America's Shadow State in Pakistan: An Eye Opener about CIA's Secret War (Daily Beast 5 Dec 2011e)

Courtesy: "The Daily Beast, USA", 05 Dec 2011 
America's Shadow State in Pakistan
By El Lake   

U.S.-Pakistani relations may be on the rocks, but the CIA’s secret friends in the country fight on in units, prisons, and bases the United States has been building up since 9/11 to counter the pro-Taliban side of Pakistan’s military and intelligence services. Eli Lake reports exclusively.
Officially, America’s relations Pakistan’s military and intelligence services were in a tailspin in August.
Furious at having been kept in the dark ahead of the Americans’ May 2 raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound, Pakistan’s military had kept U.S. investigators out of the place until it was scrubbed for evidence and had refused them access to bin Laden’s wives for some time. And the Pakistanis had outed the CIA’s Islamabad station chief, putting his life at risk. Meanwhile, back in America, fears were rising over possible al Qaeda attacks on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11.
But in the shadows, far from the public rancor, Pakistani-U.S. cooperation quietly continued. In Quetta, the Taliban’s capital in exile, U.S. intelligence was monitoring the cellphone of the presumed planner of any Qaeda anniversary attacks, Younis al-Mauritani, the group’s newly named external operations chief. The Americans’ tracking data—signals intelligence, or sigint, as it’s known in the profession—was being shared in real time with the local branch of Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps. When his exact location was discovered, the Pakistanis smashed through the doors of his safe house and grabbed him along with two deputies.
Soon he was hundreds of miles away, at a special detention center in Punjab province, under intensive interrogation by a pro-U.S. faction of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence directorate. The Americans began getting regular reports on potential threats connected to the anniversary. CIA officials were even given an “unofficial” visit to question Mauritani directly.
Many in the U.S. government regarded the capture as a crowning achievement of a decade-long, multibillion-dollar effort to build a secret network of Pakistani security forces, intelligence operatives, counterterrorism fighters, and detention centers. Its objective had been to create a friendlier, more trustworthy alternative to Pakistan’s military and intelligence services.

America's "Do More" Mantra: Pakistani Soldiers and People wonder what more they can do in war on militancy - Reuters / Express Tribune, 13 Oct 2011

Courtesy: "Reuters / Daily Express Tribune", 13 Oct 2011
Pakistanis wonder what more they can do in war on militancy

RAWALPINDI: When Pakistan Army Sergeant Abdur Rehman hears America’s oft-repeated demand that Pakistan do more to fight militants, he glances down at the stumps of his legs and wonders what more it wants from him.
A mortar bomb shredded him from the waist down as he led an advance against Taliban fighters in 2007 in Pakistan’s unruly northwestern tribal areas on the Afghan border.
Instead of enjoying full retirement benefits, he underwent rehabilitation, was given artificial limbs and returned as a commander to a desk job in the militant-infested region where he was wounded.
“What more can Pakistanis do?,” asked Rehman, 35.
That question has often strained ties between Washington and Islamabad, but it has been posed far more frequently since US special forces killed Osama bin Laden in May in a Pakistani town, where he had apparently been living for years.

George Galloway redicules "Iran bomb plot" - Absurd US allegation about "Iranian plot to Kill Saudi Ambassador to Washington"

Iran dismisses US murder-plot claim: terms it "childish, amateur game" - By Aljazeera English, 12 Oct 2011

By George Galloway (MP of British Parliament)
October 12 2011
"It reads like a Hollywood film script" said the FBI Director Robert Mueller at the podium on the breakfast news unveiling what might be an Oscar-Winner at least in the "Wag the Dog" category.
Iran it seems, at least in the script, planned to blow up the Saudi Ambassador to Washington in a restaurant frequented by American senators and scores of other diners. And it contracted, through an Iranian- American citizen ( who appears to have been convicted long before his presumably forthcoming trial) guided by a named "member of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard", a Mexican Drug Cartel to do the job for a price of $1.5 million. Only the hired assassin was in fact an FBI operative, turned by them from his drug-dealing past into a sting operator. Thus the $100,000 down payment the Iranian-American allegedly paid into the agent's bank account goes to the US Treasury to reduce President Obama's deficit. Which may of course be where it came from in the first place.

Iran dismisses US murder-plot claim: terms it "childish, amateur game".- By Aljazeera English, 12 Oct 2011

Courtesy: "Aljazeera English", 12 Oct 2011

Iran dismisses US murder-plot claim

Allegation of involvement in bid to kill Saudi ambassador to Washington termed "childish, amateur game".

