[Peace-discuss] Holiday in Cambodia, now in AfPak
C. G. Estabrook
galliher at illinois.edu
Tue Dec 21 10:57:26 CST 2010
[President Nixon's invasion of Cambodia (1969-73) entered the Watergate
proceedings only marginally: not because hundreds of thousands of Cambodians
were slaughtered in the course of a major war crime - but because Congress was
not properly notified, so that its privileges were infringed, and even this was
considered too slight an infraction to enter the final charges [against Nixon].
From 1969 to 1973, in an illegal war, the United States dropped 2.75 million
tons of bombs on Cambodia. The Allies dropped just over 2 million tons of bombs
during all of World War II. Cambodia may be the most heavily bombed country in
history. --CGE]
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Military mulls cross-border raids into Pakistan
Senior U.S. military officials are calling for Special Forces teams to launch
operations in Pakistan's tribal areas, in order to disrupt the network of
terrorist safe havens that exist there. The new push for this aggressive measure
has been spurred by officials' desire to show progress in the war in Afghanistan
before President Barack Obama's July 2011 deadline for beginning the withdrawal
of U.S. troops.
Some U.S. military leaders hope that cross-border raids could be used to capture
high-ranking insurgent leaders, resulting in a significant boost of intelligence
regarding Taliban operations in Pakistan.
Even without permission to send troops into Pakistan, the U.S. military has
found ways to disrupt terrorist safe havens. CIA drone strikes on Pakistan's
tribal areas have increased dramatically during the last several months. There
have been more than 50 such strikes since September, compared to only 60 during
the rest of the year.
The CIA has also been training Afghan militias to carry out missions in
Pakistan. In one case, a CIA-backed militia entered Pakistani territory and
destroyed a Taliban ammunition cache.
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