Blackwater in Pakistan

From The Nation comes Jeremy Scahill's latest, very important article.  He discusses the "covert operations" perpetrated by Blackwater and other mercenary war opportunists like DynCorp within the framework of official government policies, now exposed by Wikileaks, connecting the dots.  It's all so reminiscent of  our "special advisers" in Vietnam and the terrible toll it took on our country.  We're neck deep in the big muddy, but the big fools say to push on.

The (Not So) Secret (Anymore) US War in Pakistan

Jeremy Scahill

Despite sustained denials by US officials spanning more than a year, US military Special Operations Forces have been conducting offensive operations inside Pakistan, helping direct US drone strikes and conducting joint operations with Pakistani forces against Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in north and south Waziristan and elsewhere in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, according to secret cables released as part of the Wikileaks document dump. According to an October 9, 2009 cable classified by Anne Patterson, the US ambassador to Pakistan, the operations were "almost certainly [conducted] with the personal consent of [Pakistan's] Chief of Army Staff General Kayani." The operations were coordinated with the US Office of the Defense Representative in Pakistan. A US special operations source told The Nation that the US forces described in the cable as "SOC(FWD)-PAK" were "forward operating troops" from the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the most elite force within the US military made up of Navy SEALs, Delta Force and Army Rangers.

The cables also confirm aspects of a Nation story from November 2009, "The Secret US War in Pakistan," which detailed offensive combat operations by JSOC in Pakistan. In response to the Nation story, Pentagon spokesperson Geoff Morrell called it "conspiratorial" and explicitly denied that US special operations forces were doing anything other than "training" in Pakistan. More than a month after the October 2009 cable from the US embassy in Pakistan confirming JSOC combat missions, Morrell told reporters: "We have basically, I think, a few dozen forces on the ground in Pakistan who are involved in a train-the-trainer mission.  These are Special Operations Forces.  We've been very candid about this.  They are—they have been for months, if not years now, training Pakistani forces so that they can in turn train other Pakistani military on how to—on certain skills and operational techniques.  And that's the extent of our—our, you know, military boots on the ground in Pakistan." According to the October 2009 cable, Morrell's statement was false.

[...]  The ability of US special operations forces to operate in Pakistan is clearly viewed as a major development by the US embassy. "Patient relationship-building with the military is the key factor that has brought us to this point," according to the October 2009 cable. It also notes the potential consequences of the activities leaking: "These deployments are highly politically sensitive because of widely-held concerns among the public about Pakistani sovereignty and opposition to allowing foreign military forces to operate in any fashion on Pakistani soil. Should these developments and/or related matters receive any coverage in the Pakistani or US media, the Pakistani military will likely stop making requests for such assistance."

Such statements might help explain why Ambassador Richard Holbrooke lied to the world when he said bluntly in July 2010: "People think that the US has troops in Pakistan, well, we don't."

A US special operations veteran who worked on Pakistan issues in 2009 reviewed the Wikileaks cables for The Nation. He said he was taken aback that the cable was not classified higher than "SECRET" given that it confirms the active involvement of US soldiers from the highly-secretive, elite Joint Special Operations Command engaging in combat—not just training—in Pakistan. And offensive combat at that. JSOC operations are compartmentalized and highly classified.

[...]  In 2006, twelve "tactical action operatives" from Blackwater were recruited for a secret JSOC raid inside Pakistan, targeting an Al Qaeda facility. The operation was code-named "Vibrant Fury." Which raises another issue: the activities described in the October 2009 cable very closely align with what a US military intelligence source, a US special forces source and a former Blackwater executive told The Nation in November 2009, namely that JSOC was running an operation in Pakistan where "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, 'snatch and grabs' of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan.… 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." The arrangement, which involved a web of subcontractors, allowed the Pakistani Frontier Corps—the force cited in the cable—to work with JSOC operators while simultaneously denying that Americans were involved.[...]

 [...]  In November 2009, 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, specifically denied that Blackwater performs work on drone strikes or intelligence for JSOC in Pakistan. Captain Kirby told The Nation if it published the story it would "be on thin ice." The US embassy and Pakistan's interior Minister Rehman Malik both denied Blackwater was operating in Pakistan.

