Why the ISI has played a silent spectator to the CIA/Black Water operations?

By Yousuf Nazar

I have suspected for long that the United States has been conducting false flag operations in Pakistan through covert operatives. I wrote on my blog on January 10, 2008, Could CIA be conducting Operation Gladio in Pakistan?

False flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one’s own. False flag operations are not limited to war and counter-insurgency operations, and can be used in peace-time. Operation Gladio was a covert operations project conducted by the UK and UK intelligence during the 1960s in Europe and involved massacres and bombing conducted by the covert operatives of these agencies with the objective of blaming them on the communist Soviet Union and discrediting it.

On December 11, 2009, the Guardian published a story, “Blackwater operating at CIA Pakistan base”, which said:

“the US contractor Blackwater was operating in Pakistan at a secret CIA airfield used for launching drone attacks, according to a former US official, despite repeated government denials that the company is in the country.The official, who had direct knowledge of the operation, said that employees with Blackwater, now renamed Xe Services, patrol the area round the Shamsi airbase in Baluchistan province.He also confirmed that Blackwater employees help to load laser-guided Hellfire missiles on to CIA-operated drones,”

On September 16, 2010, noted investigative journalist Wayne Madsen published an article in the Online Journal titled, ” Blackwater/Xe cells conducting false flag terrorist attacks in Pakistan.” The author of the Wasden Report (who formerly worked for the US Navy and the State Department) claimed that he has learned from a deep background source that Xe Services, the company formerly known as Blackwater, has been conducting false flag terrorist attacks in Pakistan that are later blamed on “Pakistani Taliban” and noted that only recently did the US State Department designate the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as terrorist organization.

On March 17, 2011, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an uncharacteristically candid and realistic article, “Perfidious America” declaring that the [Raymond] Davis case has knocked Washington off the moral high ground in Pakistan. It is probably for the first time that a pro-establishment American paper such as the WSJ acknowledged that ‘suspicions of Pakistanis about the US operations in Pakistan have a basis in reality’ noting that in his book “Obama’s Wars,” Bob Woodward revealed the existence of a secret 3,000-strong army of paramilitary Afghan fighters created by the CIA to target Taliban and al Qaeda commanders inside Pakistan through “false flag attacks.” Recall that the Wikileaks had revealed that President Zardari had told Richard Halbrooke that he suspected that the US was destabilizing Pakistan through the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Former Indian Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar in an article published by the AsiaTimes (February 15, 2011) pointed out that “the heart of the matter is that Pakistan has been wondering for a long time who it is who could be instigating the so-called “Pakistani Taliban” to inflict such bloody wounds on the Pakistani military and weaken and incrementally destabilize the Pakistani state” and concluded that Davis can most certainly provide the proverbial “missing link” to Pakistan to connect several dots on an intriguing chessboard. Ambassador Bhadrakumar had also noted that that Davis’ detention sent alarm bells ringing all the way to the White House and the US was apprehensive that the Davis case had the potential to shake up the very foundations of its alliance with Pakistan.

So the most important question to come out of the Raymond Davis, as I wrote in the Express Tribune on February 28, 2011, is not whether he killed in self-defense or not, whether the ISI manipulated the media or not, whether he was an accredited diplomat or not, whether he enjoyed diplomatic or consular immunity or not, or whether he was spy or a CIA contractor.

The most critical question is what hundreds of CIA agents (according to scores of reports including those carried by top US papers recently) are doing in Pakistan, and why they were provided cover by an embassy whose facilities are being upgraded by a massive spending program exceeding one billion dollars, according to official US documents, as either the ISI looked the other way or was sleeping.

Going further, given the dirty and murky CIA-ISI deal that resulted in the release of Raymond Davis, the most important question seems to be why the civilian and military leaders of Pakistan have kept silent, at the least, and therefore have been complicit in the false flag operations against the state and the people of Pakistan despite the fact that the head of the state had expressed his suspicions that the CIA was behind some the terrorist attacks. The nation and the super-patriots that our TV anchors are ought to tell General Kayani that issuing press statement condemning drone attacks can no longer fool the people. The masses may be silent and may feel helpless for now but the time will come when they will ask loudly, why did you co-operate with the Americans when you knew they were upto no good?

