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The Secret US War in Pakistan
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by snuffysmith | December 5, 2009 at 01:22 pm
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The Secret US War in Pakistan By Jeremy Scahill
An iinvestigation conducted by The Nation has discovered a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in Karachi, at which members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives. These Blackwater activities include "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan.
According to sources within the US military intelligence apparatus, the Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help direct a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes.
When the Nation sought confirmation of the story from the White House, the White House did not return calls or email messages. And, Capt. John Kirby, the spokesperson for Adm. Michael Mullen, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told The Nation, "We do not discuss current operations one way or the other, regardless of their nature."
A defense official, on background, further specifically denied that Blackwater performs work on drone strikes or intelligence for JSOC in Pakistan. "We don't have any contracts to do that work for us. We don't contract that kind of work out, period," the official said. "There has not been, and is not now, contracts between JSOC and that organization for these types of services."
According to the Nation account, the Blackwater program is distinct from the CIA assassination program that CIA Director, Leon Panetta, canceled in June 2009. According to military intelligence sources, "This is a parallel operation to the CIA." . "They are two separate beasts."
The Problem:
The program puts Blackwater at the epicenter of a US military operation within the borders of a nation against which the United States has not declared war. In 2006, the United States and Pakistan struck a deal that authorized JSOC to enter Pakistan to hunt Osama bin Laden with the understanding that Pakistan would deny it had given permission. Officially, the United States is not supposed to have any active military operations in the country.
Naturally, Blackwater denies the company is operating in Pakistan.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091207/scahill
The use of private companies like Blackwater for sensitive operations such as drone strikes or other covert work undoubtedly comes with the benefit of plausible deniability that places an additional barrier in an already deeply flawed system of accountability. When things go wrong, it's the contractors' fault, not the government's. But the widespread use of contractors also raises serious legal questions, particularly when they are a part of lethal, covert actions. "We are using contractors for things that in the past might have been considered to be a violation of the Geneva Convention," said Lt. Col. Addicott, who now runs the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas. "In my opinion, we have pressed the envelope to the breaking limit, and it's almost a fiction that these guys are not in offensive military operations." Addicott added, "If we were subjected to the International Criminal Court, some of these guys could easily be picked up, charged with war crimes and put on trial. That's one of the reasons we're not members of the International Criminal Court."
No wonder why relations with Pakistan are getting strained.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (44)
at 15:06 on December 5th, 2009
Can any one say Laos, Cambodia, covert, etc?
at 22:42 on December 5th, 2009
Pakistan Slams US Plans on Drone Strikes
Rep. Smith confirms secret talks to expand attacks
at 22:46 on December 5th, 2009
Al Qaida will try to provoke India-Pakistan war: Gates.
US takes hunt for al-Qaeda to Pakistan.
Homeland Security chief warns of threat from al-Qaeda sympathizers in U.S.
at 22:52 on December 5th, 2009
Nuclear Pakistan Will Back Iran If Attacked By US
at 22:57 on December 5th, 2009
Pakistan Still Has Ties To Militants - Gates
at 23:03 on December 5th, 2009
A Quiet Deal with Pakistan
at 23:04 on December 5th, 2009
Bypassing the Aid Trap in Pakistan
at 23:08 on December 5th, 2009
Pakistan Tries to Decode Seymour Hersh
at 23:09 on December 5th, 2009
Video - Pakistan Sees U.S. as Biggest Threat
at 23:16 on December 5th, 2009
Goodnight Afghanistan, good morning Pakistan.http://shadow.foreignpolicy.com/node/77874
at 07:57 on December 6th, 2009
Erik Prince, head of US security firm Blackwater, ‘was CIA operative’: He was a CIA operative, with his own file as a “vetted asset” at the agency’s headquarters, and a mission to build “a unilateral, unattributable capability” to hunt down and kill al-Qaeda militants for the US Government wherever they could be found.