In January 2010, on a visit to Pakistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, appeared to contradict that line, telling a Pakistani TV station, "They [Blackwater and another private security firm, DynCorp] are operating as individual companies here in Pakistan," according to a DoD transcript of the interview. As Gates's comments began to make huge news in Pakistan, US defense officials tried to retract his statement. As the Wall Street Journal reported, "Defense officials tried to clarify the comment…telling reporters that Mr. Gates had been speaking about contractor oversight more generally and that the Pentagon didn't employ [Blackwater] in Pakistan."[...]

[...]  Since the Nation story originally ran, Blackwater has continued to work under the Obama administration. In June, the company won a $100 million global contract with the CIA and continues to operate in Afghanistan, where it protects senior US officials and trains Afghan forces. Earlier this year, Blackwater's owner, Erik Prince, put the company up for sale and moved to the Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Whether Blackwater or former Blackwater operatives continue to work in Pakistan is not known. What is clear is that there is great reason to believe that the October 2009 cable from Ambassador Anne Patterson describing US special operations forces activities in Pakistan represents only a tiny glimpse into one of the darkest corners of current US policy in Pakistan.

I urge you to read the full story here:  

http://www.thenation.com/blog/156765/not-so-secret-anymore-us-war-pakistan 

Preemptive Strike on the First Amendment

Sticks & stones may break my bones but urine is WAAAAAAAAAY over the line! It's all too ridiculously predictable, like a terrible movie. Don't you wish we change the ending?

Storm Troopers at the RNC

By Ray McGovern
September 8, 2008

[...] When I flew into St. Paul on the evening of Aug. 30, I encountered a din in local media about “preemptive strikes” on those already congregating there to demonstrate against the Iraq war and injustice against the poor in our country.

St. Paul’s Pioneer Press expressed surprise that “despite preemptive police searches” and arrests, a group calling itself “the RNC Welcoming Committee” was still intent on “disrupting the convention.”

[...] Ironically, it was FBI Special Agent Coleen Rowley, living in the St. Paul area, who served warning of precisely that in her hard-hitting Feb. 26, 2003, letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller, three weeks before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. [NYT, March 6, 2003]

Confronting Mueller on a number of key issues (like “What is the FBI’s evidence with respect to the claimed connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq?”), Rowley warned of the trickle-down effect of “the administration’s new policy of ‘preemptive strikes’”:

“I believe it would be prudent to be on guard against the possibility that the looser ‘preemptive strike’ rationale being applied to situations abroad could migrate back home, fostering a more permissive attitude on the part of law enforcement officers in this country.”

Rowley called Mueller’s attention to the abuses of civil rights that had already occurred since 9/11, and pointedly warned “particular vigilance may be required to head off undue pressure (including subtle encouragement) to detain or ‘round up’ suspects.”

[...] The “preemption” began on Friday, Aug. 29, well before the RNC began on Monday, Sept. 1.

An academic doing research on social movement organizations, who for several months has been observing the main protesters — the RNC Welcoming Committee, the Coalition to March on the RNC and End the War, and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign — provided this account:

“On Friday evening the space in St. Paul that was being rented by the Welcoming Committee was raided by riot police, who knocked in the door with automatic weapons drawn, forced the 60-70 activists inside onto the floor, handcuffed them, then proceeded to confiscate all the banner-making supplies and movement literature. [Is this how a democratic country treats its citizens?]

“Over the course of several hours the cops interrogated, photographed, ran warrant checks, and eventually, released everyone one by one. Then they closed down the space for a code violation. The next morning a city code inspector arrived and found no basis for closing the space.

“Saturday morning was one of escalation and terror. The Ramsey County Sheriff Department, together with the St. Paul police, Homeland Security, and the FBI raided four private houses. At 8:00 AM, dozens of cops in SWAT gear broke down the door of one house where about a dozen activists were staying. They were awakened with rifle barrels in their faces and forced to lie face down for more than an hour. [my bold]

“The cops stole all the computers and other electronic devices in the house, and core members of the Welcoming Committee sleeping there were arrested. It being a holiday weekend, those arrested for alleged crimes could not arrive in court until Wednesday, at the earliest. Thus, those trying to organize demonstrations will be in jail for the entire time the RNC is going on. Four other houses were raided and dozens of activists were detained.”

The academic who wrote the report appealed to those concerned over “this enormous police over-kill” to contact the Twin Cities’ mayors and demand an end to the “witch hunt.”

He added, “The people who were arrested were some of the gentlest, most dedicated activists I’ve ever met.” A far cry from the “criminal enterprise” described by notorious Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher.[...]