The Raymond Davis Case: Justice through diplomacy

by raven_gale

The mysterious case of Raymond Davis who murdered two Pakistani’s in broad daylight near Mazang Chowk has initiated the debate Blackwater operatives on Pakistani soil. Somehow, it seems that the more you get to know about it, the more perplexing the scenario gets. The statements given by US and Pakistani governments give the impression that both the governments are purposely trying to keep the general public clouded in confusion, and as far away from the truth as is humanly possible.

Up till now, what is known about the case is that Raymond Davis, a staff member of the US Embassy in Islamabad, shot two Pakistani men dead on Thursday, January 27, 2011 in a crowded part of Lahore (Mozang Chowk), according to him in self-defense. A US Consulate vehicle that rushed in to ‘rescue’ Mr. David then ran over a third person, who also died. A murder case was registered against Raymond Davis, who was handed into police custody. A case has also been registered against the driver of the US Consulate vehicle that ran over a third person, but the driver has not yet been apprehended.

Read Complete Article Here: http://my.nowpublic.com/world/raymond-davis-case-justice-through-diplomacy

Afghanistan bans foreign security firms

By Waheedullah Massoud (AFP)

KABUL – Afghanistan has formally banned eight foreign private security firms, including the controversial company formerly called Blackwater, a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday.

There are 52 private security contractors in Afghanistan, who must cease operations by January 2011

The Afghan government announced in August that it was giving security firms working in Afghanistan four months to cease operations, potentially hitting hard efforts by NATO-led troops fighting a nine-year insurgency in the country.

There are fears the measure could create huge problems for the military and other international entities that depend on the estimated 40,000 employees of private security contractors.

“The Afghan interior ministry today reported the dissolution of eight private security companies to the national security council of Afghanistan,” Waheed Omer told reporters.

Omer said some of the companies had been fully dissolved and their weapons had been collected, while for others the process was still under way.

Xe — the former Blackwater — and White Eagle Security Services, which provides security for Afghan government officials and NGOs in particular, are among the first companies banned.

The security firms provide a wide range of services including protecting supply convoys for NATO, guarding foreigners’ compounds, embassies and other installations, as well as training Afghan security forces.

The dissolution will not immediately affect companies’ activities that deal with the training of national security forces or those guards who operate inside buildings to provide protection, Omer said.

“The focus is on those security companies which are protecting the highways, protecting transport caravans — those areas other than the training of Afghan security forces or protecting the internal premises of international organisations or embassies, or others,” Omer said.

Omer said the eight companies included both Afghan and international firms, and two of them were small outfits employing only about 100 guards.

The August presidential decree ordered the 52 private security contractors operating in the country, both Afghan and international, to cease operations by January 1, 2011.

Karzai had accused the security companies of running an “economic mafia” based around “corruption contracts” favoured by the international community.

He has said the firms duplicate the work of the Afghan security forces and divert much-needed resources, while Afghans criticise the private guards as overbearing and abusive, particularly on the country’s roads.

Omer said security had improved along some highways since the banning of private guards operating as escorts for supply convoys in those areas.

Critics, though, say the tight deadline will not allow enough time to negotiate an alternative to private contractors in a country were security is a priority and police are generally not trusted.

Private security firms in Afghanistan are employed by US and NATO forces, the Pentagon, the UN mission, aid and non-governmental organisations, embassies and Western media.

They employ about 26,000 registered personnel, though experts say the real number could be as high as 40,000.

The contractors themselves have been reluctant to comment publicly but some have said privately they believe many of their clients would leave the country if they could not source their own security.

Xe, formerly Blackwater, gained notoriety in Iraq after guards protecting a convoy opened fire in a busy Baghdad square in September 2007, killing as many as 17 civilians.

Last month two former Blackwater security guards went on trial in the United States, accused of the murder of two Afghan citizens in a 2009 shooting.