at 08:09 on December 6th, 2009
Erik Prince: Tycoon, Contractor, Soldier, Spy
By Adam Ciralsky
Erik Prince, recently outed as a participant in a C.I.A. assassination program, has gained notoriety as head of the military-contracting juggernaut Blackwater, a company dogged by a grand-jury investigation, bribery accusations, and the voluntary-manslaughter trial of five ex-employees, set for next month. Continue
at 15:08 on December 8th, 2009
Marketing the U.S. in Pakistan - Haider Mullick, Foreign Policy:
"The United States has signed billions of dollars in aid over to Pakistan but sitting in Islamabad two weeks ago I could hardly find a happy Pakistani. The overriding narrative usually goes as follows: the U.S. sporadically uses Pakistan's military, colludes with local leaders, and leaves millions of Pakistanis to clean up the mess. Failing to explain or market its soft power -- aid for schools and hospitals -- Washington relies on Islamabad to highlight its goodwill and mistakes. While this ostensibly strengthens local governance and protects foreign aid workers, it has placed Pakistanis in a state of combustible ignorance. After eight years today most Pakistanis are equally anti-Taliban and anti-U.S. That spells failure for U.S. public diplomacy. ... [T]he recent State Department $30 million public diplomacy campaign will fail if Islamabad does not end its pervasive doublespeak. Pakistani officials I talked to tell me that the mantra in Awan-e-Sadr (the Pakistani White House) is to take full credit for U.S. weapons, satellites, and dollars and still use the United States as a punching bag for drone attacks (even as they secretly tolerate them). This duplicity is must end with a reasonable ‘roadmap to transparency' that explains and sells the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. For example, United States should initiate public tours of its embassies and consulates. ... Washington and Islamabad should market U.S.-supported socio-economic and investment programs such as private electricity producers, Fulbright scholarships, and building roads for the tribal areas abutting Afghanistan." Image from
at 15:24 on December 8th, 2009
Pakistan and the War – Editorial, New York Times: President Obama has articulated a reasonably comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan, but there is no chance of defeating the Taliban and Al Qaeda unless Pakistan’s leaders stop temporizing (and in some cases collaborating) and get fully into the fight. Drones won’t be enough. Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders must finally be persuaded that this is not just America’s war, it is central to their survival.
at 18:13 on December 8th, 2009
More News on Pakistan
Bombs kill 43 in Pakistan; amnesty case stirs tension -- Yahoo News/Reuters
Police: Attack on Pakistan intel office kills 12 -- Yahoo News/AP
At Least 44 are Dead in 3 Pakistan Blasts -- Wall Street Journal
At Least 46 Killed in Pakistan Bombings -- L.A. Times
Bomb Blasts Across Pakistan Kill More Than 70 Since Monday -- Voice of America
Pakistan Militants Bomb Multan, 100 Dead in Five Days -- Bloomberg
Pakistan reels from a year of deadly attacks -- Sydney Morning Herald
Warning of more attacks in Pakistan -- Financial Times
Suspected U.S. missile strike in Pakistan -- Reuters
US drone attack kills three 'militants' in Pakistan -- BBC
US Drone Kills Three In Pakistan - Officials -- Wall Street Journal
Battered Pakistan turns to clerics -- Asia Times
Pakistan Told to Ratchet Up Taliban Fight -- New York Times
US Ready to Expand Military Help for Pakistan -- Voice of America
Gates: US willing to give Pakistan more help fighting terrorists -- L.A. Times
Pakistan and the War -- New York Times editorial
at 18:16 on December 8th, 2009
Pakistani troops patrol on a hill top post in Ladha, a town in the troubled tribal region of South Waziristan along the Afghan border, 17 Nov 2009. Photo from Voice of America
Pakistan Spy Agency Office Attacked In Multan -- BBC
A gun and bomb attack on an office of Pakistan's main intelligence agency in Multan has killed at least 12 people, Pakistani police say.
More than 25 others were injured when suicide attackers opened fire. A rocket was launched during the attack and grenades were also thrown.
The violence came a day after bombings killed about 60 in Lahore and Peshawar.
More than 400 people have been killed during a string of attacks mounted by Islamist militants in recent weeks.
Read more ....
at 02:18 on December 9th, 2009
US drone attack kills three in Pakistan: officials
Miranshah, Pakistan (AFP) Dec 8, 2009 - A missile strike from a US drone aircraft killed three suspected militants in Pakistan's lawless northwest tribal belt early Tuesday, security and intelligence officials said. The attack targeted a car in Aspalga village, about 12 kilometres (seven miles) southeast of Miranshah, the main town of the restive North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, officials said. ... more
at 02:21 on December 9th, 2009
Mullen: No Plan to Put US Troops into Pakistan
at 20:20 on December 9th, 2009
Pakistani Officials Accuse The U.S. For Being Responsible For Terror Attacks In PakistanPakistani firefighters try to put out the blaze at a market in Lahore, where the first blast sent people running to the front, only to be struck by a second explosion. (Arif Ali / AFP/Getty Images / December 8, 2009)
Pakistan Attacks: Officials Feed Suspicion That India, US Are To Blame -- Christian Science Monitor
Pakistan officials are blaming 'foreign elements' – India and the US – for a recent spate of deadly attacks on civilians in a bid to shift responsibility, security analysts say.
Lahore, Pakistan - A fresh wave of terror attacks that has killed more than 100 people across Pakistan in the past few days is fueling conspiracy theories that the United States and India are behind the violence, and officials are stoking the popular perception.
