"Before bin Laden raid, vaccine ruse reportedly tried to get DNA; Pakistani doctor who helped CIA now in custody" July 12, 2011|By Mark Mazzetti, New York Times
WASHINGTON - In the months before Osama bin Laden was killed, the Central Intelligence Agency ran a phony vaccination program in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in an attempt to obtain DNA evidence from members of bin Laden’s family thought to be holed up in a compound there, according to a US official.
The vaccination program was set up as the CIA was struggling to learn whether bin Laden was hiding in the compound and adds a new twist to the months of spy games that preceded the nighttime raid in early May that killed the Al Qaeda chief....
It has also worsened tensions between the United States and Pakistan. The operation was run by a Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi, whom Pakistani spies have since arrested for his suspected collaboration with the Americans. Afridi remains in Pakistani custody, the official said.
Getting DNA evidence from the people hiding in the Abbottabad compound would have been a significant coup, because it would have allowed the CIA to match the samples with DNA from other members of the bin Laden family that are on file at the CIA - providing the first hard evidence in years of his whereabouts.....
Related: A GALLERY OF FAKE DEAD BIN LADENS
The existence of the vaccination program was first reported by a British newspaper, The Guardian. A CIA spokesman declined to comment....
Pakistani military and intelligence operatives were furious about the US raid that killed bin Laden, and relations between the two countries have plummeted since. Pakistani officials have suggested that they might use troops to repel another incursion into Pakistan, and many US officials believe that Pakistan seems more concerned with hunting CIA informants than with finding Al Qaeda operatives....
They are one in the same.
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"Pakistanis worry ruse may deter vaccinations; CIA effort raises fears; polio on rise" July 14, 2011|By Sebastian Abbot, Associated Press
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani officials and international health organizations expressed concern yesterday that a phony CIA vaccination program meant to obtain DNA evidence in the hunt for Osama bin Laden could harm legitimate immunization programs in the country.
This fear is especially pronounced because of the rising problem of polio. Pakistan was the only country to record an increase in cases of the crippling disease last year and now has the highest incidence of polio in the world.
??????????
Vaccination programs to combat polio and other diseases in Pakistan were already hampered by fighting with Islamist militants that blocked health workers from reaching certain areas, especially in the northwest. Some Taliban commanders have also declared vaccines as against Islam.
The feeling sure is understandable! The clinic is a CIA front, and the injection results in a rise of disease!
The CIA recruited a Pakistani doctor to run a hepatitis B vaccination drive in the northwest town of Abbottabad in March in an attempt to get DNA from bin Laden’s children and confirm that the Al Qaeda chief was holed up there, the British Guardian newspaper first reported earlier this week. The Associated Press has confirmed details about the program from US officials....
Neither the White House nor the CIA would speak about the program. A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the program remains secret, said the decision to use vaccinations as a cover was a rare move....
Yeah, RIGHT! And if you believe that I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
Pakistani health officials held meetings Tuesday about the CIA operation and expressed concern that it could have a negative impact on immunization programs in other areas of the northwest, said a Pakistani official involved in polio eradication efforts. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Ya think?
Michael O’Brien, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Pakistan, expressed concern that the CIA program could make it more difficult for medical officials in other parts of the country to administer critical vaccines.
“Anything that compromises the perception and impartiality of medical personnel undermines the activities of medical personnel everywhere, especially in places where access to health care is badly needed and security conditions for health care workers are already difficult,’’ O’Brien said.
Yeah, it is called LACK of TRUST and it happens when someone LIES TO YOU!
The World Health Organization expressed concern yesterday about the reported CIA vaccination program, saying the organization is “concerned about the effect of the report on children’s immunity in the country.’’
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Also read: In Pakistan, CIA Meddling Reaches New Height: Your Next Doctor Could Be An American Agent
Other pokes the CIA is taking around Pakistan:
"CIA halts drone launches from Pakistan base" July 04, 2011|By Karen DeYoung, Washington Post
WASHINGTON - Three months ago, the CIA suspended its longstanding use of an air base in Pakistan as a launch site for armed drones targeting members of Al Qaeda and other militant groups, according to US and Pakistani officials.
US personnel and Predator drones remain at the facility, in the southern province of Baluchistan, with security provided by the Pakistani military, officials from both countries said. In recent days, Pakistan has publicly declared that it “ended’’ all US flights from the base in the wake of the secret US commando raid that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May.
But US and Pakistani officials said the launches were halted in April, weeks before the bin Laden raid, after a dispute over a CIA contractor who fatally shot two Pakistani citizens in Lahore in January.
See: Pakistan Releases "Al-CIA-Duh" Man
They Don't Want Your Blood Money
Oh he shot ISI agents that were tailing him?
An American official said the CIA’s decision to suspend the launches was part of a US effort to “pay attention to the sensitivities’’ of the Pakistanis, who had objected to a claim of diplomatic immunity for the contractor.