Al Qaeda: Breaking the backbone

By Raven Gale

Many people in Pakistan and across the world question the very existence of Al Qaeda. They claim that it is a complete fabrication. Muslims think that it is West’s plot to capture Muslim territories to disarm them and takeover their resources. There might be some truth in it but 99% is pure hysteria and propaganda. There should be no doubt that a terror organization exists and it is targeting innocent people across the world. This organization has nothing to do with religion or ethnicity. Al Qaeda may have started as a fake entity but today it is very much a reality. It may have been created by secret services but today many terror outfits are using its name to achieve their objectives. It is today a “generic” name being used by different groups with varying agendas to recruit young, depressed, unemployed, poverty stricken and easily influenced people to carry out terrorist activities.

Read Complete Article : http://my.nowpublic.com/world/al-qaeda-breaking-backbone

CIA: BUNGLERS OR CON MEN?

The Blackwater operations run from Camp Chapman close to the Pakistani border could have been for anyone, Iran, Israel, India or one of their dozens of clients. Here are some startling revelations.

By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor
VeteransToday.com

Were the seven CIA employees killed in the recent terror attack at Camp Chapman in Afghanistan really CIA? Sources now tell us that some were Blackwater operatives, not CIA at all.

Is the CIA and Blackwater one in the same? Are either one or both working for the United States or has the disease of privatization created a culture of greed and incompetence that has left the United States vulnerable and defenseless? Are we simply “out of our depth” in Afghanistan?

WHO IS PULLING THE STRINGS?

Blackwater/Xe is a multinational corporation with endless divisions who, not only work for the CIA but governments and intelligence agencies around the world. No one has ever successfully penetrated their cover organizations to find who they really are or who they really represent. The Blackwater operations run from Camp Chapman could have been for anyone, Iran, Israel, India or one of their dozens of clients.

We don’t know, the CIA certainly doesn’t know, nobody knows. Was the attack that killed Americans an attack on the CIA, an attack on Blackwater or a carryover from a local drug war? All we do know is that everything we have been told is subterfuge and not necessarily meant to serve the intelligence and security interests of the United States of America.

The secret base in eastern Khost province in Afghanistan is in an area convenient to move personnel and “other things” in and out of Pakistan. The base itself is supposed to be designated for the use of USAID, a division of the State Department meant to aid foreign governments but which has been a front for covert operations for decades, one of the worst kept secrets in the world.

The camp itself is guarded by Afghani tribesmen, not US personnel. No information about their ethnic affiliations, training or qualifications is available. However, the idea of a highly secure CIA compound being guarded under such circumstances is an absurdity beyond human comprehension.

American military and civilian operations inside Afghanistan have proven to be utterly incapable of finding any group within Afghanistan to work with that is free of penetration by Taliban elements. Many lives have been lost already from numerous incidents of Afghani military, police and security personnel turning on American allies.

THE REAL FACE OF TERRORISM

The region of Camp Chapman is a staging area for terrorist operations, not only against Americans in Afghanistan but against Pakistan as well. Some of the terrorist groups are working for India and Israel, some for the Taliban and, frankly, most are working for both.

America and the CIA are totally out of their depth, ill informed, uninformed and being played, not only by our supposed Kabul allies, but by India, Israel and our private contractors who are playing both sides against the middle.

BLACKWATER AND PAKISTAN

Camp Chapman, now identified as a Blackwater command post near the Pakistan border has an unclear mission. Continual reports coming out of Pakistan indicate that Blackwater and/or other US contracting firms have become involved in criminal activities and terrorism.

Top Pakistani military analyst, Brigadier General Asif Haroon Raja has tied Blackwater and other US contractors to the assassination of Pakistani army officers, attacks on government installations and ties to terrorist groups who have killed hundreds of civilians.

Raja has indicated that, rather than being employed as CIA contractors in search of high profile terrorists, these contractors are working with, among others Israel and India coordinating terrorist operations meant to destabilize the government of Pakistan, America’s only military ally in the region.

If US contractors are working inside Pakistan, under cover of the CIA but actually serving the intelligence services of India or Israel, primary enemies of Pakistan, but also countries who are doing nothing to aid the US in Afghanistan, this would represent a serious threat to US security.

It has been reported that US personnel have been arrested carrying explosives and weapons near Pakistani nuclear facilities. Are they working for Israel or are they working for Iran? How would we know?

WHAT DRUGS?

