Al-Reuters is up to their usual tricks, this time regarding the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The casual observer might not notice the inherent bias in this report, but to my all-seeing eye it is all too obvious. It begins with the title, “Pakistan accuses al-Qaeda of killing Bhutto.” Generally speaking an accusation is most noteworthy when the accused denies the offense. When the accused admits guilt, however, one would think that fact would overshadow the accusation. Al-Qaeda has taken credit for killing Bhutto. Not only does the headline imply otherwise, but that fact is entirely omitted from the article. Rather, the article plays up conflict between Bhutto’s supporters and Musharraf and all but ignores al-Qaeda involvement:

Pakistan accused al Qaeda of killing opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, whose assassination has plunged the nuclear-armed country into crisis and triggered bloody protests.

But Bhutto’s party dismissed the official explanation and said President Pervez Musharraf’s embattled administration was trying to cover up its failure to protect her.

…”We have intelligence intercepts indicating that al Qaeda leader Baitullah Mehsud is behind her assassination,” Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said on Friday.

…But Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party rejected the claim. A spokesman said the government must show solid evidence.

…Many mourners chanted slogans against Musharraf and the United States, which backs the former general in the hope he can maintain stability in the face of Islamist violence and relies on Pakistan as an ally against al Qaeda and Afghanistan’s Taliban.

Musharraf, who seized power in a military coup in 1999 but left the army last month to become a civilian president, has appealed for calm and blamed Islamist militants for the killing.

But many accused him of failing to protect Bhutto, who died in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, home of the Pakistani army.

Even the mention of the previous attempt on Bhutto says merely that “The government said al Qaeda was also behind that attack.” And then goes on to highlight that “she also had enemies in other quarter including among the powerful intelligence services and some allies of Musharraf.” Failing, of course, to point at the that Pakistan’s intelligence service (ISI) is riddled with Islamist supporters who regularly provide assistance to al-Qaeda. This is the same intelligence service that founded the Taliban. The informed reader, however, is left to believe such intelligence officials are simply another part of Musharraf’s government, when the fact is that he has himself worked to rid his government of these sympathizers, which triggered several al-Qaeda attempts on his life.

This is agenda journalism at its ugliest.

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