[Peace-discuss] End the war vs. Pakistan (vii)

[C. G. Estabrook]

  [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