Is there a danger in having unsupervised privateer mercenary operators working in the midst of the world’s largest narcotics production area? What if such a company also owned private airlines that can fly from country to country without any supervision by customs or drug enforcement organizations?

With the press filled with reports of organized crime activities tied to mercenary contractors working for the US in Iraq and Afghanistan, reports of murder, drug running, money laundering and arms smuggling, is there some possibility that tying groups involved in these acts to CIA intelligence gathering capabilities a poor strategy for success?

Why are the papers filled with accusations of every imaginable crime from mowing down civilians with automatic weapons to blowing up mosques and yet no mention of the remote possibility of participation in the regions $50 billion plus per year drug industry?

In fact, is participation in drug production, smuggling and related money laundering the only real secret we seem to be keeping?

THE BUSINESS OF FAILURE

America mourns 7 dead citizens, victims of an attack, maybe terrorism, maybe “business,” now uncertain as to who were loyal Americans and who were private contractors working for the highest bidder. CIA secrecy keeps us from knowing our heroic dead. Criminal absurdity keeps us from knowing the truth.

Decades ago, the CIA got involved with the Mafia in an attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro, someone who has outlived everyone sent to kill him.

We are told that we never hear of the successes, only the failures. However, the failures are of such a devastating and catastrophic nature, the communist takeover of Cuba, the fall of Iran and the Iran/Contra scandal, the Chile coup, bungled buddies: Noriega and bin Laden, the Russian coup against Gorbachev, Vietnam, 9/11, the Ames spy case, the Iraq War, Afghanistan and so many others, that the “secret successes” are unlikely to measure up.

What could possibly be done to take a failed organization and make it worse? We only need to sit and watch, you can be assured that everything possible, humanly and otherwise, will be done as it always has.

Is it possible that decades of claimed incompetence and bungling is simply a cover for serving masters other than the United States of America? Can 70 years of consorting with dictators, swindlers, gangsters, war criminals, drug lords and politicians have blurred the CIA’s vision?

Veterans Today Senior Editor Gordon Duff is a Marine combat veteran and regular contributor on political and social issues

U.S. to give spy drone technology to Pakistan

By Andrew Lebovich and Katherine Tiedemann

Busy trip

Defense Secretary Robert Gates continued his swing through Pakistan yesterday, meeting with Pakistani military leaders and attempting to address “misconceptions” about American policies towards the country (AFP, LAT, AJE). In an interview with Pakistani television, Gates indicated that the United States would begin supplying the Pakistani military with unarmed “Shadow” reconnaissance drones, in a bid to increase military efforts against the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allied groups (NYT, CSM, AFP, BBC, Daily Times). And the German newspaper Die Welt reported last week that they had unearthed a recent video showing Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) leader Tahir Yuldashev, who had previously been thought killed in a drone strike last summer (Die Welt – in German, Daily Times).

Gates also confirmed the presence of the security contractor Xe, formerly Blackwater, on Pakistani soil (Department of Defense). However, Gates was careful to say that any security groups operating under contract for the U.S. government would comply with strict American rules and Pakistani law.

Despite statements from Pakistani military leaders yesterday that no offensive in North Waziristan would occur for six to twelve months, Reuters reports today that Pakistani troops backed with helicopter gunships attacked a “militant hideout” near Miram Shah, the agency’s main town, while the AP writes that a handful of fighters were killed in a search-and-clearance operation nearby (Reuters, AP). And amidst reports that a group of Mehsud tribal elders had agreed to surrender militants as well as TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud, the TTP has issued pamphlets warning Mehsud tribesmen not to return to South Waziristan “for their own safety.” (Dawn).

High alert

India has put a high alert on airports in the country after receiving intelligence that militants linked to al Qaeda and the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group were planning to hijack an Air India or Indian Airlines flight traveling to a neighboring South Asian country (AP, AJE, CNN, BBC, AFP, WSJ, Times of India, Indian Express). Sky marshals have been deployed on certain planes, and passengers are being subjected to intense screening at least until the end of the month.

