GHQ Attack-Serious Questions

http://www.chowk.com/Views/GHQ-Attack-Serious-Questions 

GHQ Attack-Serious Questions

by Agha Amin October 13, 2009 10:19

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The enemy is not in Waziristan or Afghanistan. The enemy is our own damn inefficiency and complacency. It merits serious thinking at all plains , tactical,operational and strategic.

GHQ Attack-Serious Questions

The attack on Pakistani GHQ raises more serious questions about Pakistan Army's military effectiveness and potency than answers.

The most crucial and grave question is that the Pakistani military seems to have lost in a great degree its coercive value amd moral deterrence. Something which is the foundation of any political system and on which all agree starting from Freud, Aristotle, Plato down to Marx Lenin Mao and Khomeni.

Once General Musharraf decided to make a U turn under coercion by USA the army lost its moral credibility in the eyes of a large section of Pakistani populace, not the majority but a sizeable minority far more effective in tangible potency than a far larger minority.

The first most serious question is not from where the threat originated but how did a small minority of a few handpicked young men developed the resolution to attack the citadel of Pakistani military,the GHQ ? Its an intangible question but far more serious than whether these men had their organisational centre in Wazirstan or Afghanistan.

The second serious question is the response to the attack. Or one may say the lack of response!

If ten or so armed men can terrorise and paralyse a half a million plus armys headquarter for 22 plus hours the issue is strategic rather than tactical! If ten civilians trained by irrational mullahs can penetrate a citadel hitherto considered impregnable and unpenetrable and 1600 officers inside it are like chicken in a babr wired coup at mercy of ten armed and highly motivated men then the situation is grave,not routine.

In a nutshell the serious aspects of the issue are :--

The most serious threat to Pakistan is internal and not external.

The military has lost its strategic and coercive deterrent value.

That ten armed civilians penetrated a military headquarters guarded by an infantry battalion and a similar number of DSG soldiers is a serious strategic imbalance.

That 6 plus armed men were roaming the GHQ for many hours and had the opportunity to kill many generals,an opportunity that they for some mysterious reasons chose not to exercise is a cause of grave strategic concern.

The fact that the perimeter guarding battalion 10 Punjab although it killed some four intruders failed to hold the few attackers from penetrating the GHQ is a grave matter.

The fact that the battalion plus DSG soldiers although armed with G 3 and SMG rifles just bolted away is a grave matter.

The fact that it took more than 18 hours and the fact that SSG troops had to be brought from some 70 miles away to redeem the situation is ironic par excellence.

The fact that Pakistan's enemies both state and non state are so ineffective still is the only consoling part of the issue.

Here is a case of a military machine :--

Fighting a civil war with serious internal fractures.

A military machine which has lost a great degree of its coercive value.

Lack of initiative in the officer rank and lack of forethought in not allowing the some 1600 officers in GHQ not to carry weapons.

The primacy of non state actors in Pakistan.

Sad is the story. Hilarious are the praises being heaped on the military's response. Where is the honour and dignity of danger in overcoming six well motivated irregulars by a commando force outnumbering them by 100 to 1. This is not a criticism. I am not a paid journalist. This is a call for reflection. Serious reflection and serious inner thinking that may be the spur to serious reorganisation in the Pakistani military. The enemy is not in Waziristan or Afghanistan. The enemy is our own damn inefficiency and complacency. It merits serious thinking at all plains, tactical,operational and strategic.

Read 20730 times

JUDGE NOT

Received via my dear friend Dr Andre

FYI - from Mr. Talpur, a devout Muslim, but this applies to all religions and all of us. If I understand correctly a masjeed is a mosque, but it might as well be a Church, Synagogue or Temple - going there alone will not get you into heaven.  And as the Colonel continues to tell me, look at yourself before you judge others to make sure the "Kettle" is not calling the "Pot" black.

Andre

The weak hands of justice—Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur.

Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur was a warrior who waged war with weapons from 1973 till 1992.