Iran has vigorously rejected US allegations that it had backed a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador, with a senior official describing them as a "childish, amateur game".
Ali Larijani, the parliament speaker, said on Wednesday the "fabricated allegations" aimed to divert attention from Arab uprisings that Iran says are inspired by its own Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah in 1979.
The primary evidence linking Iran to the alleged conspiracy is that the arrested suspect is said to have told US law-enforcement agents that he had been recruited and directed by men he understood were senior Quds Force officials.
The Quds Force is an unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

How Innocent: Dear Americans Spend $2 million on Pakistani Media for "No vested Interest of theirs"

US funding for Pakistani journalists raises questions

Who says, “There are NO Free Lunches” in this world? All rubbish.
Look, our dear Americans are spending $2 million of U.S Tax Payer’s money on “reporting of the U.S from Pakistani perspective”, without ANY interest of theirs. How innocent.
We have “NO right to raise Eye-brows”. After all Pakistanis are BENEFITING from this.
Long live Pakistani Media and Kudos @ Express & Dunya (for bringing in direly needed Foreign Exchange to Pakistan).
And please, this is not SARCASM. I mean it, really... :P.
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"FATA Awareness Initiative" Team.

Israel's campus lobby at US University Campuses: University administrators squash pro-Palestinian actions to avoid negative publicity and to keep alumni funding

Courtesy: "Aljazeera English", 28 Sep 2011

Behind the scenes with Israel's campus lobby

University administrators squash pro-Palestinian actions to avoid negative publicity and to keep alumni funding.

By Yaman Salahi
Over the past year, I have obtained public records that shed light on how the Israel lobby works on US campuses. At UC Berkeley, my alma mater, as well as at UC Hastings School of Law, the documents reveal how the Israel lobby pressures university administrators to interfere with campus activity - both academic and political - that addresses Israel's policies towards and treatment of the Palestinian people.
My requests were made in the shadow of two high-profile backlash campaigns to counter events at UC Berkeley and UC Hastings School of Law. In March 2011, esteemed legal academics and practitioners attended a conference called "Litigating Palestine" at UC Hastings School of Law.
On the eve of the conference, the UC Hastings Board of Directors voted in a closed emergency meeting to withdraw its sponsorship of the event without explanation. Though the conference was permitted to proceed, the Dean of the Law School was asked not to give opening remarks as planned.

US President Reagan declared Afghan Mujahideen (including Haqqani) the "Moral equivalents of America's founding fathers"

US President Reagan declared Afghan Mujahideen (including Haqqani) the "Moral equivalents of America's founding fathers"

Once hailed by President Ronald Reagan as "moral equivalents of America's founding fathers" and described by US Congressman Charlie Wilson as “goodness personified”, the Haqqanis of Afghanistan are now bedeviling the US military efforts in Afghanistan and straining US-Pakistan alliance as never before. In addition to echoing and justifying the latest American allegations against Pakistani spy agency ISI of supporting the "Haqqani network", USA is calling the same as "the Brutal Haqqani Crime Clan".

 

مولوی جلال الدین حقانی سوویت فوجیوںکے افغانستان پر قابض ہونے کے بعد ایک نڈر فائٹر کے طور پر سامنے آئے۔ جلال الدین حقانی شروع میں حزب اسلامی میں شامل تھے لیکن وہ گلبدین حکمت یار کے مقابلے میں مولوی یونس خالص کے دھڑے سے وابستہ ہو گئے۔ جلال الدین حقانی حزب اسلامی کے مولوی یونس خالص دھڑے کی طرف سے افغانستان میں کمانڈر کے طور پر سوویت فورسز کیخلاف برسر پیکار رہے۔ اس دوران سی آئی اے اور آئی ایس آئی نے جلال الدین حقانی اور ان کی ملیشیا تنظیم کی بھرپور مدد کی۔ اسّی کی دہائی میں سی آئی اے کے حقانی گروپ سے گہرے رابطے تھے۔ جلال الدین حقانی فکری طور پر مصرکی تنظیم اخوان المسلمون سے متاثر ہیں
برطانوی میڈیا نے کہا ہے کہ امریکی حکام تسلیم کرتے ہیں کہ جلال الدین حقانی اس وقت
سی آئی اے کا قیمتی اثاثہ تھے جب وہ روس کے خلاف جہاد کر رہے تھے۔ برطانوی نشریاتی ادارے کے مطابق سی آئی اے کی حمایت سے روس مخالف تشکیل پانے والا حقانی نیٹ ورک اب خطے میں مغربی ممالک کے لئے سب سے زیادہ خطرناک جنگجوگروپ بن چکا ہے۔

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A bad romance: Relations between Pakistan and USA - By Aljazeera English, 25 Sep 2011