Whirlwind Washington tour

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a new strategy for civilian engagement in Afghanistan yesterday, one that involves an increased, long-term civilian presence in Afghanistan beyond the nearly 1,000 civilians already there or slated to arrive in the near future (Department of State, Reuters). The plan addresses issues from agriculture development to corruption and reconciliation efforts with Taliban fighters, though some doubt whether the ambitious strategy, developed by Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Amb. Richard Holbrooke, will receive sufficient support from Congress (AFP).
Appearing with Holbrooke before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband stressed the need for a revised political strategy in Afghanistan, telling the Committee that in order to defeat the Taliban, “[w]e have to make sure we are not outgunned, but we always have to make sure we are not out-governed (Independent, AP). Miliband also said ahead of next week’s conference in London on Afghanistan that he wanted to shift responsibility for security to the Afghan government and support Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s plan to reconcile some Taliban fighters with the Afghan government in part through money and job programs, an idea Secretary Gates also supports (Telegraph, WSJ, NYT, AFP, Dawn, McClatchy, BBC). Even the Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who leads one of the major insurgent factions in Afghanistan, has expressed a recent willingness to cooperate with Karzai’s government under certain conditions, though he has a long history of switching sides (WSJ).

COIN adjustments

U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry has slowed the implementation of a program meant to arm and train local anti-Taliban militias, reflecting an ongoing debate between military and civilian officials over the best way to fight the Taliban in the Afghan countryside (Wash Post). Meanwhile, the Afghan government moved quickly in the wake of Monday’s deadly assault on Kabul to claim victory in the engagement, holding a news conference and a medal ceremony for some Afghan soldiers who helped subdue Taliban fighters (WSJ). Afghan officials emphasized the fact that Afghan commandos responded to the attack with little foreign assistance (Economist).

NATO will soon curtail “night raids” in Afghanistan, in an effort to reduce the hostility these operations engender among many Afghans (AP). Night raids have received more attention since top U.S. and NATO commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal limited the use of air strikes and other tactics last year in an effort to reduce civilian casualties and grievances. Dexter Filkins looks at the mystery surrounding a recent night raid that killed four in Ghazni Province and sparked intense protests from Afghan civilians (NYT).

Afghanistan’s government has banned the common fertilizer ammonium nitrate, after an investigation found that it was used in a number of bombs targeting Afghan and western forces (AP). Afghan farmers have 30 days to turn in their supplies of the chemical or face punishment. And an American gunsight manufacturing company that aroused controversy this week over Bible references stamped on their equipment will voluntarily remove the markings from future sights and provide kits so troops in the field can remove them (AJE, VOA, CNN).

Pitch battles

Pakistani civilians, cricket players, and government officials alike have expressed anger that no Pakistani players were chosen in this week’s Indian Premier League auction, held this week (WSJ). While Indian officials insist that they have nothing to do with the selection of players for India’s most important cricket league, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik complained publicly about the snub, and Pakistanis protested in several cities.

Letter from America: Blackwater’s trigger-happy criminals

By Dr. Habib Siddiqui

Blackwater, which now goes by the name Xe, is again all over the news. Two of its guys were among those killed on December 30 in the suicide attack at the CIA station at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan.

According to Jeremy Scahill, author of the international bestseller Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at the Nation Institute, of the two Blackwater operatives killed at this bombing-one was a former Navy Seal; the other was an Army master chief sergeant-and that there was a third Blackwater operative that was wounded in the blast.

This report proves that the notorious mercenary group is still heavily engaged with the CIA for many clandestine activities not just inside Iraq but also in other territories including Afghanistan. What is also quite revealing from this incident is that CIA had lied to us again when it said that it had stopped all connections with Blackwater or Xe a month earlier. As recently disclosed in a Democracy Now interview with Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, a leading member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, such on-going collaboration with Blackwater, which is a repeat offender and known to have killed innocent civilians and committed war crimes, puts the very mission of the United States at risk, threatening and endangering the lives of the very Americans it is supposed to protect.

In his interview with the Vanity Fair magazine, CEO Erik Prince confirmed Blackwater’s deep-rooted association with the CIA. Shortly after 9/11, Prince claimed to have assembled a team, a secret clandestine team for the CIA that trained not at any of the official CIA facilities, but at one of his homes in Virginia. He trained this team, and then they were deployed around the world. And they would go into countries, and, in some cases, the CIA chief of station in the countries that they went into wasn’t even notified that they were going in there. They even went to Germany to hunt down suspected links to al Qaeda. The German government is embarrassed by such a revelation. Last Wednesday, prosecutors in Germany announced that they had launched a preliminary investigation into a report that the CIA and Blackwater had planned a secret operation in 2004 to assassinate a Syrian-born naturalized citizen of Germany in Hamburg with suspected ties to al-Qaeda.