Although Pakistan has continued to voice sharp public criticism over the shooting and the bin Laden raid, officials from both countries said the rupture in their intelligence cooperation has slowly begun to heal. Pakistan has reversed its freeze on visas for US intelligence officials, they said, and allowed dozens of CIA personnel to reenter the country....
The drone program has become increasingly controversial as the Obama administration has expanded its use beyond the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Lethal missiles have been launched from unmanned aircraft in at least five countries in addition to Pakistan: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and, most recently, Somalia....
Related: Somalia Makes the List
It's not a list you want to make.
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At least the U.S. is not launching anymore:
"US strikes in Pakistan reportedly kill 42; Drones’ barrage targets havens in militant area" July 13, 2011|By Ishtiaq Mahsud and Rasool Dawar, Associated Press
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - Four suspected US missile strikes in northwestern Pakistan in less than 24 hours killed at least 42 alleged militants, an unusually heavy barrage at a time when relations between the two countries are badly strained, Pakistani intelligence officials said yesterday.
It almost seems as if AmeriKa wants another war.
The strikes follow the Obama administration’s announcement that it is suspending more than one-third of US military aid to Pakistan until disagreements are worked out. The attacks indicate the White House has no intention of stopping the drone program even though the attacks have increasingly caused tension with Pakistan.
The barrage began late Monday....
Pakistan’s defense minister, Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, said in an interview with Pakistani TV Express 24/7 that Pakistan could withdraw its forces from the border regions along Afghanistan due to the cutoff in funds.
But that was contradicted by the army, which holds far more power than the civilian-run defense ministry and which has downplayed the aid suspension.
After a meeting of top commanders yesterday, the army issued a statement saying it was determined to “fight the menace of terrorism in our own national interest using our own resources.’’
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So what else has the CIA been up to in Pakistan?
"Gunmen kill 22 in 3d day of violence in Pakistan; Motives for street battles in Karachi remain unknown" July 08, 2011|Associated Press
KARACHI - Gunmen opened fire on two buses and waged street battles in Pakistan’s largest city yesterday, killing at least 22 people and continuing a spate of violence that has claimed 49 lives in three days, officials said.
It was some of the worst strife so far this year in Karachi, a city of 18 million that has long been a hotbed of crime and clashes - much of it linked to ethnic, sectarian, and political divisions. Police had no immediate comment on the possible motives for the latest killings....
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"Pakistan security ordered to shoot gunmen on sight after days of deadly violence" July 09, 2011|Associated Press
KARACHI - Security forces were ordered to shoot gunmen on sight yesterday in Pakistan’s largest city, as four days of violence left at least 71 people dead and prompted political leaders to call for a day of mourning, which shut businesses and kept public traffic off the roads.
I think even the Pakistanis know now.
This week’s violent spate in Karachi was among the worst this year for a city that has long been a hotbed of ethnic, sectarian, and political tensions. It came just days after the city’s most powerful political party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, said it was leaving the federal ruling coalition to join the opposition.
Such political shifts involving the MQM have historically been accompanied by violence in Karachi, though it and other parties active in the city deny stirring tensions....
The order to shoot suspects on sight reflected the authorities’ desperation to bring the spiraling violence under control....
Karachi is a port city of 18 million people that lies on the Arabian Sea. It is not unusual for the city to have more than 1,000 violent deaths in a year.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 1,138 people were killed in Karachi in the first six months of this year. Of those, 490 were victims of so-called targeted killings, which are often linked to political, ethnic, and sectarian rivalries....
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"10 Sunni Muslims killed in ambush
PARACHINAR - Gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Sunni Muslims and killed all 10 passengers in a troubled northwestern tribal region yesterday, a government official said. At the time of the ambush in the Kurram region, the bus was traveling in an area dominated by minority Shi’ite Muslims, said a local government official (AP)."
"Video shows executions of police by Taliban" July 19, 2011|Associated Press
ISLAMABAD - The Taliban released a video yesterday showing fighters executing 16 Pakistani tribal police officers in a hail of gunfire after they were captured in a cross-border raid from Afghanistan in June.
The video shows the policemen lined up on a hillside with their hands tied behind their backs, standing in front of armed Taliban fighters wearing scarves to hide their faces. Both the policemen and the insurgents are wearing shalwar kameez, the baggy shirt and pants common in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
One of the insurgents accused the men of executing six children from Pakistan’s Swat Valley by firing squad.
“They are the enemies of the religion of Allah,’’ the man said of the police officers.
He and several other fighters then opened fire on the policemen, who crumpled to the ground. Several of them were still moaning, and one fighter walked down the line shooting the policemen in the head.
The video was posted on the LiveLeak video sharing website....
Oh, well, now I'm convinced.
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I'm sorry, readers, but I think it's all staged s***.
Related: Quick Prayer at the Pakistani Mosque
Yeah, you have to get up pretty early in the morning to fool a Pakistani -- or this American.
