Exclusive: State Department Cables on Benazir Bhutto Assassination

The U.N. this week released a 70-page report on the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto in the midst of her campaign to reclaim the post of president of Pakistan. The report excoriated the Pakistani government for its failed investigation and particularly a failure to investigate the possibility that elements within the Pakistani officials were involved in the killing -- a possibility the report faced squarely. According to the report:

The Commission believes that the failure of the police to investigate effectively Ms. Bhutto’s assassination was deliberate. These officials, in part fearing intelligence agencies’ involvement, were unsure of how vigorously they ought to pursue actions, which they knew, as professionals, they should have taken.

These concerns are notably not reflected in a flurry of State Department cables issued after the assassination and exclusively obtained by INTELWIRE through the Freedom of Information Act. These documents point clearly to U.S. concerns for stability in Pakistan and toward continued cooperation with the Pakistani government in the U.S. war on terrorism, but they offer no scrutiny or consideration of the culpability of the Pakistani government itself.

State Department Cables on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto
(Warning -- this is a very large PDF)

UN Report on Bhutto Assassination

Labels: Benazir-Bhutto, INTELFILES, INTELWIRE-Exclusive

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