[Peace-discuss] End the war vs. Pakistan (vii)
C. G. Estabrook
galliher at illinois.edu
Sat Oct 2 16:06:37 CDT 2010
[What a load of codswallop - except for the accounts of the lethal US raids.
But the propaganda is wearing thin: "...Pakistan's military unable or unwilling
to do the job... [I.E., WHAT THEY'RE TOLD TO DO BY THE US]" "...U.S. officials
said Friday their working assumption is that Osama bin Laden and other senior al
Qaeda operatives are part of the suspected terror plot—or plots—believed to
target the U.K., France or Germany..." [OR MAYBE THEY'RE GOING TO INVADE
MIDDLE-EARTH - BUT THESE KILLERS HAVE TO BE STOPPED BY KILLING MORE PEOPLE
THERE!] "...They said they are still working to understand the contours of the
scheme..." [OR IT MAY BECOME THE NEW JAMES BOND PICTURE - OR A SPY NOVEL!] ...
"a successful terrorist strike against the West emanating from Pakistan could
force the U.S. to take unilateral military action"... [UNILATERAL - IMAGINE
THAT] ..."an outcome all parties are eager to avoid..." [THE US IS BEGGING NOT
TO BE THROWN INTO THAT BRIER PATCH] ... "U.S. officials said there is now less
concern about upsetting the Pakistanis than there was a few months ago..."
[WE'RE GOING TO KILL THEM INSTEAD] ... [KERRY: WRITE HIM DOWN AN ASS!] ... and
it just gets worse; will we one day add Obama in Pakistan to the honor-roll of
Nixon in Cambodia, Hitler in Russia, etc.? --CGE]
* The Wall Street Journal
* OCTOBER 2, 2010
CIA Escalates in Pakistan
Pentagon Diverts Drones From Afghanistan to Bolster U.S. Campaign Next Door
By ADAM ENTOUS, JULIAN E. BARNES And SIOBHAN GORMAN
WASHINGTON—The U.S. military is secretly diverting aerial drones and weaponry
from the Afghan battlefront to significantly expand the CIA's campaign against
militants in their Pakistani havens.
The shift in strategic focus reflects the U.S. view that, with Pakistan's
military unable or unwilling to do the job, more U.S. force against terrorist
sanctuaries in Pakistan is now needed to turn around the struggling Afghan war
effort across the border.
In recent months, the military has loaned Predator and Reaper drones to the
Central Intelligence Agency to give the agency more firepower to target and
bombard militants on the Afghan border.
The additional drones helped the CIA escalate the number of strikes in Pakistan
in September. The agency averaged five strikes a week in September, up from an
average of two to three per week. The Pentagon and CIA have ramped up their
purchases of drones, but they aren't being built fast enough to meet the rapid
rise in demand.
The escalated campaign in September was aimed, in part, at disrupting a
suspected terrorist plot to strike in Western Europe. U.S. officials said Friday
their working assumption is that Osama bin Laden and other senior al Qaeda
operatives are part of the suspected terror plot—or plots—believed to target the
U.K., France or Germany. They said they are still working to understand the
contours of the scheme.
U.S. officials say a successful terrorist strike against the West emanating from
Pakistan could force the U.S. to take unilateral military action—an outcome all
parties are eager to avoid.
Although the U.S. military flies surveillance drones in Pakistan and shares
intelligence with the Pakistani government, Pakistan has prohibited U.S.
military operations on its soil, arguing they would impinge on the country's
sovereignty. The CIA operations, while well-known, are technically covert,
allowing Islamabad to deny to its unsupportive public its involvement with the
strikes. The CIA doesn't acknowledge the program, and the shift of Pentagon
resources has been kept under wraps.
Pakistan has quietly cooperated with the CIA drone program which started under
President George W. Bush. But the program is intensely unpopular in the country
because of concerns about sovereignty and regular reports of civilian
casualties. U.S. officials say the CIA's targeting of militants is precise, and
that there have been a limited number of civilian casualties.