In the last few days, two former Blackwater operatives — Justin Cannon, 27, and Christopher Drotleff, 29 — were arrested on murder charges stemming from their alleged involvement in the shooting deaths of two Afghan civilians and wounding a third in Kabul in May. These killings took place under the Obama Administration. This news surfaced just hours after it was revealed that Blackwater had reached a settlement with Iraqi victims of a string of shootings, including the Nisoor Square massacre, who had sued the company for the “senseless slaughter.” Even a U.S. military investigation conducted soon after the massacre found that Blackwater was unprovoked when it killed Iraqi civilians in Nisoor. The company is reportedly paying $100,000 for each of the Iraqis killed by its forces and between $20,000 and $30,000 to each Iraqi wounded. The amount of compensation is pitiful by American standard. It is worth noting that Blackwater received $1.5 billion dollars from the US government for its security and other clandestine activities in Iraq. As noted by Scahill 90 percent of this company’s revenue comes from the US government. For them to pay, two or three million dollars hush-money for their war crimes is nothing – only a bargain – basement sale price (Libya paid $10 million for each of the Lockerbie victims)!

News of the settlement came a week after a federal judge in Alexandria, VA, dismissed manslaughter charges against five Blackwater operatives involved in the Nisoor Square massacre that killed seventeen Iraqi civilians and wounded 27 in 2007. The lawsuit was filed by 70 Iraqis. The shootings, in which the guards opened fire with grenade launchers and machine guns on civilians in a busy Baghdad traffic circle, have since then become a rallying point for Iraqi resistance and grievances against America. To many Iraqis, the massacre is a symbol of U.S. disregard for their lives. U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina threw out the indictments because he found that prosecutors and agents had improperly used statements the guards had provided to the State Department with the understanding that the statements would not be used against them.

As is quite evident now, Condoleezza Rice’s U.S. State Department had given immunity to those killers, which violated its own policy in that regard. The appropriate legal venue for the trial should have been Iraq and not the USA. To avoid any trouble inside Iraq, those Blackwater employees were secretly ferried out of the country in the dead of night by the State Department and Blackwater, taken to the US, where they then got off on murder-on manslaughter charges, on a technicality.

Family members of the dead and survivors said that the judge’s decision added a painful epilogue to the incident, making a mockery of the justice that the United States was supposed to bring to their country. The Iraqi government also protested the judge’s decision. There is little doubt that the judge’s decision would fuel anti-American rhetoric and may affect the outcome of the important parliamentary election scheduled for March 7.

As noted by Scahill, there is yet another lawsuit filed by some other Iraqi victims against Blackwater in the state of North Carolina. The man who was perhaps the single most prominent witness to the Nisoor Square shooting was driving a vehicle right behind the first vehicle that the Blackwater guys shot. His nine-year-old son was shot in the head. His head exploded on a van, on his cousins and other people in the vehicle. That man has retained counsel in North Carolina and is suing. That could be a very problematic case for Blackwater, because they’re not only suing Erik Prince of Blackwater, they’re suing the individual shooters in state court in North Carolina. One can only hope that this lawsuit ends up actually going to trial.

As hinted earlier, Blackwater’s has been deeply involved with the CIA on a number of covert activities. The group was part of a covert program in Pakistan that included planning the assassination and kidnapping of Taliban and Al-Qaeda suspects. It is also said to be involved in a previously undisclosed U.S. military drone campaign that has killed scores of people inside Pakistan. Its operatives have been working under a covert program run by the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the military’s top covert operations force. As noted by Scahill, Blackwater operatives are effectively running the drone bombings for both JSOC and the CIA inside Pakistan. Not only that, the group is taking part in ground operations with Pakistani forces under a subcontract with a local security firm – Kestral. The operations have included house raids and border interdictions in northwest Pakistan and other areas. Not surprisingly, many in Pakistan hold Blackwater responsible for some of the worst bombings inside Pakistan.

