[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Re: End the war in Pakistan now

Sat Dec 18 14:57:02 CST 2010

[What appears to have happened is that the CIA was about to be tried for murder 
is the still semi-independent Pakistani judiciary, and to forestall that 
possibility the US withdrew the CIA station chief, the object of the suit, and 
made up a (derisorily transparent) lie to cover up. The USG is involved in a 
tit-for-tat struggle control the Pakistani government. --CGE]

    Pakistan spy agency denies it exposed CIA chief
    By NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press – 13 mins ago

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan's main spy agency denied Saturday it had unmasked the CIA's 
station chief in Islamabad, and warned such allegations could damage its already 
fragile counterterrorism alliance with the United States.
The CIA pulled its top spy out of Pakistan on Thursday amid death threats after 
his name emerged publicly a few weeks ago from a Pakistani man threatening to 
sue the CIA over the alleged deaths of his son and brother in a 2009 U.S. 
missile strike. The attorney involved with the complaint said he learned the 
name from Pakistani journalists.
But the station chief's outing has spurred questions whether Pakistan's spy 
service might have leaked the information. Lawsuits filed last month in New York 
City in connection with the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, India, also may have 
raised tensions by naming Pakistan's intelligence chief as a defendant.
The recall of the top American intelligence official in Pakistan comes at a 
delicate time.
The White House over the past week released the results of a review of progress 
in the war in neighboring Afghanistan. The report included the conclusion that 
the existence of safe havens for militants on Pakistan's side of the border 
remained a major obstacle to defeating the Taliban and al-Qaida.
Pakistan's assistance in clearing those militant hideouts — and providing 
intelligence to help the U.S. pinpoint targets for its covert, drone-fired 
missile strikes — is considered crucial. A breakdown in the relationship with 
Pakistani intelligence could be a major blow to the U.S.
An official with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, its lead spy 
agency and a powerful force in the country, said Saturday any suggestions it 
outed the station chief were "a slur."
Such "unfounded stories can create differences between the two organizations," 
the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not cleared 
to brief the media.
The U.S. lawsuits were filed last month, and the plaintiffs include relatives of 
victims in the Mumbai attacks, which left 166 people and nine attackers dead. 
The assault has been blamed on the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, 
which is listed as a defendant in the suit.
But they also list the ISI and its chief, Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha. The suits 
repeat long-standing allegations that the ISI "has long nurtured and used 
international terrorist groups," including Lashkar.
"Defendant ISI provided critical planning, material support, control and 
coordination of the attacks," the lawsuits allege in pursuing wrongful death and 
additional claims against the ISI, Pasha and others.
The lawsuits claim at one point that a safe house in Pakistan used in connection 
with the attacks was part of the ISI's "Karachi Project" — "an initiative by 
which anti-Indian groups were tasked and/or supported by the ISI in a 
surreptitious fashion to engage in acts of international terrorism."
Pakistan has denied any government agency was involved in the attacks in India, 
its archrival with whom it has fought three wars since 1947. Islamabad has 
detained seven suspects in the case, but their trials have stalled in the 
country's slow-moving court system. India has convicted the sole surviving 
gunman in the attack.
It's unclear how far the U.S. lawsuits will go or how quickly they will move, 
but being named in such legal documents is an embarrassment to the ISI and Pasha.
"We are in the process of serving all defendants," James Kreindler, an attorney 
representing the plaintiffs, wrote in an e-mail. "Most have been served, which 
triggers their obligation to answer."
The Pakistani intelligence official said the CIA has not directly accused the 
ISI of any wrongdoing in the revelation of the station chief's name.
The station chief in Islamabad operates as a virtual military commander in the 
U.S. war against al-Qaida and other militant groups hidden along the 
Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The chief runs the Predator drone program targeting 
terrorists and handles some of the CIA's most urgent and sensitive tips.
He also collaborates closely with Pakistani intelligence. The alliance has led 
to strikes on key militant leaders but has also been marred by spats between the 
two agencies and ongoing suspicion that the ISI has not fully severed its ties 
to the Afghan Taliban, which it supported before the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
During the first term of President George W. Bush's administration, Pakistan 
almost expelled a previous CIA station chief in a dispute about intelligence 
sharing.
Pakistanis involved in the threatened lawsuit over the missile strikes have held 
rallies in Islamabad featuring posters bearing the CIA officer's name and urging 
him to leave the country.
A number of Americans and other Westerners, including a Wall Street Journal 
correspondent, have had to leave Pakistan or take extra precautions after their 
names surfaced in press reports as possible spies for the CIA, Israel or India. 
Some right-wing newspapers have even printed Westerners' addresses or claimed 
they were Jewish in some articles.
___
Associated Press writer Adam Goldman in Washington contributed to this report.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] End the war in Pakistan now
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2010 18:09:54 -0600
From: C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu>
To: peace-discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>