[... St. Paul City Councilman Dave] Thune objected in particular to Fletcher’s deputies using battering rams to knock down doors, then entering with guns drawn, and forcing people to the ground, [my bold] as they did on Friday night.

[...] On the fringes there was some property damage and further arrests. What violence there was bore the earmarks of provocation by the likes of Sheriff Fletcher and his Homeland Security, FBI, and, according to one well-sourced report, Blackwater buddies.

That’s right. Agent provocateurs.

Primary targets of the repression were the alternative media, [my bold] including any and all those who might have a camera to record the brutality — as was successfully done at the RNC in New York four years ago.

The manner in which Amy Goodman and the two producers of “Democracy Now!” were deliberately mistreated was clearly to serve as a warning that the rules had gone up in smoke — the First Amendment be damned.

[...] I observed no violence at all; yet, the police/FBI/national guard/and who-knows-who-else decided they needed to clear the streets. My friends and I narrowly escaped being tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed, or worse. It was an overwhelming show of force — not to protect, but to intimidate.

[...] After the widespread kidnapping, torture, indefinite imprisonment, and our cowardly Congress’ empowerment of the president to imprison sine die anyone he might designate an “enemy combatant” — after all that...well, it seems to me that reading a person his/her rights takes on more, not less, importance.

Not to mention the massive repression then under way right outside the convention hall.

[...] The young protesters had some success in exposing infiltrators in their ranks. During confrontations, members of the Welcoming Committee, in particular, took copious photos of law enforcement officers and then memorized the faces. [my bold]

This tactic worked like a charm in one of the St. Paul parks, when a man who looked like a protester — dark clothes, backpack, a bit disheveled — walked by.

One of the protesters recognized the man’s face and searched through her camera until she found a photo of the man actually performing the raid on the Welcoming Committee’s headquarters on Friday night.

The young protesters asked the man, and two associates, to leave the park, at which point the three hustled into a nearby unmarked sedan.

The license plate, observed by a Pioneer Press reporter, traced back to the detective unit of the Hennepin County sheriff’s office, according to the county’s Central Mobile Equipment Division.

Protesters later picked two other men out of the day’s planned march — one because he was wearing brand-new tennis shoes. [Ah! The shoes always give cops away. Or jeans that look ironed.] The two left without indicating whether they were with the organs of public safety.[...]

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. He is a member of the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/090808a.html
Hey, kids, special treat! They took everything but the kitchen sink. Read it yourself and believe it or not.
Police document

Warrant for Minneapolis raid

National Assembly to End the War

Click on the title above to get the YouTube.com video flyer!
I post events as soon as I learn of them, so although it's only a week away, I hope many of you can make it to Cleveland next weekend to attend this event. This could be the "Port Huron" event [look it up,kids!] for the 21st Century!
Iraq Moratorium Action Proposal
Posted on 6/14/08 by National Assembly
National Assembly
AN OPEN NATIONAL CONFERENCE TO SUPPORT THE DEMANDS:
Stop the War in Iraq! Bring the Troops Home NOW!
We invite everyone who opposes the war and occupation to attend an open democratic national antiwar conference to place on the agenda of the entire US antiwar movement a proposal for the largest possible united mass mobilization to stop the war and end the occupation.
Saturday, June 28 & Sunday, June 29, 2008
Cleveland, Ohio
Speakers include:
- Donna Dewitt, President, South Carolina AFL-CIO
- Fred Mason, President of the Maryland AFL-CIO and one of the National Co-Convenors of U.S. Labor Against the War
- Greg Coleridge, Program Director, Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee; Coordinator, Northeast Ohio Anti-War Coalition
- Jonathan Hutto, Navy Petty Officer, author, Anti-War Soldier and co-founder of Appeal for Redress
- Jeremy Scahill, Author, of “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army”
- Jesse Diaz, Organizer of the May 1, 2006 immigrant rights boycott

- Cindy Sheehan, by video

http://natassembly.org/
National Assembly
P.O. Box 21008
Cleveland, OH 44121
Phone: 216.736.4704
Email: NatAssembly@aol.com

Iraq Town Hall Meeting Will Be Web Cast!

Every participant in this event has valuable information to share. I urge you to log in or if you're in Neu Yawk, get to Town Hall in NYC!

True Crimes
The Untold Story Behind the Devastation of Iraq
June 3, 2008

LIVE WEBCAST!

