Slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto "desperately" asked the CIA, Scotland Yard and Israel's Mossad to assist in her personal protection in the weeks before her assassination, Maariv reported Friday. Bhutto said that President Pervez Musharraf's men would not let her protect herself adequately: she was not allowed to use dark-paned windows in her motorcade or use equipment for location of roadside explosives. She suspected Musharraf wanted to make her an easy target for assassins.
In Israel, discussions were held on the subject between the Foreign Ministry, which supported the request, Mossad, and other bodies involved with protection of VIPs. No decision was reached because Israel was concerned about upsetting the Pakistani or Indian regimes.
The paper reports that Bhutto sent an e-mail to one of her confidantes in Washington, an American named Mark Siegel, in which she said that if something happened to her, she blames Musharraf. She asked Siegel not to make the e-mail public unless she was assassinated.