GAO: Pakistan gets terror funds with little oversight

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: The Hill

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Tuesday said that the U.S. is not doing enough to make sure funds sent to Pakistan to help that country fight terrorism are actually used for that purpose.

“Our assessment found that while played a key role in Pakistan’s support for our war on terror, had not followed its existing guidance and provided little oversight of the effort at the embassy in Pakistan,” the GAO found.

“As a result, we conclude that Defense cannot accurately determine how much of the $5.56 billion in costs reimbursed to Pakistan since 2001 were actually incurred,” the report stated.

Democrats seized on the findings.

“It seems as though the Pakistani military went on a spending spree with American taxpayers’ wallets and no one bothered to investigate the charges. To this day we do not have proper verification for how our money was used,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). “How hard would it have been to confirm that a road we paid $15 million for was ever built? It is appalling that the Defense Department did not send any embassy officials working in Pakistan to verify these enormous costs.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/gao-u.s.-gives-pakistan-terror-funds-with-little-oversight-2008-06-24.html

[polichick]

1. imo we're paying them NOT to find Osama.

[blayne]

2. The only oversight is from Musharraf's accountants. n/t

[tpsbmam]

3. U.S. Funding to Pakistan Plagued With Problems, GAO Report Says

Source: Washington Post

The Bush administration has paid Pakistan more than $2 billion without adequate proof that the Pakistani government used the funds for their intended purpose of supporting U.S. counterterrorism efforts, congressional auditors reported yesterday. Their report concluded that more than a third of U.S. funds provided Pakistan since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were subject to accounting problems, including duplication and possible fraud.

The Pentagon paid about $20 million for army road construction and $15 million to build bunkers in Pakistan, but there is no evidence that the roads or bunkers were ever constructed, the Government Accountability Office reported. Islamabad also billed Washington $200 million for an air defense radar system that may not have met a U.S. condition: that reimbursement cover combat or logistical costs supporting U.S. military operations against terrorism beyond what a country would spend on its own needs.

"It seems as though the Pakistani military went on a spending spree with American taxpayers' wallets and no one bothered to investigate the charges," said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "How hard would it have been to confirm that a road we paid $15 million for was ever built? It is appalling that the Defense Department did not send any embassy officials working in Pakistan to verify these enormous costs." Washington should "stop pouring money into a black hole," Harkin said.

..........

"Apparently, the Bush administration cares so little about the hunt for Osama bin Laden that it is barely paying attention to how the Pakistani military is carrying out the fight," Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement. "It's dangerous to treat the battle against al-Qaeda so casually, and it's unfair to American taxpayers to be so careless with billions of their dollars."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR2008062401255_pf.html

[hobbit709]

4. And in other news: The sun still rises in the East.

[Ian David]

5. $15 million here. $20 million there. It all adds up, and eventually you're talking about real money.

[ReadTomPaine]

6. If there were any oversight attached, then Pakistan wouldn't accept it.

It would be worse than useless for them if that cash were actually tracked. They'd be found complicit and liable.

[ohio2007]

7. Pakistani Taliban Cited in 22 Slayings ( proof negotiations work )

justice is found in "the code of the west"



Pakistani Taliban Cited in 22 Slayings

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The bodies of 22 members of a government-sponsored peace committee were found dumped near South Waziristan on Wednesday after fighting broke out between the Pakistani Taliban and a rival tribe, government officials said.

The peace committee was attacked by supporters of Baitullah Mehsud, the head of the Pakistani Taliban, in the town of Jandola on Monday, not far from the Afghan border and about 200 miles west of Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province

snip
Some of the 22 bodies had bullet wounds, others had been slashed with knives, Mr. Marwat said.

The killings come after the Pakistani Army negotiated a ceasefire with Mr. Mehsud’s forces earlier this year, and pulled its soldiers back from Mr. Mehsud’s territory in South Waziristan. Under the terms of the accord, the military has exchanged prisoners with Mr. Mehsud’s forces.


snip
In addition to the 22 peace committee members found dead, another 15 men from the Bhittani tribe and three militants were killed, Mr. Marwat, the district officer said.

The operation by Mr. Mehsud was described as particularly brutal because it singled out men in the 200- to 300-strong peace committee that had been formed under the auspices of the government last year.

snip
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/world/asia/26pstan.html


SO much for negotiated peace in our time from the new Pakistani govt .
They are hurting without a Bhutto type to replace Musharraf.
She knew the scumbag Taliban would have used a peace deal as a cease fire rebuild. Now they are using the new govt as a personal tool to exploit .

oh,
but I'm sure this was the only isolated incident. ;)

How many of the remaining "300" peace activists will hold their ground ? WHo's going to provide those sheilds cover?

The Pakistan army ?

The ISI ? LOL



GAO: Pakistan gets terror funds with little oversight
.......


No "oversight" ?


OK
then the "overflights" will increase imo

[ohio2007]

8. Taleban 'siege' of Peshawar threatens Pakistan's grip ( Tet offensive under the radar)

Pakistan’s battle against the Taleban threatened to spiral out of control yesterday after Islamic militants extended their grip in the lawless North West Frontier region. Emboldened by an increasingly weakened and demoralised security force, Taleban fighters moved in to the outskirts of the provincial capital. Peshawar, surrounding the city and placing it virtually under siege.


Army troops have increased patrols in the garrison areas and paramilitary soldiers carrying machineguns are posted at government buildings. But senior security officials said that militants, who now control the region’s main arterial roads, were in a position to cut off communications at will. Police on the city’s outskirts have long given up patrolling at night for fear of attacks by militants,


snip




http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4214926.ece


Will the fall of Peshwar be heard in the west ?

..."We
held the day
in the palm
of our hands.

...They ruled the night.

And the nights seemed to last as long as,
six weeks
on Paris Island,

We held the coastline,
they held the highlands..."

Goodnight Saigon
B. Joel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6gZefW4yEA

[ohio2007]

9. Pakistani Taliban publicly execute two 'spies'

KHAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistani Taliban rebels executed two Afghans in front of thousands of people Friday after accusing them of spying, while two other people died in clashes afterwards, officials said. Militants beheaded one man and shot the other after telling the crowd in Pakistan's Bajaur tribal district that the pair had passed information to US forces in Afghanistan that led to a deadly missile strike in May.

An AFP correspondent who witnessed the executions said more than 5,000 people had gathered at a patch of open ground 10 kilometres (six miles) west of Khar, the main town in Bajaur, to watch.


snip
"The men's faces were covered and their hands were tied. One was slaughtered with a knife amid shouts of Allahu akbar (God is greater), the other was shot with a burst of fire from a Kalashnikov," the AFP correspondent said.

After the executions the Taliban started firing in the air in jubilation, but when some shots were fired from within the crowd it sparked a brief gunbattle, witnesses said.

snip

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080627/wl_sthasia_afp/pakistanafghanistanunresttaliban


yep,
it must be Friday since justice has been doled out to 'collaborators' .....after prayers of course.