American Morning
Pakistan's president accused of murder by niece
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/05/07/bhutto.fatima.getty.art.jpg caption= "Fatima Bhutto is the niece of Pakistan's former prime minister, the late Benzazir Bhutto."]
The Obama administration is depending on Pakistan’s President Zardari to keep the Taliban from tightening its grip on Pakistan. Now Zardari is being accused of murder by his own niece, Fatima Bhutto. She claims Zardari orchestrated the death of her father, Murtaza Bhutto, and she is fighting to reveal the truth. Fatima Bhutto is also the niece of slain Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Bhutto spoke to Kiran Chetry about her allegations via phone from Karachi, Pakistan on CNN’s “American Morning” Thursday.
Kiran Chetry: You say Pakistani President Zardari conspired to kill your father. He was indicted for this, but in October of 2007 all of those charges were dropped by then President Pervez Musharraf. You still believe that your uncle did this. Why?
Fatima Bhutto: Well when you look at the evidence, my father was an elected member of parliament and he was known for speaking out against Asif Ali Zardari and his wife Benazir Bhutto’s immense corruption, which at the time was rumored to be somewhere in the realm of 2 to 3 billion dollars stolen from the state. And the trial was proceeding - the trial that Asif Zardari has tried continually to circumvent by not appearing before the judge, by doing this deal with the dictator General Musharraf, which cleared his name. In the middle of the proceeding… and it’s not just my father's case. At the time that this deal was made with General Pervez Musharraf, Asif Zardari was standing trial in four murder cases dealing with the deaths of 11 people, including a high-court judge, including known bureaucrats, and a philanthropist. This is a man with a record. His wife’s government at the time was known actually for empowering the state agencies and security agencies and the police force to attack dissidents, to attack opposition members. And they killed them in what we know here as police encounter killings and extra-judicial murders.
Osama bin Laden dead?
By Nic Robertson
CNN Senior International Correspondent
When I first heard Pakistan's President Asif ali Zardari claim Osama bin Laden was dead, my initial reaction was... Not again?
Zardari was elected last September. I met him the night the votes were counted as he celebrated at a beautiful garden party outside a sparkling palace overlooking the capital. He was charming. His aides told me I could ask one question only, that I'd get a longer interview later. That was seven months ago and I'm still waiting.
I learned then the president's team rarely give him camera time one-on-one with reporters. When faced with three of them Tuesday he appears to have inadvertently stumbled in to creating a headline he didn't intend because barely three hours later his own prime minister contradicted him. He said they have no such evidence Osama bin Laden is dead and wasn't aware of the president's comments.
Before Zardari came to office his predecessor's officials regularly briefed reporters bin Laden was dead. Why? To deflect criticism the al Qaeda leader may be hiding in Pakistan. They would tell us they had no information about him therefore he must be dead. They'd often follow that with a line about, well if the CIA knows where he is in Pakistan why don't they tell us.
President Zardari appeared to be treading perilously close to those same confusing statements. The trouble is when a head of state says bin Laden is dead it is hard to ignore. For many observers of Pakistan's often tumultuous politics the bin Laden news spike has the hallmark of a disconnect between the country's two leading men that they say is indicative of the country's faltering politics. Not that these two good friends are falling out just they seem out of step when the country and the world are looking to them for a coherent path forward against the growing menace of an emboldened Taliban.
The read I have is that if bin Laden were dead, which I hasten to add we have no evidence for at this stage, President Zardari is unlikely to be the one to break the news to the world. The al Qaeda leader still has enough supporters in this country that if Pakistan were hinted to have a hand in his demise the backlash would last for weeks.
The only caveat I offer is that Osama bin Laden is a big dark secret and any time, any day we may learn he has met his maker, but expect a few more false starts before that happens.
Taliban 'not going anywhere'
There are new developments in Pakistan today. Taliban fighters have moved out of the contested Bruner district 60 miles west of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad. It appears to be a victory for the Pakistani government. But can Taliban militants be trusted to keep their pledge to return to the Swat Valley and stay out of Bruner?
Former CIA officer Gary Bernsten says the Taliban “isn’t going anywhere.” He joined John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” Friday.
John Roberts: Would you trust the Taliban to move back and play nice in the Swat Valley?
Gary Bernsten: Not at all. And clearly they may pull back just slightly for reasons of propaganda and to get the film footage. They're not going anywhere. These guys have a desire to seize control of Pakistan. That's the Taliban and other militant organizations. There are at least 25 to 30 militant organizations in Pakistan.
Taliban advances in Pakistan "very serious"
Pakistani authorities on Thursday deployed paramilitary troops to a district, only 60 miles from the capital, where Taliban militants appeared to be consolidating control after this week's land-grab. Yesterday, we learned of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s fears about the Taliban's power grab, and how it's threatening Pakistan, an important U.S. ally who has nuclear weapons.
“I think that we cannot underscore the seriousness of the existential threat posed to the state of Pakistan by the continuing advances now within hours of Islamabad that are being made by a loosely confederated group of terrorists and others who are seeking the overthrow of the Pakistani state; which is, as we all know, a nuclear-armed state.”
Just how dire is the situation there? Robert Grenier, former CIA Station Chief in Islamabad, spoke with John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” Thursday.
John Roberts: You know this area as well as anybody. You heard the secretary of state’s warning. David Kilcullen, an advisor to the Obama administration who also knows that area very well, says Pakistan is in danger of collapse. How dire do you think the situation there is?
Robert Grenier: The situation is very serious. I'm very concerned about it as are most of the specialists who study that region. The trends are all very bad. I don't think that the country is in danger of imminent collapse, however.
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