U.S. Troops to Head to Pakistan Beginning early next year, U.S. Special Forces are expected to vastly expand their presence in Pakistan, as part of an effort to train and support indigenous counter-insurgency forces and clandestine counterterrorism units, according to defense officials involved with the planning.
These Pakistan-centric operations will mark a shift for the U.S. military and for U.S. Pakistan relations. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, the U.S. used Pakistani bases to stage movements into Afghanistan. Yet once the U.S. deposed the Taliban government and established its main operating base at Bagram, north of Kabul, U.S. forces left Pakistan almost entirely. Since then, Pakistan has restricted U.S. involvement in cross-border military operations as well as paramilitary operations on its soil. In full: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2007/12/musharrafs_woes_have_opened_a.html To which I commented: "UBL isn't in Pakistan OR the Autonomous Tribal Zone.. Nuh Uh! Saw him just the other day at the local niteclub. He's a real party animal! DUDE! He was drinking a mai tai, wearing a pair of dark shades and one of those rasta tams with the built in dreadlocks. Linton Kwesi Johnson & the Roots Radics were playing "Gonna Smash Their Brains In, Cause They Ain't Got Nothing In 'Em..." But enough of that. To My Point: What part of al-Qaeda STILL works for the Pentagon All these years after Kosovo... http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh ...and their buddy's airline recently 'lost' 1/4 million AK47s for us ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Bout ...while Blackwater USA was 'losing' 100s of thousands of Glock machine pistols & silencers to the Turkish underworld ...don't you understand Arkin? al Qaeda and a couple of thousand dead American civilians are NOT why we are willing to fight a three (or more) front war in the region. Enough local stability for Natural resource & Gas PIPELINE OPERATIONS is the reason. >From the CIA World Factbook entry for Pakistan: "...extensive natural gas reserves, limited petroleum, ...coal, iron ore, copper" ...and we must undo those nasty international treaties they've signed (and the US for the most part HAS NOT): "...Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands" Afghanistan: "...natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones..." Just think of ALL THE PIT MINES in AMERICA's back yard with the concurrent results of such operations: "...inadequate supplies of potable water; soil degradation; soil erosion; overgrazing; deforestation (much of the remaining forests are being cut down for fuel and building materials); desertification; air and water pollution from raw sewage, industrial wastes, and agricultural runoff..." ..If we didn't pillage, rape and scavenge these 'backwards countries & peoples' who just happen to be destroying the U.S. military and America's economy in much the same manner they destroyed Russia's. It's a desperate gamble Arkin. Tell the full truth dude, not just some US government created patina of plausibility & deniability that's been pounded into our brains since 9/11" --Da' Buffalo
