To many people here in America it may not seem important to determine who killed Benazir Bhutto. But in highly emotionally charged Pakistan it is a key point which could push the country one way or the other. Bhutto had a strong following and was very popular. The anger over her death could topple someone from power forever.

As intelligence agencies and investigators look at the assassination, there are fewer and fewer doubts it was al-Qaeda (who are foreigners in Pakistan) who killed Bhutto. First, UK intelligence confirmed the infamous phone call of glee by the prime suspect: Baitullah Meshud. Next came a statement from Scotland Yard that also determined it was al-Qaeda assassins. And now the US CIA has no doubt who killed Bhutto:

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.

“This was done by that network around Baitullah Mehsud. We
have no reason to question that,” Hayden said.

He doesn’t seem to have any doubts who killed Bhutto, so the intelligence must be overwhelming. I can see how the intercepted phone call was probably snagged by NSA – which is why it cannot be a creation of Musharraf’s. I can also bet that such overwhelming confidence in declaring Baitullah Meshud the mastermind means the sea of intelligence backing that confidence up goes well beyond on incident and one phone call. I won’t elaborate, but my guess is the picture that looks really grainy and out of focus to us is crisp and sharp inside Langley and the DoD.

Update: More here from WaPo on the news.