He is now waging a war with his pen and has successfully highlighted human rights violations in a tinpot state which is neither Islamic nor Republic.

It is my conviction that a state whose foundation is injustice and genocide cannot last.

2012 is the year of war and will bring major changes in the region !

Pakistans leader both military and political are so pathetic , that all I can say is , is, God help Pakistan !

Agha.H.Amin

 

"I know that I am prejudiced on this matter, but I would be ashamed of myself if I were not."

Mark Twain

 

"A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself." - Joseph Pulitzer

COMMENT: The weak hands of justice —Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

People often wonder why these agencies and their henchmen invite condemnation and ire by displaying abducted persons' brutally tortured dead bodies. There is a very simple bully's logic behind it: instilling fear in the hearts of those who dare to fight for Baloch rights

I had expressed fears last week in my piece 'Taking cognizance' (Daily Times, February 12, 2012) that the US Congressional hearing could have "adverse consequences for the Baloch" as Pakistan, "just to show to the US that it does not care for what its committees say or do, it will increase the atrocities and human rights abuses against the Baloch". Sadly, it is becoming a brutal reality. A day after the Congressional hearing, the mutilated body of missing Baloch Republican Party (BRP) leader Sangat Sana, a former Chairman of the Baloch Students Organisation (BSO Azad), abducted from Kolpur on December 8, 2008, was found dumped near Turbat. He had been shot 30 times in the face and chest.

Could this be a prelude to the Iranian-like 1988 hangings of Mujahideen-e-Khalq and other imprisoned dissidents in revenge for the Mujahideen-e-Khalq attacks? Amnesty International had put that figure, including women, at around 4,500. Here Zakir Majeed and hundreds others are missing. The signs are ominous.

Haji Jan Mohammad Marri, an elder of the Sherani clan, was abducted from Karachi on the 10th this month and his body was found in Windar on the 13th. He had previously undergone a two-year detention following arrest in 2005. I knew him well as we lived together in exile in Afghanistan. The government seems determined to spite the US at the cost of Baloch blood.

Hafiz Abdul Qadir Ghulamani Mengal, father of Mir Sami Mengal Shaheed, was shot dead in Khuzdar on Thursday. Mir Sami Mengal Shaheed had been abducted on October 1, 2010 and his body was found 28 days later near Khuzdar on Eid-ul-Azha. A note in his pocket contained derogatory remarks against the Baloch leaders and organisations and said this was an eid gift for the Baloch. How many more Baloch lives will they take before realising that the Baloch spirit cannot be broken?

People often wonder why these agencies and their henchmen invite condemnation and ire by displaying abducted persons' brutally tortured dead bodies. There is a very simple bully's logic behind it: instilling fear in the hearts of those who dare to fight for Baloch rights. Secondly, they know they can commit these crimes with impunity.

Bullies always measure the resilience of the people according to their own psyche; they presume that atrocities will cow people into submission. During the Vietnam War the US dropped 7,078,032 tonnes of bombs, which was 3-1/2 times the World War II bomb tonnage and averaged 1,000 lbs for every Vietnamese man, woman and child.

Moreover, 10 percent of Vietnam was intensively sprayed with 72 million litres of chemicals — 66 percent of it was Agent Orange, which contains TCCD dioxin and seeped into the soil and water supply and consequently into the food chain, and was then passed from the mother to her foetus. The dioxins endure in the soil and continue damaging the health of the grandchildren of the war's victims. Since the war the Vietnamese Red Cross has registered an estimated one million people disabled by Agent Orange.

Between 1962 and 1969, 688,000 agricultural acres were sprayed with chemical Agent Blue; the aim was to deny food to the NLF but it was the civilian population who suffered most from the poor rice harvests. A 2003 report claimed that 650,000 people in Vietnam were still suffering from chronic conditions and an estimated 500,000 people had died from health problems created as a result of the chemicals.

