Bhutto:I suspect elements in the Musharraf administration to have conspired to eliminate me ...

MARGARET WARNER: ... her triumphant return was cut short when her motorcade was hit by a double suicide attack in Karachi. ... She told me that, despite the threats against her life, she would continue to campaign openly.

BENAZIR BHUTTO: I can still campaign -- not as freely as in the past -- but I don't intend to be intimidated by those who threaten to kill me.

And I see that, in every event where there is a threat to one's core interests, national interests, people send their young men and women to give their lives. America sends their young men and women to Afghanistan, where they risk death. No one turns around and says, don't send our boys because somebody may kill you. So, when there is a cause that is larger than oneself, one has to take the risks.

MARGARET WARNER: Let me ask you about a couple of things President Musharraf has said.

One, he has said that putting you under house arrest and in detention a couple of times was absolutely necessary for your own security, that there have been threats against you, that you have chosen risky spots and venues for rallies and marches. What do you say to that?

BENAZIR BHUTTO: I say that, if he's worried about threats against me, instead of putting me behind bars, he should get in Scotland Yard or FBI to investigate the militant terrorist attack that took place on my convoy. If he gets independent investigators, then I'm sure the very militants and their backers will be frightened, because they will know that they can be discovered.

I suspect that elements within the administration are sympathetic to the militants, and they want to eliminate my leadership to prevent democracy from returning to Pakistan and to prevent any political party having a leader with a mass support or nationally that can enable us to build a popular base to confront the terrorists.

 So, what I would like to tell him is that, why do you hesitate to let me file a police report against the murderers? Why do you hesitate to call in Scotland Yard? Call them in. Let the militants know that they can't escape.

MARGARET WARNER: So, are you accusing people in his government of complicity in the attacks, essentially the assassination attempt last month?

BENAZIR BHUTTO: Yes, I suspect elements within the Musharraf administration to have conspired to eliminate me through a terrorist attack. And I suspect elements within the administration who continue to try to eliminate me. I asked for jammers. They gave me some jammers that just don't work.

MARGARET WARNER: Bhutto was referring to cell-phone-jamming equipment that was supposed to be used to foil phone-triggered bomb attacks.

After intense international pressure, Musharraf lifted the state of emergency earlier this month. He was sworn in as a civilian president and said the January parliamentary elections would proceed.

In recent weeks, Bhutto had accused Musharraf of preparing to rig those elections. ...

For Benazir Bhutto, the decision to return to Pakistan was sealed during a telephone call from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just a week before Bhutto flew home in October. The call culminated more than a year of secret diplomacy -- and came only when it became clear that the heir to Pakistan's most powerful political dynasty was the only one who could bail out Washington's key ally in the battle against terrorism.

...U.S. policy -- and the commitment to Musharraf -- remains unchanged. In a statement yesterday, Rice appealed to Pakistanis to remain calm and to continue seeking to build a "moderate" democracy...
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