"Rift with Pakistan over commando raid appears to deepen" by David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt, New York Times / May 15, 2011
WASHINGTON — The United States and Pakistan are veering toward a deep clash, with Pakistan’s Parliament demanding a permanent halt to all drone strikes just as the most senior US official since the killing of Osama bin Laden is to arrive with a stern message that the country has only months to show it is truly committed to rooting out Al Qaeda and associated groups.
Then tell the CIA to quit sending in their agents.
The United States has increased drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas in the past 10 days in an effort to exploit the uncertainty and disarray among militant ranks caused by bin Laden’s death on May 2. The latest airstrikes, on Friday, came as Pakistan’s spy chief, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, in a rare appearance before the nation’s Parliament, denounced the US raid as a sting.
The Parliament then passed a resolution declaring that the drone strikes were a violation of sovereignty equivalent to the secret attack on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad. The lawmakers warned that Pakistan could cut supply lines to American forces in Afghanistan if there were more such attacks. The resolution contained no condemnation of the Afghan Taliban, who killed more than 80 Pakistani paramilitary cadets Friday.
Those are supposed to be the guys Pakistan is supporting and working with, right?
El-stinko!
Pakistan stepped up its condemnations of the United States as Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and a longtime emissary to Pakistan in times of crisis, was preparing to land in Islamabad. He was arriving with a list of actions — and some offers from Washington to ease tensions — that he finalized in a meeting Thursday with President Obama’s national security adviser, Thomas E. Donilon, and other top US security officials.
A senior administration official said yesterday that the United States would try to use the threat of congressional cuts to the $3 billion in annual aid to Pakistan as leverage. Any evidence of Pakistani complicity in sheltering bin Laden that is contained in the hundreds of computer flash drives and documents recovered in the raid on bin Laden’s compound could also be used, the official said. So far, no such evidence has been found.
“In the Congress, this is a make or break moment’’ for aid to Pakistan, Kerry said in an interview just before he left for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kerry said he would tell Pakistan that there needed to be “a real demonstration of commitment’’ to fighting terror groups in the next few months. But he will also reassure Pakistani officials that they will be a central part of any political accord with the Taliban in Afghanistan, to ease their fears that India will take over large areas of Afghanistan as the United States pulls out.
Already moving on it:
Chirps of Peace From Pakistan
Oh, in the lead are they?
The Obama administration has said nothing about the Pakistani government’s criticisms in the hope that they are designed to alleviate the public’s anger and the Pakistani military’s embarrassment that American forces attacked the bin Laden compound without being detected by Pakistani warning systems. Donilon and other senior administration officials declined to be interviewed about the administration’s strategy.
Kerry is arriving at the moment of highest tensions between the two countries since Pakistan, given little choice, formally broke with the Taliban and allied with the United States just after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Kerry said both countries must make “fundamental choices’’ about their relationship.
American officials say they believe the top leadership of the country was genuinely surprised about bin Laden’s whereabouts, based on their reaction to phone calls from the administration on the night of the raid and electronic surveillance of Pakistani government communications.
We all were surprised knowing he has been buried in an Afghan hillside for nearly ten years.
And is there ANYONE the U.S. government is NOT SPYING ON?
But the officials strongly suspect that others in the government, the military or the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, the main intelligence service, were aware of bin Laden’s location. So far the United States has not said what kind of inquiry Pakistan should conduct to answer those questions, and given the political atmosphere surrounding bin Laden’s killing, they question whether such an inquiry would be thorough or credible.
Since when is it U.S. business on how Pakistan conducts an investigation? Can you imagine AmeriKa standing for anyone telling us how to run ours (Israel exempted, of course)?
And then the Globe expands on my printed copy:
Kerry will also raise an issue that the administration has refused to discuss publicly: Pakistan’s escalating production of nuclear fuel to expand its arsenal of 100 or so nuclear weapons.
Members of Congress, in closed sessions, have complained that since the $3 billion American annual aid to the Pakistani military is fungible, the United States is effectively helping bankroll the fastest-growing nuclear arsenal in the world....
The Pakistani Parliament’s resolution warned of a “strong national response’’ if any nation sought to seize or immobilize the country’s nuclear arsenal.
And there are contingency plans for just that, and have been for a while.
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Related:
"Pakistan has threatened to stop US and NATO supply convoys"
"Trial likely to link Pakistan to terror; Witness says ISI backed India plot" May 16, 2011|Associated Press
CHICAGO — The key government witness could be David Coleman Headley....
Related: FBI Case File: Heading to Chicago
Oh, ANOTHER AmeriKan INTELLIGENCE ASSET leading a "terror" plot?