An estimated three million people were killed by the war and over one million wounded. Yet the US lost the war and the Vietnamese triumphed so these tactics fail in the face of the resilience of people and these atrocities here will not break the spirit of the Baloch people.

Prime Minister Gilani, concerned at 'foreign involvement in Balochistan', has called for an All-Parties Conference (APC). His interior minister, while absolving the army and paramilitary forces of the charges of abducting and killing people in Balochistan, said that a third force was responsible for the volatile situation in the province. Blaming others instead of themselves for Baloch resentment spells doom for all attempts to resolve issues.

No honourable Baloch will participate in the APC as long as the Pakistani state continues to play Russian roulette with the lives of Baloch youth and holds the Baloch nation hostage under threat of increased atrocities if they dare to demand their rights and resist repression.

The Baloch abductions' footprint is writ large on the 'Adiala Eleven' episode; after abduction they lied, issuing denials while they tortured and killed, so now it is beyond the realm of conjecture and surmises who is responsible for the abductions and killings of the Baloch. Yet the 'establishment' persistently denies responsibility and has the temerity to accuse the Baloch of serving foreign powers

It remains to be seen if the agencies responsible for the 'Adiala Eleven' torture and deaths will be let off with a mild reprimand, which seems to be the most likely outcome, or there will be charges of murder and torture against the military hierarchy, which is responsible for it. The outcome of the 'Adiala Eleven' Supreme Court hearings may largely decide the attitude of the Pakistani state vis-à-vis dissenters in other provinces but regardless of the outcome of this case, the atrocities in Balochistan will not wane. For the 'establishment', a lot more than their hollow slogans of sovereignty is at stake in Balochistan.

Here, might is right because no one can challenge those who possess the instruments of terror. John Locke (1632-1704) in The Second Treatise of Civil Government illustrates the situation here: "The title of the offender and the number of his followers make no difference in the offense, unless it be to aggravate it. The only difference is, great robbers punish little ones to keep them in their obedience; but the great ones are rewarded with laurels and triumphs, because they are too big for the weak hands of justice in this world, and have the power in their own possession, which should punish offenders."

The hands of justice here will remain weak indefinitely because of widespread apathy to problems affecting others so it is up to the Baloch to defend themselves and secure their rights despite organised and systematic atrocities to force them to subscribe to the 'establishment's' ideology. Fortunately, history proves that no one forever remains too big for the weak hands of justice because verily historical processes are irresistible.

"Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;

Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all."

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\02\19\story_19-2-2012_pg3_2

A Baloch State in Afghanistan

Major Zakir , a friend in the best and the worst times,

WWW.CHJOWK.COM

What Will Happen if the USA Withdraws From Afghanistan

by Agha Amin September 13, 2009 18:03

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Any US withdrawal from Afghanistan would create another delusion. A false conclusion that Islam has won and USA lost. It would boost morale in the Islamists and would lead to far greater chaos.

While it is theoretically neat and cosmetically nice to advance the view point that the USA should withdraw from Afghanistan. The idea is far complicated at the strategic and operational level.

While it is true that the Pakistan and US sponsored so called Mujahideen did not follow the USSR into Russia,their successors the Taliban were allied with parties with a Pan Islamist outlook. Parties which wanted to carry Jihad into Europe,America and Africa.

The USSR withdrawal from Afghanistan was not a military defeat but a political act of withdrawal covered by the creation of the Northern Alliance which was half leftist and pro Russian. The fact of the matter remains that USSR withdrawal was fallaciously interpreted as a great victory of Islam, while actually it was not so. This interpretation led to creation of many dreams of glory and carrying on of the Islamic Jihad into India, Bosnia, Chechniya etc.

Any US withdrawal from Afghanistan would create another delusion. A false conclusion that Islam has won and USA lost. It would boost morale in the Islamists and would lead to far greater chaos and confusion than ever witnessed before in modern history.

