Jan 01 2008
al-Qaeda Agents Inside Pak Military Killed Bhutto?
If the reporting coming out is accurate then it seems al-Qaeda was able to activate supporters inside the Pak military to kill Bhutto, destroying the chances for Bhutto to share power with Musharraf and allowing some blame to be put on Musharraf (instead of the traitors to Pakistan and Bhutto working for Arab Bin Laden):
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on orders of lower- and middle-level officers of the Pakistani army and air force, according to various intelligence sources, including members of India’s counterintelligence service.
According to a source who asked to remain unnamed, members of the Pakistani armed forces involved in Thursday’s killing of the former prime minister and leader of the opposition are sympathizers of the ultra-conservative Islamists with ties to the jihadis.
“It’s worrying when half of your lower or mid-level Pak intelligence analysts have bin Laden screen savers on their computers,” a former official of the CIA was reported to have commented.
More than one analyst is of the opinion al-Qaida and other jihadis have managed to successfully penetrate Pakistan’s armed forces and security services.
The danger now is that some of Bhutto’s followers (who could also be al-Qaeda or Taliban sympathizers) would publicly support a military coup d’etat by Bin Laden’s agents in the Pak military. I am sure this scenario has occurred to others in positions to take action and they are doing so. But it is still a concern.
Given the fact Pakistan is in possession of nuclear weapons, the possibility of a pro-al-Qaida regime replacing President Pervez Musharraf would radically change the entire geopolitical alignment in southwest Asia, and it would have a spin-off effect on the Middle East, as well, primarily in regards to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
And it’s not for lack of trying, either. Pro-Islamist groups have tried to assassinate Musharraf multiple times. Two attempts took place in December 2003 when rockets were fired at his vehicle during a visit to Rawalpindi, the same city where Bhutto was assassinated last Thursday.
This is al-Qaeda’s last hope to avert destruction, and it is turning out to be a reasonably good attempt. It all depends on the Pakistanis. Will they allow an Arab Islamo Fascists to kill their people and run their country? It is all a question of how many people understand this is what might be happening. I think the Pakistanis would resist such a ploy – but they would have to see it coming to do so.
I read that our own forces are protecting Pakistan’s nuclear plants or sites hosting nuclear weapons. Does this mean that our own intelligence agencies and/or government knew of such AQ infiltration into the PAK military? Does it also mean that Musharraf knew of it?
Bhutto was supporting a crackdown on AQ and was what Musharaff needed to give him credibility to do it. Sharif was the one more closely aligned with that side of the crowd.
The upper military just are about to say a pox on everybody and the ISI is in some ways at war with itself and if things get to far out of hand I look for the army to step in and put a new general in place and hold on the elections for a year or two.
There is even a small possibility that we could be looking at a partition of Pakistan and the province areas to split the country into two parts.
I think if that happens it will be done so that the nukes stay under solid control of the military on the Pak side of the land divide and they just try to contain AQ from crossing out of the territories to play internal games. If a split does occur the methods will turn much more toward aircraft bombing which is not hearts and minds stuff but can weaken the other side real fast if done right before you reset to coin strategy.
The Pak army is big, and when they choose to can be a force to be stabilizers. My guess is that is what they wanted all along and everyone else has been trying to force their hand from 10 different directions.
Time will tell.
Walid Phares at Counterterrism Blog has an interesting take on what is happening.