto’s death did not result from a bullet or shrapnel, Cheema said, and nothing entered her head. Watch Cheema discuss Bhutto’s killing

Dr. Mussadiq Khan of Rawalpindi General Hospital, who treated Bhutto before she was declared dead, said she had a big wound on the side of her head that usually occurs when something big, with a lot of speed, hits that area.

By the time Bhutto was brought to the hospital Thursday, she was not breathing, she did not have a pulse, Khan said, and her eyes were not responding to light. Doctors tried unsuccessfully to revive her by cardiopulmonary resuscitation, he said.

At a news conference, Cheema showed the video of Bhutto in the vehicle, standing up in the sunroof and looking out at the surrounding crowd.

Farzana Raja of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party said the government’s explanation is a pack of lies, and she offered another explanation. It was a sniper shooting, she said, also accusing the government of a total security lapse.

CNN national security analyst Ken Robinson, who worked in U.S. intelligence in Pakistan during the Clinton administration, said he suspects Bhutto’s enemies are attempting to control her legacy by minimizing the attack’s role in her demise.

They’re trying to deny her a martyr’s death, and in Islam, that’s pretty important, Robinson said.

Bhutto, he said, threatens to become more influential in death than she was in life. Her torch burns bright now forever. She’s forever young; she’s forever brave, challenging against all odds the party in power and challenging the military and Islamic extremism.

Only if Bhutto’s family allows an autopsy, said Robinson, will the world know for certain the medical reasons behind her death. The Associated Press, quoting Cabinet sources, said Bhutto’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari, refused to permit an autopsy before she was laid to rest Friday.

The Pakistani government pointed to Baitullah Mehsud, a tribal leader from southern Pakistan known to have ties to al-Qaeda, as a prime suspect.

One senior U.S. official told CNN there is information … that leads us to believe he [Mehsud] is the guy responsible.

The official said Mehsud had been trying to get Bhutto for some time and described him as one of the big players.

The Pakistani Interior Ministry also said it had intelligence intercepts indicating Mehsud was behind Bhutto’s assassination.

There have been no claims of responsibility for Bhutto’s death on radical Islamist Web sites that regularly post such messages from al Qaeda and other militant groups.

Hundreds of thousands of people jammed streets Friday surrounding Bhutto’s funeral procession in Garhi-Khuda Baksh. Violence after the attack has left at least nine people reported killed and banks, train stations and cars torched.

Bhutto led Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996, but both times, the sitting president dismissed her amid corruption allegations. See a timeline leading up to Bhutto’s assassination

She was the first female prime minister of any Islamic nation.

A terrorist attack targeted her motorcade in Karachi in October on the day she returned to Pakistan after eight years of self-imposed exile. Bhutto told Al-Jazeera television she believed Mehsud may have been involved in that attempt on her life, which killed 136 people.
found here.

Storm cancels hundreds of flights

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) — A winter storm moved into the Great Lakes on Friday, blanketing the region with several inches of snow and disrupting holiday travel.

More than 450 flights were canceled at O’Hare International Airport by midday, and delays averaged 90 minutes. Officials urged travelers to check the status of their flights.

Delays at Midway Airport were about an hour, though it did not report any cancelations.

Both runways at Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport were closed Friday afternoon because the snow was falling too fast to clear it off. And two of three runways were closed at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wisconsin.

The storm was expected to dump significant snow on the Great Lakes states and leave several inches in the central Plains. It caused numerous fender-benders in Kansas and Missouri as it moved through Friday morning.

In the Southeast, forecasters said additional rain was likely this weekend in the Atlanta metro area, and may determine whether 2007 is the driest year on record for the region.

As of Friday morning, the area had just under 30 inches of rain for the year. The record was set in 1954, when the area had less than 32 inches of rain, according to the weather service.

In the West, rain and high elevation snow was forecast from Washington through central California.
found here.

Cold season question: To shake or not to shake?

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — It’s the season for giving and receiving — yes, of course, gifts and food and holiday cheer, but also something you probably don’t want: germs.

Those invisible microorganisms are all around us. More often than not they transmit viruses that can cause, at best, a cold; at worst, the flu. It really isn’t fair because you don’t even know when you’ve come in contact with those pesky things until it’s too late and you start to feel their presence. Actually what you feel is your own pain or body aches.