U.S. officials said there is now less concern about upsetting the Pakistanis
than there was a few months ago, and that the U.S. is being more aggressive in
its response to immediate threats from across the border.
"You have to deal with the sanctuaries," Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Chairman John Kerry (D., Mass.) said after meeting with Pakistan's foreign
minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, in Washington this week. "I've pushed very, very
hard with the Pakistanis regarding that."
Tensions between the U.S. and Pakistan have been exacerbated in recent days by a
series of cross-border attacks by North Atlantic Treaty Organization helicopter
gunships. Islamabad responded by shutting a key border crossing used to supply
Western troops in Afghanistan and threatening to halt NATO container traffic
altogether. On Friday, militants in Pakistan attacked tankers carrying fuel
toward another border crossing, in another sign of the vulnerability of NATO
supply lines crossing Pakistani territory.
Because U.S. military officials say success in Afghanistan hinges, in large
part, on shutting down the militant havens in Pakistan, the surge in drone
strikes could also have far-reaching implications for the Obama administration,
which is under political pressure to show results in the nine-year Afghan war
and has set a goal of beginning to withdraw troops in July.
The secret deal to beef up the CIA's campaign inside Pakistan shows the extent
to which military officials see the havens there, used by militants to plan and
launch attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, as the primary obstacle
to the Afghan war effort.
"When it comes to drones, there's no mission more important right now than
hitting targets in the tribal areas, and that's where additional equipment's
gone," a U.S. official said. "It's not the only answer, but it's critical to
both homeland security and force protection in Afghanistan."
The idea of funneling military resources through the CIA was broached during
last year's Afghanistan-Pakistan policy review, officials say. The shift in
military resources was spearheaded by CIA Director Leon Panetta and Defense
Secretary Robert Gates, a former CIA director himself. It also has the backing
of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, and the new
commander of allied forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus.
Mr. Gates helped smooth over initial dissent among some at the Pentagon who
argued that the drones were needed in Afghanistan to attack the Taliban.
Since taking command in Afghanistan in July, Gen. Petraeus has placed greater
focus on the tribal areas of Pakistan, according to military and other
government officials.
The U.S. military has been focused on trying to persuade the Pakistan army to
step up its actions against militants in the tribal areas. That effort led to
operations in some areas, but not North Waziristan, which is used by the Haqqani
militant network to mount cross-border attacks and is believed by U.S. officials
to be the hiding place of senior al Qaeda leaders.
Pakistan says its army has been spread thin, limiting its ability to carry out
additional large-scale operations. Its resources have also been diverted to
responding to the worst flooding in the country's history.
The U.S. now sees the need for a stronger American push in Pakistan because of
the growing belief that Pakistan isn't going to commit any more resources to
fighting militants within its borders, said a former senior intelligence
official. The Pakistani military is tapped out, the former official said.
"They've gone as far as they can go."
U.S. officials are also increasingly frustrated by what they see as Islamabad's
double-dealing. Some elements of the country's powerful Inter-Services
Intelligence agency continue to support the Haqqanis as a hedge against India's
regional influence, and the government has rebuffed U.S. calls for a crackdown
on the group.
Pakistani government officials have repeatedly denied that they provide any
support to the Haqqanis and said their military is too overstretched to take
them on directly in their North Waziristan base.
Gen. Petraeus has taken a hard line on the Haqqani network, calling them
irreconcilable. He has also met with top Pakistani military leaders and
presented intelligence tying the Haqqanis operating out of North Waziristan
havens to attacks on U.S. and Afghan troops, according to a military official.
The Pentagon has allowed loaned equipment and personnel to the CIA several times
since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to former intelligence officials.
In addition to drone aircraft, officials said the military was sharing targeting
information with the CIA from surveillance over-flights.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704029304575526270751096984.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond
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