The US asserts the CIA man was hastily withdrawn because his name was revealed -
as if any interested people in the ISI, the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Russian and
Chinese intelligence, etc. etc. - didn't know who he was!

A more accurate story may be given here:

    CIA top spy flees Pakistan over lawsuit
    Fri Dec 17, 2010 5:20PM

The US central intelligence agency (CIA) has been forced to call back its top
spy in Pakistan after he was accused of killing civilians in unauthorized drone
attacks.

This comes days after a Pakistani lawsuit designated the CIA station chief by
name, accusing him of killing civilians in missile strikes.

Kareem Kahn, a resident of the North Waziristan tribal district, filed an
official complaint with Islamabad police against CIA station chief Jonathan Bank
at the US Embassy in Islamabad on Monday.

The lawsuit has also named CIA Director Leon Panetta and US Defense Secretary
Robert Gates.

This is the first such case filed against a CIA official for the use of
non-UN-sanctioned drone attacks in Pakistan.

Khan's relatives were slain in an unauthorized US drone attack in the North
Waziristan tribal district in 2009.

"That drone attack killed my son, my brother and a local man. We are not
terrorists, we are common citizens," Khan told a news conference in Islamabad in
late November.

"According to Islamic law the punishment for blood is blood. If I have the
means, I will take revenge for this attack," he said.

"We need justice. We are innocent people."

Khan's lawyer Mirza Shehzad Akbar had previously said he would file a lawsuit in
Pakistan and, if necessary, one with the International Court of Justice based at
The Hague.

The CIA station chief in Islamabad runs the unmanned drone attacks which are
said to target militants in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt.

Official figures show that most of the victims are civilians. The unauthorized
US drone attacks have drawn strong criticism from the Pakistani people and
officials.

In the latest developments, four non-UN-sanctioned US drone attacks killed at
least 26 people in the Khyber Agency tribal region.

The news that CIA has pulled its top spy out of Pakistan comes just a day after
the U-S announced its new Afghanistan-Pakistan war strategy review and also a
day after America's drone attacks expanded into a new region in Pakistan,
Kheybar Agency.

It is the second consecutive day that US drones target the same region.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people held anti-US protests in Islamabad over the past
days. The Protesters condemned non-UN-sanctioned US drone attacks on Pakistan's
tribal areas.

US drone strikes have killed 2,000 people in northwest Pakistan since 2004.
These airstrikes have intensified since US President Barack Obama took office in
2009.

Washington claims the attacks target militants but figures show most of the
victims are civilians.

Militant attacks, unsanctioned drone strikes and political unrest have claimed
the lives of over 4,000 people throughout Pakistan since 2007.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/155905.html

On 12/17/10 12:07 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> Like a gambler raising the stakes each time he loses, the Obama administration
> is shifting the emphasis in the "AfPak War" (only one theater, as Obama says,
> in the Long War for control of energy Mideast resources) to the second
> syllable...
>
> The lead article in the semi-official US war gazette today:
>
> "US WILL WIDEN WAR ON MILITANTS INSIDE PAKISTAN - ALLY RELUCTANT TO ACT -
> Pentagon Planning More Attacks With Drones and Commandos":
>
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/world/asia/17afghan.html?ref=world>.
>
> See also "Top U.S. Spy Flees Pakistan":
>
> <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101217/ap_on_go_ot/us_pakistan_cia>.
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