Mullen: Pakistan "Sanctioned" Reporter's Murder

The Associated Press reports:

The top U.S. military officer says the Pakistani government "sanctioned" the killing of a journalist last month, but said he could not tie the death to the country's powerful intelligence service.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says the beating death of Pakistani reporter, Saleem Shahzad, and the reported abuse of other journalists is no way for a government to move ahead. He says it is a way to spiral in the wrong direction.

Shahzad's death was widely blamed on Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, but the ISI has denied involvement. His death was followed a few weeks later by the beating of another Pakistani journalist by men wearing police uniforms.

Mullen is the first top U.S. leader to publicly link the killing to Pakistan's government.