In brief the implications of a US withdrawal would be :--

1-Collapse of the moderate Afghan regime created after billions of dollars of US and European/G 8 aid within a matter of months.

2-Creation of an unemployed and uncommitted reserve of Islamic extremists who are well trained in military art and would represent a greater threat to the Pakistani state as it presently exists and to all neighbours of Afghanistan.

3-A renewed civil war in Afghanistan with Taliban backed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and the Northern Alliance backed by Russia, Iran, Central Asian Republics and possibly USA and China.

The key to the Afghan disorder lies in Afghanistans neighbours and not in Afghanistan itself :--

1-Pakistan and Saudi Arabian states regard Afghanistan as a battle ground in between an Iran/Indian/Russian backed Northern Alliance and a Sunni puritan Talibans.

2-Russia ,India,Central Asian Republics and G 8 in general regard Taliban as a threat to their countries and to the region.

A possible solution may be in the following :--

1-Continued US presence retaining key military bases in North Afghanistan and in Baloch majority Nimroz as sword of Damocles for the Taliban. Withdrawal of US forces from South Afghanistan while retaining the Kabul Torkham Corridor which is safe in any case.

2-Integrating Russia,India and Pakistan in a regional solution while creating an Independent North Afghanistan which is Non Pashtun majority, South Afghanistan which is Pashtun majority, and a Baloch Autonomous Region in the south west Afghanistan.

3-Initiation of dialogue with the Taliban offering them South Afghanistan while withdrawing US/NATO forces north of the line Dilaram-Uruzgan-Ghazni-Paktiya-Paktika while retaining Baloch majority Nimroz.

Nothing in history is inevitable.Afghanistan was a province of Mughal,Saffavid and the Bokharan Uzbeks till 1747.It was controlled by a subsidy of 13 lakh per month by British from 1857 to 1919 and it was a neutral country with no threat to world peace from 1919 to 1978.

It is a misconception that Taliban control 90 % of Afghanistan or all population of Afghanistan is with Taliban unless you believe the Pakistani or Saudi establishment.The Saudi establishment fears the Shias and Iran far more than USA or Israel. Thus the deep Saudi interest in a Taliban dominated Afghanistan.

The fact is that Taliban control some 50 % of Afghanistan while some 60 % of Afghanistans population is against them.

If the USA withdraws what will happen to the 60 % who are against the Taliban ? These include Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Hazaras and many educated Pashtuns .This would be a great political and strategic failure of USA and NATO ? The main winners in this case would be Russia,India and Iran in Afghamistans north and Pakistans generals and Saudis in the south.

A solution of Afghan war must be based on a combination of B-52 bombers, US Dollars, Divide and Rule and regional guarantees.

BBC Documentary on Genghis Khan‏

FROM MR AAMIR MUGHAL A RETIRED INTELLIGENCE BUREAU OFFICER


BBC Documentary on Genghis Khan

http://youtu.be/gnqQ3CmTVpo

Historically Correct & Well Researched.

--
http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/

Short History of the Decline of the American Century & Its Hegemony (2002 -12)

I AM NOT REALLY PUSHED ABOUT DECLINE OF USA . WE IN INDO PAK ARE REALLY F____D UP . WE SHOULD WORRY ABOUT OUR PIECE OF SHIT.

FROM MY FRIEND AMBASSADOR GAJENDRA SINGH

For publication.

I have put together my 9 articles on the decline of the American century and its hegemony .

http://tarafits.blogspot.in/2012/02/short-history-of-decline-of-american.html 

 

Short History of the Decline of the American Century & Its Hegemony (2002 -12) 

"Keynes's collective work amounted to a powerful argument that capitalism was by its very nature unstable and prone to collapse. Far from trending toward some magical state of equilibrium, capitalism would inevitably do the opposite. It would lurch over a cliff," --- Hyman Minsky.