According to the American Lung Association, children get between six and eight colds a year, while adults usually get only one or two. Most of us know the symptoms of a cold — runny nose, dry throat, cough, possibly even a low fever. The symptoms for the flu are similar, which explains why people sometimes confuse the two illnesses. But according to Dr. Lisa Bernstein, it’s easy to know the difference. With a cold you’re sort of OK, she says. With the flu you feel like you have been hit by a bus. Ouch.

In our effort to avoid being hit by that viral bus, we seem to be a society divided. On the one side there are the ultra germ-a-phobics, those brandishing hand sanitizers at a moment’s notice, spritzing like a six-shooter at the OK Corral. On the other end of the spectrum is the germ Darwinian — a practitioner of the survival of the fittest germ theory. Those folks believe being exposed to all germs is a good thing because taking on those germs will only make us stronger in the long run, even if it means getting sick now so we are armed and ready for the next meeting. Watch what you can do to fight a cold

Dangling in between those two sides are the people like me, living in what we think is the land of common sense.

And that is where Bernstein comes in.

Some people are freaked out about all these germs, but it really comes down to common sense. (See!!) Logically you should minimize contact with sick people or minimize contact when you are sick. Cover your mouth when you cough. If possible don’t cough into your hand but into a tissue or even your sleeve. But using your hand is better than no cover at all. Hand-washing is the most important thing.

Ahh, the hand-washing. We have heard that forever, from our mothers, from our teachers, from ad campaigns that offer up wipes and gels and soaps and spray, all in an effort to keep us healthy and germ-free. The only problem is it turns out Mom was right and big business was wrong. Soap and water are all we need to keep germs at bay. According to Bernstein, who is an associate professor of medicine at Emory University, those antibacterial hand sanitizers aren’t that effective.

Colds and the flu are viral diseases, so the antibacterial aspect of the soap does no good, Bernstein says. It actually does some harm because by using these, the bugs [bacteria] are getting smarter, and that is what we see happening.

So, basically, washing with antibacterial soap might make us more resistant to the very medications we might need later should we encounter harmful bacteria.

When it comes to fighting those viruses, it seems to be all in the hands. What about hand-shaking? That meet-and-greet motion has received a terrible rep as a germ pusher.

One germ-a-phobic Web site recommended a no-hand-shaking rule. Of course, that same Web site also recommended you call before you go to a holiday banquet and get a day of health report on all those who will be attending the event. One slight snag with that (aside from the DNRI label — do not re-invite– you will probably get from that host) is that people are usually contagious a day before their symptoms appear, so that day of report won’t do a whole lot of good.

But back to hand-shaking. Bernstein has this advice: It’s hard to avoid shaking hands in our society, especially in the business world. People who say they don’t shake hands might appear odd. Instead, she recommends, Shake hands but avoid putting that hand to your face. Then when it is socially OK, wash your hands to avoid germs.

Finally, the simplest way to avoid those ever-present, never-seen germs is to try to stay healthy. When your body is run down in any way, it simply can’t fight back and you will get sick. So do what you can — get the flu shot, try to wash your hands often, and be germ smart. But also be realistic, Bernstein concludes. People are looking for this magic thing, the thing that will make us never get sick. The only problem with that is that is just not going to happen. E-mail to a friend

found here.

Bush to veto defense spending bill

CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) — President Bush plans to veto a defense spending bill that Congress passed this month, the White House said Friday.

The president has concerns over a provision that would let victims of Saddam Hussein’s regime with legal claims in U.S. courts seek compensation from the Iraqi government.

If enacted, the White House said, the act would permit plaintiff’s lawyers immediately to freeze Iraqi funds and would expose Iraq to massive liability in lawsuits concerning the misdeeds of the Saddam Hussein regime.

The new democratic government of Iraq, during this crucial period of reconstruction, cannot afford to have its funds entangled in such lawsuits in the United States.

A veto would block a pay raise for members of the U.S. armed forces. It also would block more money for veterans’ health care.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, criticized the president’s decision.

The defense bill passed both houses of Congress by overwhelming bipartisan margins and addresses urgent national security priorities, including the pay raise and money for veterans’ health care, Pelosi and Reid said in a written statement. It is unfortunate that the president will not sign this critical legislation.

