USA Blamed - Bhutto Death?

U.S. Didn't Do Enough To Protect Bhutto, Aide Says
WSJ ^


In the wake of Ms. Bhutto's death, some of her aides are charging the U.S. didn't do enough to protect the former prime minister after she returned to Pakistan.

They note that the Bush administration played a central role in brokering an agreement with Musharraf that allowed her return after an eight-year exile. And they say Washington should have done more to guarantee her safety once she was on the ground and facing numerous threats.

Husain Haqqani, a longtime aide to Ms. Bhutto based in Boston, said he twice held talks with senior State Department officials in recent weeks concerning the former prime minister's safety. He said Ms. Bhutto specifically wanted Washington to pressure Musharraf to allow her to hire a private security company, similar to the one used by Afghan President Hamid Karzai upon his return in Kabul. Mr. Haqqani said that Ms. Bhutto's aides had sent a letter to Pakistan's Interior Ministry requesting permission to hire such a firm, but hadn't obtained clearance.

"I personally took the matter up with two senior State Department officials to request that the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad or the State Department ask the government of Pakistan to respond to that request expeditiously," said Haqqani, in an interview. "The U.S. response was that we shouldn't be micro-managing things of this nature and that we trust the government of Pakistan's position on this."

State Department officials said the U.S. government held numerous discussions with Ms. Bhutto's camp on ways to increase her security inside Pakistan. They said U.S. security officials in Islamabad did assessments on her behalf and recommended the names of several private Pakistani security firms that could be hired, arguing they'd likely be more effective than foreign ones. But Ms. Bhutto's team decided against hiring the local firms, said the U.S. officials.


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