"When there is a general change of conditions, it is as if the entire creation had been changed and the whole world been altered." - Ibn Khaldun

"History is ruled by an inexorable determinism in which the free choice of major historical figures plays a minimal role", Leo Tolstoy 

"History is but glorification of murderers, criminals and robbers." - Karl Popper

The author has kept a watch and written about the decline of the American Century and its hegemony since the first anniversary of 11 September, 2001

1.The decline of the American Century   Sept 11, 2002 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/DI11Ak06.html

2.The US Empire –Beginning of the End Game   24 Nov, 2006 http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15729.htm

3. The Decline and Coming Fall of US Hegemony March 30, 2008 http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m42600&hd=&size=1&l=e

4. Western Military-Capitalist Civilization in Disarray September 25, 2008 http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m47513; http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0386.htm

5. Corporate Culture and Greed Sink the American Republic 17 May, 2009 http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0442.htm

6. Confirmation of Pressure on Dollar and US Decline 8 October, 2009 http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0493.html

7. The Looming Mother of all Economic and Social Crisis 11 May, 2010

http://www.mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/2405-k-gajendra-singh.html, etc

8. Post Sept 2008 Crippled Economy & US Strategic Decline 4 July.2011

http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=11174

 

9.Post Bretton Woods; Emerging Outlines of New International Monetary Order

http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/16527-new-international-monetary.html

 

Amb(Retd) K Gajendra Singh

 http://tarafits.blogspot.com/2011/08/amb-rtd-k-gajendra-singh-cv-post.html

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN-A-WRITERS-PERCEPTIONS-FROM-2001-TO-2011

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Military-Decision-making-and-leadership

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971-PRINTING-ENABLED-Do-acknowledge-to-the-author

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22107238/HISTORY

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN-THIS-BOOK-CAN-BE-PRINTED-FROM-THIS-SITE

Attack On Iran: Russia Makes Military Moves In Caucasus, Black Sea

RUSSIA WILL BE THE ONLY POWER THAT CAN SAVE IRAN

Attack On Iran: Russia Makes Military Moves In Caucasus, Black Sea

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2899679.ece

 The Hindu
 February 16, 2012

 Attack on Iran not far off, says Russian General
 Vladimir Radyuhin

 ====

 ...Russian military bases in the Caucasus – in Armenia, South Ossetia and Abhazia - had been put on combat alert. Military experts speculate that the U.S. may carry out strikes at Iran from Turkey, and that Georgia and Azerbaijan may be also drawn into the conflict.

 To prepare for war contingency, Russian warships in the Black Sea have been deployed closer to Georgia, and the Caspian flotilla has been relocated from Astrakhan to ports closer to Azerbaijan...

 ====

 As tensions continue to build up over Iran's nuclear programme, the Russian military is bracing for a possible spillover of a large-scale conflict into Russia's southern regions.

 Russia's highest ranking military officer has warned of a possible attack against Iran in the next few months.

 "Iran, of course, is a sore spot. I think some kind of decision [to attack it] will be made probably closer to summer," General Nikolai Makarov, head of the Russian General Staff, told a press conference in Moscow. He added that Iran was capable of giving "a sharp repulse" to the attack.

 Another Russian top military brass, Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov said that given the current military build-up in the Persian Gulf, any spark could set off the fire of a regional conflict.

 Adm. Komoyedov, who heads the Defence Committee in the State Duma lower house, told foreign military attaches in Moscow that the U.S. could attack Iran any time now with a simultaneous launch of 450 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the warships deployed in the region.

 Russia is concerned that a conflict in the Persian Gulf may spill over into the Caucasus.

 The Russian General Staff has set up a "situation centre" to monitor developments in the Persian Gulf "in real time", General Makarov said.

 "We are analyzing the situation round-the-clock and do not rule out any options," Russia's highest ranking military officer said.

 Russian media quoted defence sources as saying that Russian military bases in the Caucasus – in Armenia, South Ossetia and Abhazia - had been put on combat alert. Military experts speculate that the U.S. may carry out strikes at Iran from Turkey, and that Georgia and Azerbaijan may be also drawn into the conflict. Earlier this week Iran lodged a formal protest with Azerbaijan over alleged Israeli spy activity in Azerbaijan.