7:00 PM

On June 3, 2008, join bestselling author JEREMY SCAHILL, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer
CHRIS HEDGES, journalist LAILA AL-ARIAN, and the New Yorker's SEYMOUR HERSH, as they go behind the headlines to tell the untold story of the occupation of Iraq, the daily plight of Iraqi civilians, and the ongoing role of private mercenaries in America's "War on Terror."
The event is a dual book launch for COLLATERAL DAMAGE: AMERICA'S WAR AGAINST IRAQI CIVILIANS by Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian, and the updated paperback edition of BLACKWATER: THE RISE OF THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL MERCENARY ARMY by Jeremy Scahill.
The conversation will be followed by audience questions and a book signing.
Tickets are available for the event at the Town Hall Box Office, 123 W. 43rd St., New York City (www.the-townhall-nyc.org / 212-997-6661) or at Ticketmaster (212-307-4100/ www.ticketmaster.com)
Cosponsored by The Nation, Public Concern Foundation, Democracy Now!, The Indypendent, CERSC, Democrats.com, Peace Action New York, Alternet, Tricycle, The Armenian National Committee, Center for Constitutional Rights, and Veterans for Common Sense.
http://ccrjustice.org/live-webcast-true-crimes

Blackwater Rapes Self-Determination

That these scum suckers consider themselves Christians is the most amazing thing. Eric Prince wants to ram his "vocational" school down the throat of San Diego, no matter what the residents think, then he'll preach "values." I guess Prince & Co think they are good citizens, too!

ACTION ALERT! Tue, 27 May 2008

Do Not Allow Blackwater to Bully the City of San Diego
On May 20 2008 in response to the City of San Diego denying the Blackwater mercenary company occupancy of their proposed new training center in Otay Mesa, Blackwater told the San Diego City Council "If we do not hear from you by close of business Friday, we will be forced to consider taking other steps to enforce and protect Blackwater’s rights" after stating that it was their right to train people in counter insurgency operations whether the city and the people want them here or not.
Now we know, on May 27 Blackwater filed suit against the City of San Diego.
BLACKWATER WORLDWIDE SUES CITY OF SAN DIEGO

Council Member Ben Hueso alerted us at today's City Council meeting that Blackwater Worldwide has filed a lawsuit against the City of San Diego. They want to restrain the City from withholding their occupancy permit on a permanent basis, so they can open their "vocational school" on June 2. In an interview with KPBS' Amitra Sharma, Blackwater representative Brian Bonfiglio charged that the city is "trying to curry favor with activists." WE NEED YOU TO PLEASE WRITE TO THE CITY COUNCIL, CITY ATTORNEY MIKE AGUIRRE AND MAYOR SANDERS IMMEDIATELY asking them to stand firm and not let Blackwater bully its way into San Diego!
Please go to http://www.prcsd.org/ and Click on the Red Action alert; this will take you to our No Mercenaries page where you can:
1. Read Blackwater's complaint against the City (in the Potrero/San Diego column)
2. Link to Amitra Sharma's story on KPBS Radio (in the Electronic Media column)
3. Link to the e-mail addresses of city officials (in the Potrero/San Diego column)
4. Read about the Grand Jury probe into Blackwater shootings today in Washington, D.C. where at least 3 Iraqis testified about the September 17, 2007 shooting in Bagdad's Nisour Square (Mercenary News column) The lawsuit demonstrates just what Blackwater is really about--profiting from war, social unrest and suffering at any cost. It is outrageous that Blackwater is using taxpayer dollars--i.e., their ill-gained profits--to force itself on San Diego. Citizens in San Diego and the City are already suffering from hard economic times and suing the city is another theft of taxpayer money. Blackwater also says that denying them their occupancy is a violation of their Constitutional rights and that they are being treated unfairly! Since when does Blackwater play by the rules?

Let the City know that we don't want Blackwater here under any circumstances.

