[Peace-discuss] US' real enemy in Mideast

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Ex ISI chief slams US military agenda in Pakistan
	Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:50:20 GMT

Former chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency says the Americans 
along with the Israelis are pursuing a wider military agenda in the troubled 
south and central Asian region.

On Friday, in an exclusive interview with Press TV Hamid Gul strongly criticized 
US President Barack Obama's decision to expand CIA operated missile strikes in 
Pakistan's Baluchistan province.

His comments came after a New York Times report said that Obama had authorized 
an expansion of drone attacks on Pakistan's troubled tribal regions.

The unpopular strikes were initiated under the George W. Bush administration in 
2006.

The use of drones has increased since the Nobel peace laureate Obama became 
president.

Gul, a critic of US war fomenting policies in the region, doubted that the 
fugitive Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden or Taliban leaders were hiding in the 
Pakistani territories that borders Afghanistan.

He also revealed that Al-Qaeda linked militants had left the Pakistan years ago 
and were finding their new safe havens in Somalia and Yemen.

He also claimed that the Americans along with the Israeli regime were trying to 
neutralize Pakistani nuclear weapons.

Most experts estimate that Israel has about 200 nuclear warheads posing a great 
threat to global security.

The former ISI chief concluded that the recent US and NATO decision to send 
thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan is meant to counter the 
ever-increasing Iranian influence in the region. [HE KNOWS PERFECTLY WELL THAT 
IT IS MEANT TO COUNTER THE EVER-INCREASING PAKISTANI INFLUENCE IN THE REGION --CGE]

US President Barack Obama vowed 30,000; British Prime Minister Gordon Brown 
pledged 500; and their NATO allies committed 5,000 more troops to end the almost 
nine-year-old war in Afghanistan, adding that they would start a partial 
withdrawal in July 2011.

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