Headley is cooperating with US officials and told interrogators that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency provided training and funds for the attack against India, the country’s archnemesis....
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Also see: Mumbai Case Collapses
Yeah, and never mind the CIA man Davis trying to give nuclear and biological weapons material to the "terrorists."
"Pakistan rejected tip on bin Laden, ex-official says" May 16, 2011|Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Afghanistan’s former intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh has become a prominent critic of the efforts by President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan to start peace talks with the Taliban. He says Pakistan should be recognized by the United States as “a hostile country.’’
“They take your money,’’ Saleh said in a “60 Minutes’’ interview. “They do not cooperate. They created the Taliban.’’
And they had help:
"The U.S. government was well aware of the Taliban's reactionary program, yet it chose to back their rise to power in the mid-1990s. The creation of the Taliban was "actively encouraged by the ISI and the CIA," according to Selig Harrison, an expert on U.S. relations with Asia. "The United States encouraged Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to support the Taliban, certainly right up to their advance on Kabul," adds respected journalist Ahmed Rashid. When the Taliban took power, State Department spokesperson Glyn Davies said that he saw "nothing objectionable" in the Taliban's plans to impose strict Islamic law, and Senator Hank Brown, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Near East and South Asia, welcomed the new regime: "The good part of what has happened is that one of the factions at last seems capable of developing a new government in Afghanistan." "The Taliban will probably develop like the Saudis. There will be Aramco [the consortium of oil companies that controlled Saudi oil], pipelines, an emir, no parliament and lots of Sharia law. We can live with that," said another U.S. diplomat in 1997."
No kidding?
Hey, what's one more obfuscation and omission from the war-promoting press anyway?
--more--"
Btw, I'm sick of the whole bin Laden bulls***. That lie has been so played for so long.
"In visit, Kerry seeks to mend rift between US, Pakistan; Uneasy allies reaffirm goal to fight terror; Clinton puts off an expected stop" by Jane Perlez, New York Times / May 17, 2011
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Senator John F. Kerry tried yesterday to lower the temperature in the fraught relationship between the United States and Pakistan, even as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton postponed an expected visit amid the anti-American clamor by the Pakistani government over the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
I would be happy that she canceled.
The Massachusetts Democrat and Pakistani officials said in a joint statement that they have agreed to work together on any future actions against “high value targets’’ in Pakistan....
Part of Kerry’s mission involved soothing wounded feelings and papering over US officials’ statements that Pakistan could not be trusted....
But yesterday’s statement did not explicitly rule out more unilateral raids against Al Qaeda and Taliban targets in the country....
Kerry shed little light yesterday on the crucial issue of whether Pakistan would stop assisting the Haqqani network, whose forces keep sanctuaries in Pakistan’s tribal areas and cross into Afghanistan to kill US and NATO soldiers....
Oh, HAQQANI!!
"Haqqani.... credited with introducing suicide bombing to the region.... cultivated as a "unilateral" asset of the CIA and received tens of thousands of dollars in cash for his work.... He may have had a role in expediting the escape of Osama Bin Laden.... In July 2008, CIA officials confronted Pakistan officials with evidence of ties between Inter-Services Intelligence and Haqqani. Haqqani has been accused of involvement in the 2008 Indian embassy bombing in Kabul.... The Haqqani Network is based in Pakistan and is believed to have links to Al Qaeda."
Good way to keep a war going, 'eh?
In contrast to the strong anti-American speech the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, delivered at a closed-door session of Parliament on Friday, Kayani said that Pakistan would continue a relationship with the United States because otherwise the country risked becoming isolated, according to an editor who attended the meeting but declined to be named because the matter was politically delicate.
The editor said that Kayani’s basic message was that “Pakistan understood the limits of its own reach.’’
Moreover, according to the editor, Kayani said that Pakistan needed to remain on good terms with the United States in order to have its say in the settlement of the nearly 10-year-old war in Afghanistan.
If this representation is true then the Pakistan power structure has totally bent over for the empire and abandoned their own people.
I mean, I have been told for years that Pakistan is playing the Taliban for after we leave and now I'm told this by my lying, agenda-pushing, war-promoting PoS paper?
Pakistan intelligence officials said two American missile attacks close to the border with Afghanistan killed seven suspected militants yesterday, the Associated Press reported. The missiles hit a house and a vehicle near Mir Ali in North Waziristan district....
"Suspected?"
In other words, they don't know who the hell they were.
--more--"
And I would have to say we are ALREADY at WAR!
"NATO forces exchange fire with Pakistan; US lawmakers air doubt over billions in aid" May 18, 2011|By Salman Masood and Eric Schmitt, New York Times
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistani soldiers exchanged fire with two NATO helicopters that crossed into Pakistan’s airspace from Afghanistan early yesterday, the Pakistani Army said, as United States senators increased calls in Washington to suspend or put conditions on billions of dollars in US aid to Pakistan.