 To prepare for war contingency, Russian warships in the Black Sea have been deployed closer to Georgia, and the Caspian flotilla has been relocated from Astrakhan to ports closer to Azerbaijan, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported.

 Annual war games in Russia's North Caucasus this year will be scaled up from tactical/operational to strategic level, that is, will involve "Russia's entire military setup," according to media reports. The Russian Defence Ministry has announced plans to supply to the Southern Military District 40 new aircraft and to assign to it two special commando units.

After NATO's War On Libya, Nation Turned Into Concentration Camp

After NATO's War On Libya, Nation Turned Into Concentration Camp


http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_02_16/66227599/

 Voice of Russia
 February 16, 2012

 Libyan militias "torture detainees to death"
 Vladimir Gladkov

 ====

 The Western sponsors of this violent democratization prefer to hush up the fact that the crimes are being committed by no one but rebel militias who now control much of the country.

 [M]ilitias keeps terrorizing civilians, spreading death, suffering and bloody chaos across the nation. At the same time, the fall of Gaddafi's regime grants endless possibilities to all kinds of extremists, including radical Islamists. And the West, which, in effect, sponsored the turning of Libya into a war zone, could face the bitter consequences of its uninvited interference very soon.

 ====

 While most of the Western world was busy praising the Arab Spring as a long-awaited "triumph of democracy", the voices of a few skeptics were completely ignored. However, it soon turned out that not only did the revolution fail to bring about any improvements, it actually made the situation much worse. The recently reported scandal with the persecution of pro-democracy groups by Egyptian authorities is now being followed by another report showing that Libyan militias are, in effect, turning the country into a concentration camp.

 Human rights groups led by the Amnesty International have been reporting grave violations of human rights which have been perpetrated by Libyan militias for a long time. One of the main documents to rebut the widespread stereotype that the only side guilty of committing war crimes was Gaddafi's army is Amnesty's report titled "The Battle for Libya - Killings, Disappearances and Torture". The report clearly demonstrates that abductions, torture and killings were also widely practiced by Libyan rebels.

 The West, which had put great efforts into supporting the Libyan rebellion, initially tried to ignore alarming reports, but the escalation of the situation demonstrated that the violence was only getting extreme  by the day.

 "After all the promises to get detention centers under control, it is horrifying to find that there has been no progress to stop the use of torture", says Donatella Rovera of Amnesty International, commenting on the fact that the organization's representatives have met prisoners who showed marks indicating severe beatings and torture. Now even the UN has to admit that the situation has got out of control, claiming that 8,500 prisoners are being held by militias in about 60 detention centers. But at the same time, the UN pretends that the outrageous situation is nothing but a legacy of Gaddafi's era.

 "The former regime may have been toppled, but the harsh reality is that the Libyan people continue to have to live with its deep-rooted legacy," says Ian Martin, the UN's special envoy to Libya.

 The Western sponsors of this violent democratization prefer to hush up the fact that the crimes are being committed by no one but rebel militias who now control much of the country. After the toppling of Gaddafi, militia leaders broke their pledge to give up weapons and announced that they intended to maintain their autonomy as "guardians of revolution".

 The efforts of Libya's new government, the National Transitional Council, to extend its control over the nation ended in embarrassing failure.

 Right now there are hundreds of armed militia brigades on Libya's territory, many of whom run their own detention centers for those accused of being loyal to Gaddafi's regime. According to another Amnesty report, at least 12 detainees have died since September 2011 as a result of torture. "They had been suspended in contorted positions; beaten for hours with whips, cables, plastic hoses, metal chains and bars, and wooden sticks and given electric shocks with live wires and taser-like electroshock weapons," say the group's representatives. "Their bodies were covered in bruises, wounds and cuts and some had had nails pulled off," the group claims.