Blackwater personnel have also been accused of posing sometimes as aid workers. According to Scahill, JSOC has no regard for civilian population in its hunt for the so-called bad guys. Its drone attacks are known to kill more civilians than real ‘targets.’

Blackwater has also been given responsibility for planning JSOC operations in Uzbekistan. The program has become so secretive the top Obama administration and military officials have likely been unaware of its existence.

It is worth pointing out that the JSOC used to be headed by General McChrystal who has now been promoted and is the head of all US forces and NATO forces in Afghanistan. With such a development, one can expect more involvement from mercenary groups like Xe (or erstwhile Blackwater). It is not difficult to understand why more civilians have died from drone attacks in Obama’s first year than the preceding eight years of Bush. This is a sad resume of a president who had just won the Nobel Peace Prize!

- Asian Tribune -

SURVIVAL

GHALIB SULTAN

The last government in Pakistan was seen as military backed because the President was the Chief of Army Staff! The present elected government is seen as US backed because that is where they seem to be looking for their survival. This creates the perception that the government is giving in to every US demand even if it is against Pakistan’s own interests. First it was the ambiguous stand on drone attacks, then it was the silence over Indian machinations against Pakistan from Afghanistan, then came the mysterious silence over US contracted ‘civilian agencies’ like Blackwater, Xe etc and the expanded presence in the US embassy plus the row over visas and now there are the revelations about the danger to Pakistan from the transit trade to Afghanistan through Pakistan. The US is reported to have ‘asked’ Pakistan to expand military operations into North Waziristan, Baluchistan and against ‘jihadi’ organizations operating from Pakistan. The US is also reported to have ‘said’ that if Pakistan does not do this then they will do it themselves—they have not explained how but presumably it will be through expanded drone strikes and other technological means. To some in Pakistan from the mysterious activities of US ‘diplomats’ it seems that the US already has ‘ boots on the ground’ in Pakistan—they may not look like boots but they are considered boots!.

It is in this context that the recent Jamaat e Islami (JI) rally should be seen. The demand made was for an end to the relationship with the US and the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan. The public rally on the streets was well timed in terms of the ‘surge’ in negative public opinion against the US and the ongoing political turmoil with the government backed against the ropes and seemingly looking to the US for survival. In the 2002 elections a military ruler had sidelined the main political parties and the US attack in Afghanistan had created negative opinion against the US. The religious parties came in riding this wave. Is a similar situation on the cards?

Read Complete Article : http://why-who-where-when.newsvine.com/_news/2009/12/21/3657200-survival

Blackwater is involved in bombings in Pakistan: Gen. Durrani

PKKH

“My assessment is that they – either themselves or most probably through others, through the locals – do carry out some of the explosions”.

Former chief of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) General Mohammad Asad Durrani sits down with Press TV and talks about the presence of Blackwater in Pakistan. The following is the transcript of the interview:

Press TV: General Durrani, US intelligence officials say that the CIA has cancelled the Blackwater contract but other reports indicate that there are at least three thousand Blackwater agents in Pakistan. What do make of these conflicting reports?

General Durrani: This may be true that the Blackwater’s contract has been cancelled but then this is also understood that such people are under a different name, whether it is Xe or Dyncorp or in any other form of private contractor-ship that they can be employed. In our case, such people have been around for a number of years now. Lately their number has increased. Some rationalization had been made that these people were required to provide security to more Americans coming because of the package they have worked out for Pakistan. But then on ground, there [are] a number of them, some of them in training facilities trying to suggest that they are there to train the police or the army or the air force.

Of course, I can also add that none of these organizations are very happy that they have been offered. Some of them have even refused training because they believe that they can be trained by them. But, in that form they are there. Others are certainly providing security and there is also a third group, which goes around, especially in the frontier area, with the NGOs and bring(s) the intelligence collection. So, the number I am not aware of but there is a contingent which is present in Pakistan.

Press TV: Analysts say that Blackwater agents are involved in bombings and that they are fomenting insecurity in Pakistan. What is your opinion?