The firefight, in which Pakistan said two of its soldiers were wounded, marked the latest episode in a rapidly deteriorating relationship between the United States and Pakistan following the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2....
There is that lie to justify everything again.
Since then, the Obama administration and its allies in Congress have scrambled to keep tensions from spinning out of control and provoking Pakistan to shut down transit routes into Afghanistan that supply US troops there.
Yes, we CAN''T HAVE THAT, can we?
God forbid there should be a cease in the Empire's operations.
Those tensions were laid bare on Capitol Hill yesterday as Democrats and Republicans voiced anger and bewilderment at providing $3 billion a year in aid to Pakistan, only to have that nation’s leaders criticize the United States for violating Pakistan’s sovereignty during the raid on bin Laden’s house in Abbottabad, a small city about 70 miles from the capital that is home to a major military academy.
“Americans are getting tired of it as far as shoveling money in there to people who just flat don’t like us,’’ Senator Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho, said during a Foreign Relations Committee hearing to review Pakistan policy.
Same way we are SICK of SHOVELING MONEY at Wall Street, Israel, and this government that doesn't give a s*** about us (Fukushima and the Gulf have proved that) and only views us as taxable slaves to be sacrificed in wars.
The fact is, I WOULD RATHER the money go to REPARATIONS to the Pakistani, Afghan, and Iraqi people for all the bombs, missiles, DU, and WMD dumped on them in destroying their towns, villages, and infrastructure -- with a BIG APOLOGY BOW tying it all together for I AM SO SORRY at MY WAR CRIMINAL GOVERNMENT ACTIONS and my inability to stop them.
The committee’s chairman, Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, fresh off the plane from a 24-hour visit to Islamabad to meet with senior Pakistani leaders, including President Asif Ali Zardari and General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the army chief of staff, reported on his efforts to smooth ties. They included an agreement to return to the United States the tail of an American helicopter damaged in the raid.
What was the carbon footprint on that?
But many senators were not in a conciliatory mood. Senator Christopher Coons, Democrat of Delaware, complained that Pakistan was playing a “double game’’ by accepting US aid and fighting terrorists threatening Pakistani government targets, but also supporting proxy forces in Afghanistan that kill US troops. “They are both a fireman and arsonist in this regional ongoing conflagration,’’ he said.
This kind of CRAP is SO DISINGENUOUS knowing what we know about DAVIS and "Al-CIA-Duh!"
Thank Gawd we has Democraps toos looks out for us peoples out here!!!
Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, said it was time for Congress to put conditions on the military and economic aid, doling out assistance only if Pakistan meets certain benchmarks in combating militants. “Most of us are wanting to call time-out on aid until we can ascertain what is in our best interest,’’ he said.
Ever notice the only one not getting any strings to US aid is Israel?
And that last comment would require a lengthy commentary; how about getting the hell out of these occupations and stop killing brown people for starters?
Separately, five Senate Democrats, including Dianne Feinstein of California, chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee, sent a letter yesterday to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, urging them to reevaluate security aid to Pakistan.
Despite the anger on both sides, the Americans would like to maintain Pakistani cooperation as they try to wind down the war in Afghanistan, and Pakistan would like to keep aid flowing from the United States, which has amounted to more than $20 billion in the last decade.
--more--"
"Pakistani security post attacked; Militants’ assault follows arrest of Al Qaeda figure" May 19, 2011|By Ismail Khan and Jane Perlez, New York Times
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — More than 100 militants stormed a Pakistani security post close to this provincial capital Tuesday night, one of the heaviest attacks in recent months, a senior police official said....
What got the cut in favor of some Gates gobbledygook:
Since the bin Laden raid raised questions about Pakistan's commitment to fighting terrorism, Pakistani officials have pointed out that the country has suffered major losses in the effort to halt militants, with a death toll of more than 30,000 civilians and more than 3,000 soldiers.
More lives lost over lies.
--more--"
"US, Pakistani officials try to reconcile" May 20, 2011|By Sebastian Abbot and Kimberly Dozier, Associated Press
ISLAMABAD — Top US officials tried yesterday to patch up relations with Pakistani leaders miffed over the surprise American raid that killed Osama bin Laden, even as members of Congress called for cuts in aid to Pakistan over suspicions that elements of its security forces sheltered the Al Qaeda chief.
High-level talks by the deputy director of the CIA and President Obama’s special envoy underlined the strong mutual dependency of the two countries, despite the bad blood over the bin Laden killing. The United States needs Pakistan to help resolve the war in Afghanistan, and American funds are critical for propping up Pakistan’s economy and bankrolling its military....