 Now the West has to admit that there is absolutely no hope for any improvement of the situation. While the NTC remains helpless, the militias keeps terrorizing civilians, spreading death, suffering and bloody chaos across the nation. At the same time, the fall of Gaddafi's regime grants endless possibilities to all kinds of extremists, including radical Islamists. And the West, which, in effect, sponsored the turning of Libya into a war zone, could face the bitter consequences of its uninvited interference very soon.

Pakistani Journalist Kidnapped by Pakistans Infamous and dubious Security Officials

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: mh mediaperson <mhmediaperson@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 8:27 PM
Subject: [pakistanpress] The story of Faizan Journalist
To: pakistanpress <pakistanpress@googlegroups.com>


Dear All,

Muhammad faizan a senior journalist working with Islamabad based newspaper daily Ausaf has been taken away by security officials while he was visiting Osama residential compound in Abbottabad  along with a foreign journalist today February 16,  2012. His wife told Dawn News about the incident. PFUJ President Pervez Shaukat has been informed about the incident who is making all out efforts for his safe and early recovery.

regards

MH

--
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Why Did Petraeus Fire the Auditor Charged With Stopping Flow of Pentagon Funds to Taliban?

I remember asking people what happened to Admiral Dussault while I was in Kabul 2010-2011.

 

I had worked for her when I was there - 2008.

 

No one knew why, or no one would say why she left so soon after heading up the task force on contract corruption.

http://www.truth-out.org/why-did-petraeus-fire-auditor-charged-stopping-flow-pentagon-funds-taliban/1329322428

 

Why Did Petraeus Fire the Auditor Charged With Stopping Flow of Pentagon Funds to Taliban?

Wednesday 15 February 2012

by: Ralph Lopez, War Is A Crime | News Analysis

Truthout needs your support today - please donate and help us win this one-day challenge by clicking here!

The story which reared its head then dropped off the radar in summer of 2010 is still alive: that the major source of funding for the Taliban is likely the Department of Defense itself, estimated around $400 million per year, which is funneled to Afghan "security" companies as "protection payments," for allowing the massive and constant ground traffic of convoys of supplies for US bases to crisscross the country, unhindered by attacks. So says a report, "Warlord Inc.," by a House subcommittee chaired by Rep. John Tierney.

The Soviet Union devoted nearly one-third of its force during its occupation to protecting its supply lines. The Americans have figured out a different way: pay insurgents to not attack. The Tierney report - the report of the House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, laid bare the system of payments of Department of Defense contracting funds to Afghan warlords with ties to both sides of the conflict. Through both extensive data collection and excerpts the Subcommittee describes the realities of getting military supplies to the network of over 200 American bases and outposts across Afghanistan. The CEO of one "security company says:

"Matiullah has the road from Kandahar to Tarin Kowt completely under his control. No one can travel without Matiullah without facing consequences. There is no other way to get there. You have to either pay him, or fight him."

Thus the truth: This is a manufactured war. Without American dollars to finance its explosives, ammunition, rockets, and pay and support for its fighters, the Taliban might be little more than a nuisance. DoD money likely dwarfs the profits that insurgents take in from the opium trade. For an upper estimate on this amount, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) maintains:

Taliban insurgents draw some $125m/yr from drugs, which is more money than ten years ago,...

Unlike the Viet Cong, the Taliban attracts little ideological loyalty, and was widely despised by Afghans of all ethnicities during its rule. Few in number, during its time in power the Taliban's formula for enforcing its will was simple: fear. There was only one penalty for nearly every alleged infraction: death.

If you have not seen the film "The Kiterunner" based on Khaled Hosseini's best-selling (and accurate) novel, it is worth watching. In one scene the hero, back in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to save his nephew, engages in a minor staring match with a Taliban patrol in the back of a pickup truck, at a stoplight. His driver, in a sweat after the truck drives off, hisses angrily: "Don't EVER do that again! That was very dangerous!"