General Durrani: My assessment is that they – either themselves or most probably through others, through the locals – do carry out some of the explosions. You see the idea is that there are other groups that are not acting on their behalf, which are acting locally because of so many reasons. They are not happy with our policy. They are not happy with whatever is happening in Afghanistan. The idea is to carry out such actions, like carrying attacks in the civilian areas to make the others look bad in the eyes of the public. Even those groups who are not targeting the civilians or were not going essentially for Pakistani targets … people should turn against them. And the second idea, which I think more or less they have succeeded, is to force the Pakistani [government] to even under take such operations where I was not initially willing to go.

Press TV: CIA officials say Blackwater has been in Pakistan to help with drone attacks. Is this the only reason why the CIA has hired Blackwater agents?

General Durrani: You see I am not aware of this statement as [of] yet. The headquarters, some of them come here to direct or carry out what we call target identification. I doubt it very much that this would be the job of people whom I consider to have been understandably involved with Blackwater operations. These operations of target identification have to be done un-reclusively. They should not look like Americans; they are people who are trained to match with the background. Intelligence work; and I cannot say that the Blackwater’s people are trained in such manner, learning the language, learning the local customs, so that they can go into those trouble areas.

Press TV: Blackwater is known for killing civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why has the Pakistani government allowed such a notorious US security firm to operate in the country?

General Durrani: You’re absolutely right. I think this is about the best question that one can pose. People either were naive that they did not believe that these were Blackwaters or these people would not get involved in it. The second theory goes around that they may have come with the consent and with the knowledge of some of the people that we have in the government – among which I do not know, I cannot say very much. If it is not the ambassador of the United States who has cleared them, who has sent them, or people here, these agencies, who have accepted them. But that is one of the perceptions. But essentially it is correct that anyone who comes and we allow those people [to] come without proper security clearance, without proper vetting and investigation, then it is indeed our fault.

PAKISTAN: No Muslim involved in suicide attacks in country

JI leaders blame US agencies for terrorism in Pakistan

By Irfan Ali

KARACHI: Floating the idea of a change in the Pakistani society, Jamaat-e-Islami’s top leadership at a congregation of the JI’s workers unanimously blamed the United States’ agencies for terrorism, chaos and anarchy in Pakistan.

“The US wants international control on the Pakistani nukes, and terrorism is just a pretext to achieve that target,” said JI’s chief Munawar Hassan at a one-day training congregation held at Nishtar Park on Sunday.

Elderly people as well as women with children also attended the congregation. They carried flags and raised slogans in support of the JI’s manifesto, and condemned the US and anti-Islamic forces. He said the US also wanted to impose its decision about Kashmir on Pakistan, and its allies want to declare Pakistan as an unsafe state. “No Muslim is involved in suicidal attacks in Pakistan, and rather Blackwater (Xe) – a US private contractor – and Indian agents are involved in these incidents,” he said. Hassan expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of action by the government against India, and urged the foreign minister and interior minister to “take concrete measures against India for its dirty role in Pakistan”.

He said that officials of the US agencies as well as Blackwater were being held on a daily basis but they were being released on the directives of the interior minister, who regularly denies its presence in Pakistan. He said the interior minister should defend Pakistan instead of the US interests. The JI chief asked the COAS Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani to prove the army’s performance and success by producing the 10-month performance report of the military operation. “Terrorists had reached the military GHQ and remained there for more than 24 hours, so why should we believe in the success of the Army operation,” he questioned and added that the operation caused an increase in terrorist attacks.

He demanded the government to immediately stop the operation and opt for negotiation, and added that the offensive had displaced more than five million people. He said the JI would stage a countrywide three-day protest on December 14, 15 and 16 against India for resorting to water aggression and turning Pakistan into a desert. He also said the war against terrorism is only targeting Muslims, and therefore is a war against Islam. JI’s deputy chief Sirajul Haq and Foreign Affairs head Abdul Ghaffar Aziz in their address lashed out at the US-led Islamophobia. Aziz said Palestine’s Hamas, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Islamists in Tunis and Turkey were heading to their goals patiently but successfully. Nasarullah Shajji was the in-charge of the congregation and JI’s Mohammad Hussain Mehanti, Merajul Huda and Dr Shahid Hashmi also spoke on the occasion.