Courtesy: "Aljazeera English", 25 Sep 2011
A bad romance: Pakistan and US
By Imran Khan in Asia
Like all great lovers' tiffs, this one started with frustration. Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, decided to make his feelings public.
In a nutshell, he accused Pakistan of state sponsored terrorism, alleging that its Inter-Services Intelligence backs the Haqqani network. The Haqqanis are a fearsome bunch of fighters whose lineage goes back to Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
Back then, their leader, Jalaludin Haqqani, was seen as a hero, even sitting in the White House with the then President Ronald Reagan. But it wasn't just the US. The Pakistanis nurtured and encouraged him to go fight in Afghanistan, supplying him with weapons and safe havens.
That was 20 years ago and, like all bad marriages, things left unresolved often explode. And so Pakistan's affair with the Haqqani network has created a split in the US-Pakistani marriage.
The Pakistanis are furious and are on the offensive, at times saying the US is not helping; at other times saying the US is simply blaming Pakistan for its own failings in Afghanistan.
As ever, finding the truth is tricky business. Perhaps more difficult for both parties is figuring out what the real issue is.

US tries to block release of Osama bin Laden's graphic images - (Aljazeera English, 28 Sep 2011)

Courtesy: "Aljazeera English", 28 Sep 2011

US tries to block release of bin Laden images

Obama administration contends release would harm national security in response to freedom of information request.

Public disclosure of graphic photos and video taken of Osama bin Laden after US commandos killed him would damage national security and lead to attacks on US property and personnel, the Obama administration contends in a court documents.
In a response late on Monday to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group seeking the imagery, Justice Department lawyers said the CIA found 52 photographs and video recordings of the May 1 operation in Pakistan.
They argued that the images of the deceased bin Laden were classified and were being withheld from the public to avoid inciting violence against US citizens overseas and compromising secret systems and techniques used by the CIA and the military.
The Justice Department has asked the court to dismiss Judicial Watch's lawsuit because the records the group wants are "wholly exempt from disclosure", according to the filing.

"Tenacious" Cyber attack on US Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin Corp's InfoSys Network (Reuters, 29 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Reuters", 29 May 2011
Lockheed says thwarted "tenacious" cyber attack
By Jim Wolf 
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp., the U.S. government's top information technology provider, said on Saturday it had thwarted "a significant and tenacious attack" on its information systems network a week ago but was still working to restore employee access.
No customer, program or employee personal data was compromised thanks to "almost immediate" protective action taken after the attack was detected May 21, Jennifer Whitlow, a company spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement.

Afghanistan: Shameful NATO airstrike kills 14 Women and Children in Helmand (Associated Press, 29 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Associated Press (AP)", 29 May 2011

Afghan official: NATO airstrike kills 14

By SOLOMON MOORE and MIRWAIS KHAN

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A NATO airstrike targeting insurgents inadvertently hit two civilian homes in the volatile southwestern Helmand province, killing 14 women and children, an Afghan government official said Sunday.

Dawood Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial government, said the alliance launched the airstrike late on Saturday in retaliation for an attack earlier in the day on a U.S. Marine base in Helmand's northwest district of Nawzad. He said NATO hit two civilian houses, killing five girls, seven boys, and two women.

NATO spokesman Maj. Tim James said a joint coalition and Afghan delegation was traveling Sunday to the site to investigate. He didn't confirm the aistrike and provided no details about it or the attack on the Marines.

Civilian deaths are an ongoing source of tension between NATO and Afghan officials.

The Amazon is crying: Brutal Killing of Brazilian Environmentalists Ze Claudio Ribeiro and his wife Maria (Aljazeera English)

Courtesy: "Aljazeera English", 26 May 2011
The Amazon is crying

By Gabriel Elizondo

The family home of Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva is a simple, modest 3 bedroom brick building on a dusty side road in Maraba Brazil.

It is fitting for a humble man who told anybody who asked that he preferred to be called simply ‘Ze.’ If you wanted to be formal, ‘Ze Claudio,’ would due.

The house has a small kitchen and a cozy and peaceful backyard with green shrubs providing shade from the sauna-like heat common in this region of Brazil.

Ribeiro did not live here much. He preferred his even simpler home in the Amazon sustainable reserve he ran with his wife, Maria. It is about 40 kilometers from here.

Air France Plane crash: preliminary report reveals 'co-pilots fought with controls' (Associated Press, 27 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Associated Press (AP)", 27 May 2011
Air France crash co-pilots fought with controls 
By ELAINE GANLEY and JILL LAWLESS
PARIS (AP) -- Two co-pilots facing faulty instrument readings and a stall fought to regain control of an Air France flight before the plane slammed into the Atlantic in a 3 1/2 minute fall, killing all 228 people aboard, accident investigators said Friday.

A preliminary report into the crash of Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris also revealed the captain was on a routine rest break when the trouble began on June 1, 2009 and he never retook the controls. The new information came from data gleaned from the Airbus 330's black boxes, which were recovered in early May.

But the report does not answer the key question: what caused the crash?