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, also expressed dismay at the president’s decision.

This bill is important to our men and women in uniform, Levin said. It is unfortunate that the administration failed to identify the concerns upon which this veto is based until after the bill had passed both houses on Congress and was sent to the president for signature.

I am deeply disappointed that our troops and veterans may have to pay for their mistake and for the confusion and uncertainty caused by their snafu.

At issue is a provision of the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act that could let people with legal claims alleging brutality from Saddam Hussein and his forces recover damages from the current Iraqi government. That element of the bill prompted the Iraqi government to threaten to withdraw $25 billion of Iraqi assets from U.S. banks, White House officials told CNN.

The Democratic leaders said that Bush worked closely with Congress on the bill and gave no indication prior to its passage that one section of the bill could generate a presidential veto.
found here.

U.S. suspects Taliban leader behind Bhutto plot

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN — U.S. officials suspect a Taliban leader from Afghanistan may be behind the plot to assassinate former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a senior official said Friday.

The official identified Taliban leader Baitullah Mahsud as a leading suspect, saying there’s good information that leads us to believe he is the guy responsible.

Earlier Friday, the Pakistani Interior Ministry said it had intelligence intercepts indicating Mahsud was behind the opposition leader’s death the day before in Rawalpindi.

As you all know, Benazir Bhutto had been on the hit list of terrorists ever since she had come to Pakistan, said the Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema. She was on the hit list of al Qaeda.

Cheema said the Pakistani government intercepted a communication Friday in which Mahsud congratulated his people for carrying out this cowardly act.

Robert Grenier, former CIA station chief in Pakistan and former head of the CIA’s counterterrorism center, describes Mahsud as an Islamic radical leader in South Waziristan closely associated with the Taliban.

Grenier said that Mahsud spoke publicly before Bhutto’s return to Pakistan in October after eight years in self-exile that the former prime minister was marked for assassination.

The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that Mahsud allegedly pledged to dispatch suicide bombers against Bhutto but that Mahsud has denied that allegation.

The Interior Ministry also said earlier the suicide bomber belonged to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim militant group with links to al Qaeda, Pakistan’s GEO TV reported.

There was no sign the group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Pakistan opposition leader.

The U.S. State Department lists Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as a terrorist organization and said it had links to the Taliban. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf banned the group in 2001.

In January 1999, the group attempted to assassinate former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the State Department Web site says.

Also Friday, the state-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan reported al Qaeda had claimed responsibility for killing Bhutto.

The agency quoted Cheema as saying, Al Qaeda in a statement has accepted the responsibility of her assassination, as in the past she had been receiving life threats from this terrorist group.

No one has accepted responsibility for Bhutto’s death on radical Islamist Web sites that regularly post such messages from al Qaeda and other militant groups.

CNN could not independently confirm that al Qaeda has claimed responsibility.

Bhutto, 54, died as a result of a fractured skull after hitting her head on a lever in the vehicle she was riding in, Chema said.

He said Bhutto suffered no bullet or shrapnel wounds, contradicting all previous government statements regarding her injuries. Authorities had said Bhutto was targeted by gunshots seconds before a suicide bombing as she was leaving a rally.

On Thursday, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin citing an alleged claim of responsibility by the terror network for Bhutto’s death, a DHS official said.

But FBI and other law enforcement officials said that the claim is unsubstantiated and that federal officials are not making any comments about its validity.

Italian news agency Adnkronos International apparently was the source of this claim, saying the terror network’s Afghan commander and spokesman Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid had telephoned the agency with it.

We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahedeen, the Italian news agency quoted Al-Yazid as saying.

The agency said that al Qaeda’s No. 2 official, Ayman al-Zawahiri, set the wheels in motion for Bhutto’s assassination in October.

One Islamist Web site repeated the assertion, but experts in the field don’t consider the site to be a reliable source for Islamist messages.

The DHS official said the claim was an unconfirmed open source claim of responsibility and the bulletin was sent out at about 6 p.m. Thursday to state and local law enforcement agencies. Watch as an analyst says the killing gives al Qaeda running room

The official characterized the bulletin as information sharing.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said the validity of such a claim is undetermined. Kolko said the FBI and the intelligence community is reviewing it for any intelligence value.
found here.