Scahill: ‘The War is in Pakistan Right Now’

[tekisui]

Source: The Raw Story

In the wake of President Obama's plan to increase the number of US troops in Afghanistan, questions are being raised about the use of private contractors in US operations there. The acknowledgement by Eric Prince, founder of military contractor Blackwater, that he has been serving for years as a CIA asset only intensifies these concerns.

For Jeremy Scahill, author of the bestselling book Blackwater, however, the real concern is not Afghanistan but Pakistan, where according to an article in the New York Times, "the White House has authorized an expansion of the C.I.A.’s drone program."

"We need to view this sober reality," Scahill told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Thursday. "The war is in Pakistan right now. There's no question about it. The question, though, is how much it's going to expand. ... These are actions that are going to destabilize Pakistan and are going to create new enemies for the United States because of the high civilian casualties. ... Here you have military operations inside a country that we don't have a declaration of war against."

Scahill emphasized that the most destabilizing actions come not from the CIA but from Blackwater mercenaries, whom he recently described in The Nation as working for US special forces to "plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, 'snatch and grabs' of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan."

(snip)

"Blackwater has been operating under the cover of a training program," Scahill explained. "Blackwater is training the Pakistani Frontier Corps, which is a federal paramilitary force that is hunting down high-value targets in the frontier province. A former Blackwater executive told me that the line is being crossed -- that Blackwater guys are actually going out on these raids."

more: http://rawstory.com/2009/12/scahill-us-military-in-pakistan/

[Junkdrawer]

1. Quick: Unrec this thread...

People will SEE....

:sarcasm:

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

2. !

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. "...where according to an article in the New York Times..."

:freak:

[closeupready]

4. Well there are 200,000,000 people in Pakistan.

Lot of people to piss off.

[tekisui]

5. Pakistan opposes expanded U.S. drone attacks

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan opposes expanded U.S. drone attacks against militants on its tribal areas, as well as any strikes on Baluchistan, where Washington believes Afghan Taliban leaders are hiding, the foreign ministry said on Friday.

Missile strikes from pilotless drone aircraft have created fierce anti-American sentiment in Pakistan, a strategic ally Washington wants to crack down harder on Taliban fighters operating along the porous border with Afghanistan.

The White House has authorized the expansion of the CIA's drone program in Pakistan to complement President Barack Obama's plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, the New York Times reported, citing unnamed officials.

It said that for the first time, U.S. officials are talking with Islamabad about the possibility of hitting Baluchistan, where Pakistan is already facing a low-level insurgency from Baluch rebels seeking provincial autonomy.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said there were limits to Pakistani cooperation, and the drone attacks were counterproductive.

"This has never been part of our discussions. There are clear red-lines as far as we're concerned," he said when asked if there were any talks between Washington and Islamabad on expansion of drone attacks to Baluchistan.

"We have clearly conveyed our red-lines to them."

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091204/wl_nm/us_pakistan_usa;_ylt=A0wNcwvgbxlLm7IABADgtY54

[leftstreet]

6. K&R

[tekisui]

7. Take the War to Pakistan

PRESIDENT OBAMA’S decision on a timetable for withdrawal of American troops only makes official what everyone here has known for a while: the clock is ticking in Afghanistan. The Taliban have long recognized this, and many captured militants have reminded their interrogators that “you have the watches, but we have the time.”

As we quicken the pace, the top American commander here, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has repeatedly noted that there are many issues to focus on: building more competent Afghan Army and police forces, adopting more effective anticorruption measures and reintegrating “moderate” Taliban and other insurgent fighters into Afghan society and politics.

But perhaps the most difficult issue is largely outside of General McChrystal’s control (and got short shrift in President Obama’s speech at West Point): undermining the Taliban’s sanctuary in Pakistan. Thus far, there has been no substantive action taken against the Taliban leadership in Baluchistan Province, south of the Pashtun-dominated areas of Afghanistan. This is the same mistake the Soviets made in the 1980s, when they failed to act against the seven major mujahadeen groups headquartered in Pakistan.

This sanctuary is critical because the Afghan war is organized and run out of Baluchistan. Virtually all significant meetings of the Taliban take place in that province, and many of the group’s senior leaders and military commanders are based there. “The Taliban sanctuary in Baluchistan is catastrophic for us,” a Marine told me on a recent trip to Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, across the border from Baluchistan. “Local Taliban fighters get strategic and operational guidance from across the border, as well as supplies and technical components for their improvised explosive devices.”

Like a typical business, the Taliban in Pakistan have an organizational structure divided into functional committees. It has a media committee; a military committee; a finance committee responsible for acquiring and managing funds; and so forth. The Taliban’s inner shura, or governing council, exerts authority over lower-level Taliban fighters. It is composed of the supreme Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, his principal deputy, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, his military commander, Abdullah Zakir, and roughly a dozen other key leaders. Many Taliban leaders have moved their families to Baluchistan, and their children attend Pakistani schools.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/opinion/04jones.html?src=tptw

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. Adding kerosene to the fire. k&r

[orwell]

9. That is what the escalation is all about...

...they are worried about Pakistan and the very real possibility of nuclear weapons with sophisticated delivery capability falling under the control of Islamic extremists. I don't understand why people don't see this.

[EFerrari]

11. It's always been about Pakistan and that would make all the bs about

strengthening the thug Karzai's government and army a little less than truthful,let alone, possible.

[closeupready]

15. I'm sure people see this, as does Pakistan.

Also when these opinion polls come out saying Pakistanis distrust the US, I'm sure there is a good dose of suspicion based upon the duplicitousness of what we say versus what we do - actually, there is a long history of that (with regard to how we talk and how we behave) in this area of the world.

[mike_c]

16. because that's PREEMPTIVE WARFARE...

...and a bulwark of neoconservative foreign policy. Thank you for supporting the Bush/Cheney doctrine. Where you such a fan when the real deal was still in office?

[EFerrari]

10. So, Blackwater mercs are just "military advisers"? Is that right?

[eleny]

14. Yeah, remember that from Vietnam?

Oh noes, the "V" word.

[Luminous Animal]

12. Yay! Three wars!

[L0oniX]

13. Jeremy Scahill rocks

:thumbsup:

[chill_wind]

17. K & R. And video (Uzbekistan)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x409727