Michael Hoffman post concerning the Wikileaks

[joeymaclover]

http://revisionistreview.blogspot.com/2 ... ar-in.html

Sunday, July 25, 2010
Surprise revelations concerning the war in Afghanistan

Americans fighting the war in Afghanistan have long harbored strong suspicions that Pakistan's military spy service has guided the Afghan insurgency with a hidden hand, even as Pakistan receives more than $1 billion a year from American taxpayers, according to a trove of secret military field reports made public July 25, 2010.


The documents and reports, made available by an organization called WikiLeaks, suggest that Pakistan, an ostensible ally of the United States, allows representatives of its spy service to meet directly with the Taliban in secret strategy sessions to organize networks of militant groups that fight against American soldiers in Afghanistan, and even hatch plots to assassinate Afghan leaders.

The reports suggest that the Pakistani spy agency (ISI) runs what American officials have long suspected is a double game — appeasing certain American demands for cooperation while angling to exert influence in Afghanistan through many of the same insurgent networks that the Americans are fighting to eliminate.

Behind the scenes, both Bush and Obama administration officials as well as top American commanders have confronted top Pakistani military officers with accusations of ISI complicity in attacks in Afghanistan, and even presented top Pakistani officials with lists of ISI and military operatives believed to be working with militants. Several Congressional officials said that despite repeated requests over the years for information about Pakistani support for militant groups, they usually receive vague and inconclusive briefings from the Pentagon and C.I.A.

Other revelations:

The Taliban have used portable heat-seeking missiles against US and NATO aircraft, a fact that has not been publicly disclosed by the military. This type of weapon helped the Afghan mujahedeen defeat the Soviet occupation in the 1980s.

Secret commando units like Task Force 373 — a classified group of Army and Navy special operatives — work from a "capture/kill list" of about 70 top insurgent commanders. These missions, which have been stepped up under the Obama administration, claim notable successes, but have sometimes gone wrong, killing civilians and acting as recruitment tools for the Taliban.

The military employs more and more drone aircraft to survey the battlefield and strike targets in Afghanistan, although their performance is less impressive than officially portrayed. Some crash or collide, forcing American troops to undertake risky retrieval missions before the Taliban can claim the drone's weaponry.

The Central Intelligence Agency has expanded paramilitary operations inside Afghanistan. The units launch ambushes, order airstrikes and conduct night raids. From 2001 to 2008, the C.I.A. paid the budget of Afghanistan's spy agency and ran it as a virtual subsidiary.

The insurgents use a network of spies, double agents, collaborators and informers — anything to undercut coalition forces and the effort to build a credible and effective Afghan government capable of delivering security and services.

The reports repeatedly describe instances when the insurgents have been seen wearing Afghan government uniforms, and other times when they have roamed the country or appeared for battle in the very Ford Ranger pickup trucks that the United States had provided the Afghan Army and police force.

The reports paint a disheartening picture of the Afghan police and soldiers at the center of the American exit strategy. American taxpayers are spending billions to train the Afghan forces to secure the country. But the police have proved to be an especially risky investment and are often described as distrusted, even loathed, by Afghan civilians. The reports recount episodes of police brutality, corruption, extortion and kidnapping. Some police officers defect to the Taliban. Others are accused of collaborating with insurgents, arms smugglers and highway bandits. Afghan police officers defect with trucks or weapons, items captured during successful ambushes or raids.

One report described the case of a police chief in Zurmat, in Paktia Province, who was accused of falsely reporting that his officers had been in a firefight so he could receive thousands of rounds of new ammunition, which he sold in a bazaar.
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Support our troops - bring them home

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Posted by Michael Hoffman at 7/25/2010 07:21:00 PM   Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Google Buzz
Labels: Afghanistan, another Vietnam, billions squandered, Pakistan, quagmire, tax-and-spend
1 comments:

 Anonymous said...This is my comment
Mr. Hoffman: I hate to say it but the spin doctors like Rush, Beck and Obermann will twist, turn and spew out lies that will make even the most stupefied person determine there must be something wrong or will they(the masses) continue to swallow the red pill?

8:41 PM
           

[joeymaclover]

   


Watch out fellas, they probably have to do something to get this off the front pages!  
 :shock:  :shock:  :shock: