[NYTr] US gave Bhutto threat intelligence: Officials

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP via The Globe & Mail - Dec 31, 2007
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071231.wpakistanUS1231/BNStory/International/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20071231.wpakistanUS1231


U.S. gave Bhutto threat intelligence: Officials

By MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The United States provided a steady stream of intelligence
to Benazir Bhutto about threats against her before the former Pakistani
prime minister was assassinated and advised her aides on how to boost
security, although key suggestions appear to have gone unheeded, U.S.
officials said Monday.

Senior U.S. diplomats had multiple conversations, including at least
two private face-to-face meetings, with top members of Ms. Bhutto's
Pakistan Peoples Party to discuss threats on her life and review her
security arrangements after a suicide bombing marred her initial return
to Pakistan from exile in October, the officials told The Associated
Press.

The intelligence was also shared with the Pakistani government, the
officials said.

Much of what was passed on dealt with general threats from Taliban
extremists and al-Qaeda sympathizers and “was not actionable
information.”

 The officials said Ms. Bhutto and her aides were concerned,
particularly after the October attack, but were adamant that in the
absence of a specific and credible threat there would be few, if any,
changes to her campaign schedule ahead of parliamentary elections.

“She knew people were trying to assassinate her,” said an intelligence
official. “We don't hold information back on possible attacks on
foreign leaders and foreign countries.” The official added, however,
that while the U.S. could share the information, “it's up to (the
recipient) how they want to take action.”

“We gave them a steady stream of intelligence,” one official said.

The officials spoke to AP on condition of anonymity due to the
sensitivity of the matter and amid widespread disbelief over the
Pakistani government's assertion that Ms. Bhutto died not from bullet
or shrapnel wounds but from injuries sustained while hitting her head
on her vehicle's sunroof during Thursday's attack by a suicide bomber
and gunman.

The Bush administration has quietly joined calls for Pakistan to allow
international experts to join the probe into Ms. Bhutto's Dec. 27
slaying. The officials said they expected an announcement soon that
investigators from Britain's Scotland Yard would be asked to play a
significant role. Any U.S. involvement would be limited and low-key,
they said.

The State Department, meanwhile, angrily denied suggestions that U.S.
officials had ignored or minimized the threat to Ms. Bhutto even as
they were encouraging reconciliation between her and Pakistani
President Pervez Musharraf.

“It is simply untrue and I simply do not understand why anyone,
anywhere would assert that the United States did not have concerns,
minimized those concerns, or was not very active in trying to ensure
that she was provided with whatever kind of security support she
required,” deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters.

“We discussed those concerns regularly both with her and officials from
her party and with President Musharraf and with his government,” he
said. “We always, in every instance, took those concerns seriously. We
were very active in trying to ensure that any information we had that
was relevant to her situation was passed on to her as well as those
responsible for her security.”

In the meetings, Ms. Bhutto aides did not ask the United States to help
protect her but did inquire about the feasibility of hiring private
U.S. or British bodyguards, an idea discouraged by the Americans who
argued that a noticeable Western security detail would increase the
threat and might become a target itself, the officials said.

Instead, the U.S. diplomats recommended as many as five reputable local
Pakistani and regional firms that could be contracted to supplement Ms.
Bhutto's security and urged the party to limit the size, scope and type
of her public appearances, upgrade armoring on vehicles in which she
might travel and require her to wear protective clothing, the officials
said.

However, there was no indication that Ms. Bhutto's team — including her
husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who attended at least one of the meetings —
had followed through on the most critical of the recommendations,
including the hiring of private guards and reducing her visibility in
large crowds like the one in Rawalpindi where she was killed.

The officials said Mr. Zardari rejected using private Pakistani
security companies due to fears they might be infiltrated by extremists
even though several of the recommended companies have international
components and are used by Western embassies to protect personnel.

Anne Tyrell, a spokeswoman for the private U.S. security company
Blackwater Worldwide, known for its operations in Iraq, said her
company had been approached about possibly providing protection for Ms.
Bhutto, “but unfortunately, an agreement was never reached.”

While Ms. Bhutto's staff did take some steps to improve the safety of
the party's vehicles, the officials expressed surprise that the car in
which she was riding when attacked had a sunroof and stressed that they
would have strongly advised her against popping her head out of it in
the presence of large numbers of people.

In addition to advising Ms. Bhutto's aides, as they worked to forge a
political reconciliation and possible power-sharing deal between the
opposition leader and Mr. Musharraf, the U.S. diplomats made numerous
appeals to the Pakistani government to grant requests from her party to
ensure Ms. Bhutto's safety, the officials said.

But some requests, such as those for advanced technology and massive
police presences in outlying towns, either could not be met or were
deemed unreasonable by the government, a position the United States
reluctantly conceded, the officials said.