Did She Know of bin Laden's Murder?

I confess to being a conspiracy theorist when it comes to Osama bin Laden. I remember a Christmas lunch in 2001 when I announced to a group of coworkers that bin Laden was dead. They looked at me in momentary stunned silence and then went back to the standard office gossip.

• I figured he’d been killed in the Battle of Tora Bora in Afghanistan earlier in December of that year when U.S. and British special forces blasted the cave-entrenched al-Qaeda headquarters to smithereens. 
  
• And I figured bin Laden would be more useful to the Bush administration dead rather than alive, and that his death would therefore remain a secret. (The subject of an upcoming post.)

There have been rumors and speculation about his death for nearly seven years now, coming from multiple sources. The fact that he has not been seen, that his video appearances are highly suspect, and that his audio tapes also are doubtful only add to the speculation. Yes, we all know the CIA has confirmed his voice print on a couple of audio tapes, but I’m with most of the world in believing the CIA’s integrity is seriously compromised.


Now another voice has been added to the chorus regarding bin Laden’s death – this one carrying considerable political weight.

This past November 2, Benazir Bhutto, in an interview with David Frost on BBC, described Omar Sheikh as “the man who murdered Osama bin Laden.” Of course on December 27 Bhutto – head of the Pakistan Peoples Party and two-term Pakistani prime minister - was herself brutally assassinated.

During the interview, Bhutto was answering one of Frost’s questions regarding the identities of people who had previously attempted to assassinate her. She made the statement regarding Omar Sheikh as bin Laden’s murderer, and she and Frost just continued the interview without further clarification. Afterward the BBC re-ran the interview but edited out Bhutto’s statement about bin Laden. There was an uproar and the BBC later apologized and again re-ran the interview, this time with her statement restored. Most curious.

Yes, it’s entirely possible that Bhutto misspoke. Some think she may have meant journalist Daniel Pearl (although she mentioned Pearl moments earlier in the interview) instead of bin Laden. She also was quoted in October that she would help the U.S. military find bin Laden. But view for yourself the YouTube clip above and observe her tone as she makes the statement.