For fighters the Taliban depends on being able to pay a $10 a day wage, plus help with food and medicine. None other than a former Commander of US Forces in Afghanistan, General Karl Eikenberry, acknowledged to Congress in 2007:

"Much of the enemy force is drawn from the ranks of unemployed men looking for wages to support their families"

Now it turns out, completely ignored by the American press, before being appointed to head the CIA by Obama, General David Petraeus quietly fired the 2-star Admiral who was appointed to head the response to the revelation of Taliban funding by the US, Admiral Kathleen Dussault, an expert auditor. Dussault was replaced by a one-star with no experience in accounting and little chance of success in stopping the flow of funds.

In April of 2011 Matthew J. Nasuti wrote for the Kabul Press:

Last year, General David Petraeus hired and then three months later secretly fired Rear Admiral Kathleen Dussault, who was the director in Afghanistan of Task Force 2010. The incident and its significance were ignored by the Western news media. Task Force 2010 was created in mid-June 2010, with much fanfare by General Petraeus. It was supposed to ensure that no NATO funds were being diverted directly or indirectly to the Taliban or al-Qaeda. Admiral Dussault was appointed at its director. She had the perfect credentials for the job as she is an expert auditor with an extensive background in logistics and contracting. On September 29, 2010, Admiral Dussault was quietly relieved of command and shipped out of Afghanistan. She was hurriedly replaced by a junior one-star general with no experience in either logistics or contracting. It is believed that Admiral Dussault pushed too hard to cut off the diversion of U.S. funds to the Taliban.

Petraeus, recall, was who former CENTCOM chief Admiral William Fallon once derided as "an ass-kissing little chickenshit," adding, "I hate people like that."

The mothers of soldiers in Afghanistan should be descending on Congress and the White House in droves. This is the money which buys the weapons which kill their sons.

Nasuti, who pursued claims by the Pentagon in email correspondence and found a number of them false, concludes in his report:

Task Force 2010 was created as a sham to placate members of Congress and to present the appearance that NATO was trying to cut off the flow of Western funds to the Taliban and al-Qaeda. In reality NATO has concluded that it needs to fund both sides in this war with U.S. tax dollars. The casualties in this farce are the American people, the Afghan people, our troops in the field and Admiral Dussault. The victors are the Taliban, who continue to receive $400 million in U.S. taxpayer funds each year. Pentagon officials continue to pay their adversaries not to attack and then they have the audacity to testify before Congress that the number of attacks has dropped and that the Taliban is on the run.

Why? This is well-known to the many who have been marginalized by the mainstream media and are not allowed onto the airwaves with their assessments, like America's Mom Cindy Sheehan, who says it's about money. A Wall Street newsletter InvestingDaily.com in an April 2010 article "How to profit from the war in Afghanistan" gushed:

"The Afghanistan troop surge means profits!...the likelihood that the U.S. will end up the loser in Afghanistan is a long-term worry. In the short-term, military contractors doing business in Afghanistan will make a boatload of money..."

No words have continued to ring out from beyond the grave like double Medal of Honor winner General Smedley Butler's, the Marine general who renounced his profession and spent the remainder of his life giving his "War is a Racket" speech across the country:

"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives... A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."

The "burn rate" for the occupation, the military's term for the rate of spending, is over $8 billion a month or $10 million every hour, making it the most expensive war in US history.

Were but a miniscule fraction of the hundreds of billions of dollars now given over to war profiteering to be spent on trustworthy, Afghan-led development programs like the National Solidarity Program, which is chronically short of funds, by amounts each year which are less than what is spent on the war in one week, the war would be over, and the US would have a solid ally in the Afghan people. Unemployment there would not be from 40-80 percent (depending on region) and perhaps children would not freeze to death in the winter right in the middle of Kabul.

The World Bank reports 60% stunting among children for lack of food and one-third of all Afghan children underweight.

But as Cindy Sheehan once told me, there's no money in that.