Pakistani officials briefed on the visit spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity.
The officials said that while they considered it a positive sign that a high-ranking US intelligence official was making the trip, they expected little concrete to come out of it.
The relationship between the CIA and Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency is key to the US fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. But the relationship was strained even before US Navy SEALs killed bin Laden, and has reached a new low since.
Can you begin to understand why I am tired of this slop be passed off as news?
A survey taken before the bin Laden raid by the Washington-based Pew Research Center showed US popularity in Pakistan has fallen to an all-time low. Just 11 percent of Pakistanis hold a favorable view of the United States and Obama....
That must be the eleven percent getting the AmeriKan aid handouts.
Think the increased missiles strikes and raids have anything to do with the declining popularity?
--more--"
Back to that supply route:
"Taliban blast hits US vehicle in Pakistan; 2 Americans hurt in retaliation for bin Laden raid" May 21, 2011|By Riaz Khan and Nahal Toosi, Associated Press
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Taliban car bomb struck an armored vehicle taking American government employees to the US consulate in northwest Pakistan yesterday....
US Embassy spokesman Alberto Rodriguez initially said that yesterday’s attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, based on accounts from witnesses. He later said it was a planted explosive device of some kind....
Rodriguez declined to say what job the Americans held. The consulate is home to diplomats, security contractors, and — it is widely believed — CIA staff....
You know, guys like Davis.
Related:
A Diplomatic CIA
CIA chief promises spies 'new cover’ for secret ops
Actually, I VIEW ALL REPRESENTATIVES of AmeriKan institutions as SPIES THESE DAYS! The U.S. Embassy is simply a cover for a CIA station these days.
--more--"
"Oil tanker truck hit in Pakistan, 15 killed; Was carrying fuel for NATO forces" by Salman Masood, New York Times / May 22, 2011
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Militants blew up an oil tanker truck carrying fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan yesterday and a secondary explosion killed 15 people who gathered to siphon fuel from it, government officials said....
Fuel prices in Pakistan, which are controlled by the government, have increased sharply in recent months, setting off protests and demonstrations across Pakistan. Local government officials said other oil tankers were crossing the border without interruption.
In a separate attack, 16 oil tankers were damaged nearby Friday night in Torkham, a town at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, when a remote-controlled bomb exploded, Nabi said.
No one was hurt.
Hmmmmmmm.
Looks like the U.S. and NATO are going to have to get into Pakistan to protect those supply lines, huh?
The tankers were idling at a parking lot, waiting for their turn to enter Afghanistan. The attacks occurred just a day after a bomb aimed at a two-car convoy carrying US consular officials exploded in Peshawar.
A Pakistani motorcyclist was killed, but no Americans died or were seriously injured.
Hmmmmmmmmm.
Officials have been bracing for attacks on Americans or US assets since a task force of Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden.
The lie is repeated and repeated and repeated in as many places as possible. That's how myths become part of the accepted conventional wisdom and limit the debate.
On Friday, US officials said files belonging to bin Laden and captured in the SEAL raid had discussed the idea of hijacking oceangoing oil tankers and blowing them up at sea to create explosions that the Al Qaeda leader hoped would rattle the world’s economy and send oil prices skyrocketing.
Pffft. The propaganda has really reached the point of pathetic absurdity.
The attacks on the trucks, however, follow a long-established pattern in Pakistan, in which Taliban insurgents and criminals frequently attack vehicles carrying supplies for US and NATO troops.
Then how come I rarely read about it until an agenda needs advancing?
The Abdullah Azzam Brigade, a militant group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attacks Friday and yesterday.
Hallmarks of a western intelligence operation!
Also, the opposition politician Imran Khan announced plans for a sit-in in the southern port city of Karachi yesterday to protest the continuing drone attacks by US forces.
Khan, a former cricket player turned politician who has emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of the US policy of drone strikes in the country, has consistently denounced the attacks as a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty. An April sit-in organized by his political party, Tehreek-e-Insaaf, or Justice Party, in Peshawar drew only a few thousand people, contrary to the expectations of the organizers.
Khan has said that through his protest, his party workers plan to halt the NATO supplies for two days.
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Another Kahn is a FRONT PAGE FEATURE this Sunday!
Muslim Khan’s brutal turn
With a mastery of English learned in Boston, a festering rage against perceived injustice, and thousands of dollars saved from years abroad, Muslim Khan helped orchestrate some of the Pakistani Taliban’s most vicious attacks and became a top spokesman for the insurgent movement.
As you may have noted lately, I am getting sick of front-page garbage and agenda-pushing propaganda.