Blackwater's suit will be heard some time this week in Federal Court; when we find out details--day, time--we'll let you know.
Carol Jahnkow, Director, Peace Resource Center of San Diego http://www.prcsd.org/
For the really wonky & lawyers, go here to read the complaint in pdf format: http://www.prcsd.org/mercs.html

Christ Killers, Pt. 2

Here is a different site which is dedicated to analyzing the images which are promoted to manipulate our thoughts:
No Caption Needed is a book and a blog, each dedicated to discussion of the role that photojournalism and other visual practices play in a vital democratic society. No caption needed, but many are provided.
…Blackwater, Worldwide, formerly Blackwater, USA—and the change of name is notable in an age of empire and globalization—is a “private contractor” with multi-billion dollar government contracts to train U.S. military and paramilitary personnel and to provide independent security forces who serve, in Prince’s words, as “gap fillers” with the “skills the U.S. government needs to operate domestically and abroad.
“Gap fillers” is a euphemism for “private armies” or “mercenaries,” terms that Prince steadfastly rejects. But there can be little question as to what Blackwater imagines its continuing “mission” to be, as indicated in the poster titled “The MISSION Continues,” available for purchase at the Blackwater Proshop for $15.00…
…the appeal here is not just to an action narrative driven by an adolescent attraction to pyrotechnics, but to a visual aesthetic of color, angle of view, background and gesture that draws directly from the lucrative, fantasy world of single-shooter video games such as Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction.
…what should really draw our attention is an increasingly normative culture of war that fuels and enables a world in which entities like Blackwater can prosper as they give new meaning to phrases like “Playground of Destruction,” or in which the fantasy that “global stability” can be accomplished by “gap fillers” is anything more than a surrealistic “field of dreams.” And that is something we all share a responsibility for.
http://www.nocaptionneeded.com/?cat=9

Christ Killers, Pt. 1 of 2

Gosh, I forgot how insightful and incredibly informative Bag News Notes is! This web site specializes in deconstructing the media, picking at pictures we glance over with little thought. Images create concepts beyond words, and the subliminal message carries the biggest BANG!
Seeing The Enemy, Oct 16, 2007
by John Louis Lucaites and Robert Hariman
The photograph above, which appeared in this week’s Washington Post, is ominous and foreboding. Shot through a glass door, the viewer is separated from Prince by an invisible barrier that is marked by the Blackwater brand. Cast in dark shadows and apart from the contrasting light, he is framed at a slight but nevertheless low angle that puts the viewer just beneath the line of sight of his icy cold stare, a look which expresses his utter contempt for those on the other side of the glass, and by extension all that they stand for, including the rule of law.
http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/2007/10/seeing-the-enem.html

Braggard Buffoon Time

Tee hee! He got his talking points mixed up, because he's supposed to say the losers are us lefters. Never mind. But I do feel sorry for that poor woman who has to work with him everyday. She never gets a word in, he never listens to her, so why bother coming to work? Oh, I forgot she gets a bazillion dollars to look hot while delivering "news."
Have Mercy, Have Mercy!
By Josh Marshall

It may be a first. Castration via live satellite hook up.
This morning, tough guy Joe Scarborough unloaded on "Iraqi losers" for complaining about Blackwater for blowing away so many Iraqi civilians.
Moments later, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) comes on the show and sends Scarborough scurrying for cover. Take a look. You'll get a kick out of it ...

Joe Scarborough Takes on "Iraqi Losers" About Blackwater

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_gUG5nh8YU

Stop Blackwater

I want to believe Congress will do the right thing, but reading through this article makes it seem like they're playing good cop/bad cop. One step forward, two steps back, again?

Private soldiers no longer above the law
Ewen MacAskill in Washington, Thursday October 4, 2007, Guardian Unlimited

Although some Republican senators described the wording of the House bill as sloppy, Democratic leaders in the senate said they intend to push forward with a similar bill. They said they wanted the legislation to go to the president as quickly as possible.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2183843,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

Blackwater: FedEx of Bagdad?

Blackwater: Hired Guns, Above the Law
It takes about 4 minutes to watch the video, and after you'll understand more about BushCo's agenda than 2 years of the NY Times.

Then read The Nation report and be thankful the Senate had testimony from Jeremy Scahill on Friday regarding his investigations of the "contractor" was awarded an initial $27 million no-bid contract to guard Ambassador Paul Bremer.

Editor's Note: This is an edited transcript of the prepared testimony of Jeremy Scahill before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, September 21, 2007

$27 million no-bid contract to guard Ambassador Paul Bremer
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071008/scahill0921

See also:
Blackwater, The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, Jeremy Scahill, May 2007 ISBN: 1560259795

Blackwater Out of USA, Too!

Iraq gets tough with foreign security firms

Fred Attewill and agencies, Tuesday September 18, 2007, Guardian Unlimited

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2171904,00.html