On Tuesday, a truck bomb set off at a security checkpoint in the city of Multan in central Pakistan claimed 12 lives, including some civilians.
Read more ....
at 21:18 on December 10th, 2009
Is The U.S. Military Actively Involved In Pakistan?
U.S. Military Joins CIA’s Drone War In Pakistan -- The Danger Room
The headquarters for the American military’s air war in Central Asia and the Middle East is located in a converted medical warehouse on an undisclosed base in a country the U.S. Air Force would rather not name. The lights are turned down low, so the troops can clearly see the giant screen at the far end of the in this cavernous, classified facility.
Read more
at 22:26 on December 10th, 2009
Officials: Blackwater Participated in CIA ‘Snatch and Grab’ Operations Line Between Military, CIA, and Blackwater 'Blurred'
at 05:51 on December 11th, 2009
Report: Blackwater linked to CIA raids
at 14:19 on December 11th, 2009
US Drone Kills 'High-Ranking' Al-Qaeda Operative In Pakistan
at 14:20 on December 11th, 2009
US strike kills 4 al Qaeda, 2 Taliban in South Waziristan -- Long War Journal
Top Al Qaeda Official Believed Killed -- CBS
AP source: Drone attack kills al-Qaida member -- AP
Top Al-Qaeda leader killed in drone strike: report -- AFP
Key al-Qaeda member killed by drone attack in Pak: US official -- The Nation
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Easterner (not verified)at 16:59 on December 11th, 2009
Do you know the ground realities in Pakistan?
at 20:56 on December 12th, 2009
President Obama Has Halted Any Major Expansion Of The Drone Campaign In Pakistan
The Drone Dilemma -- Newsweek
A clandestine CIA search-and-destroy program, which launches missile strikes from remotely piloted drone aircraft, has killed more than a dozen senior leaders of Al Qaeda during the last two years. Among the dead: Abu Khabab al-Masri, reputed to be Al Qaeda's top expert on weapons of mass destruction, and Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban and reputed mastermind of the murder of Benazir Bhutto. U.S. government spokesmen won't even confirm the program's existence, but a U.S. national-security official—who, like others cited in this article, declined to be named talking about sensitive information—says the program has been so successful that some counterterrorism officials want to expand it. They say the drones have been effective not just in killing terrorists but also in keeping them on the run and disrupting their ability to plan new attacks. They have asked for authority to target terrorists in more densely populated areas of Pakistan.
Read more ....
at 23:07 on December 12th, 2009
CIA admits Blackwater presence in Pakistan
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=113512§ionid=351020401
at 23:42 on December 12th, 2009
Blackwater Loses a Job for the CIA
at 23:43 on December 12th, 2009
It is very so to note that the blackwater's operations in Pakistan(targeting to kill the terrorists as directed by the CIA, and its unwarranted assistance of managing the drones' attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan) has exposed and unraveled the most uncivilized face of the US administration since the role_ of this privately hired agency(Backwater, a transactional/non-state actor) by the US government_ is in violation of international law/ Pakistan's domestic law.The Pakistani media is constantly pointing out the suspicious activities of Blackwater in Pakistan.The Newyork times's recent report regarding the Blackwater's role also confirms the allegations/ transgressions/apprehensions that are attached to Blackwater.Should not the US administration pay its heed and attention to this story that undermines the impression of the US government worldwide.
at 20:06 on December 13th, 2009
More News On Pakistan
Gilani's U-turn on Taliban offensive; says operation to go on -- Times of India
PM backtracks on Waziristan remarks -- Daily Times
Pakistan PM backtracks on Waziristan remarks -- Reuters
Military operation in S. Waziristan to continue: PM -- Associated Press Of Pakistan
No timeframe for ending South Waziristan operation: Pakistani PM -- China View
Taliban driven out of key battleground: Pakistan PM -- AFP
Pakistan's Peshawar, epicenter of jihad -- Reuters
Peshawar on front line of Pakistan's militant war -- AP
Hospitals full, city bombed: People of Peshawar caught between Pakistani army and militants -- Politics News/AP
FACTBOX - Pakistan's Peshawar struggles with bombings -- Reuters
Saleh Somali killed in Pakistan drone attack: US -- DAWN
Drone Kills a Leader of Al Qaeda -- Wall Street Journal
Fighting in Pakistan kills 7 militants, 2 troops -- AP
Pakistan kills about 22 militants, eyes new fronts -- Reuters
Al-Qaeda 'not behind Pakistan bloodshed': US militant -- AFP
Petraeus urges Pakistan to raise pressure on Taliban -- BBC
Pakistan must pressure Afghan Taliban: Petraeus -- AFP
Pakistan be included on Afghan issues: Zardari -- Daily Times
Pakistani leader Zardari is on shaky ground -- L.A. Times