Speculation grows over Sarah Palin's 2012 Presidential Election plans (Associated Press, 26 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Reuters", 27 May 2011
Speculation grows over Sarah Palin's 2012 plans

By John Whitesides
WASHINGTON

(Reuters) - Sarah Palin is back.
Seen for months as an unlikely U.S. presidential contender in 2012 and overshadowed by the jockeying among other Republican candidates, Palin ignited a storm of speculation about her political plans this week with several new moves.
The former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate has authorized a feature-length film about herself that will premiere next month in Iowa. She reportedly bought a home in Arizona where she could base her campaign.
Palin announced on Thursday on her revamped website that she will make a campaign-style bus tour of the East Coast, beginning in Washington on Sunday at the annual Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally.

Finale of Oprah Winfrey's Show devoted to fans, her 'safe harbor' (Associated Press, 25 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Associated Press (AP)", 25 May 2011

Winfrey finale devoted to fans, her 'safe harbor'

By CARYN ROUSSEAU

CHICAGO (AP) -- There were no free cars or vacations. No favorite things or makeovers. No celebrity guests on stage - though there were plenty in the audience.

The finale of Oprah Winfrey's talk show, taped Tuesday and aired Wednesday, was all about the one thing that made her a billion-dollar success: the unique connection she made with millions of viewers for 25 years. In what she called her "love letter" to fans, she made clear that to her, all those TV friendships went both ways.

"Something in me connected with each of you in a way that allowed me to see myself in you and you in me," Winfrey said. "I listened and grew, and I know you grew along with me."

How 17-year old Scotty McCreery from North Carolina won 'American Idol' (Associated Press, 26 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Associated Press (AP)", 26 May 2011

How Scotty McCreery won 'American Idol'

By DERRIK J. LANG

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- From that initial moment when Scotty McCreery stepped in front of the "American Idol" judges and bellowed "lock the doors and turn the lights down low" in his deep-beyond-his-years register, the fresh-faced country crooner captured everyone's attention and he never let it go.

McCreery, a 17-year-old high school student from Garner, N.C., won the "American Idol" title on Wednesday night after performing nearly flawlessly throughout the 10th season of the Fox talent competition.

And he did it with an unwavering commitment to country music - even when challenged with other genres. During the show's installment of Elton John tunes, McCreery uncovered John's "Country Comfort" and made it his own.

Obama at G8 Meeting in France: Arab uprisings to top the agenda (Associated Press, 26 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Associated Press (AP)", 26 May 2011

Arab uprisings top agenda as Obama attends G-8

By JULIE PACE

DEAUVILLE, France (AP) -- President Barack Obama prepared to press allies from the Group of Eight industrial nations for commitments in the Middle East and North Africa during two days of meetings in France that were getting under way Thursday.

Air Force One touched down in the seaside resort of Deauville after a flight from London Thursday morning for the summit's opening meetings. The world's leading economic powers are seeking ways to support fledgling democratic transitions in Tunisia and Egypt, while also creating incentives to encourage other countries in the region to pursue greater political freedoms.

The summit comes on the heels of Obama's sweeping address at London's Westminster Hall Wednesday, where he cast the U.S., Britain and other like-minded allies in Europe as the world's "greatest catalysts for global action." He will echo a similar theme in his discussions with G-8 partners on the recent Arab uprisings and argue that the political protesters in the Middle East and North Africa share their democratic values.

Israeli rejection of 1967 Borders Restoration: 'Netanyahu Had His Triumph, But Israel Will Pay' (Spiegel International, 25 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Spiegel International, Germany", 25 May 2011
The World from Berlin
'Netanyahu Had His Triumph, But Israel Will Pay'
In a speech before the US Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected President Barack Obama's call for a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. Netanyahu's move may be popular at home, but it was disastrous for the Middle East peace process, argue German commentators.

US President Barack Obama has called for a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders in a bid to finally achieve Mideast peace, a premise also supported by the European Union. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly rejected the idea in a speech he gave Tuesday as part of a six-day visit to the US, saying those borders would be "indefensible."

Amazon Dams Mean Progress for Some, Lost Livelihoods for Others (Inter Press Service, 25 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Inter Press Service (IPS)", 25 May 2011
Amazon Dams Mean Progress for Some, Lost Livelihoods for Others 
By Mario Osava *
PORTO VELHO, Brazil, May 25, 2011 (Tierramérica) - The Amazonian town of Mutum-Paraná, in the northern Brazilian state of Rondônia, is disappearing. Its last remaining buildings must be dismantled before it is flooded by the construction of the Jirau hydroelectric dam on the Madeira River.Francislei Araujo da Silva, a part-time resident of Mutum-Paraná, symbolises a local way of life that will also disappear due to the radical and abrupt changes brought by the construction of two hydroelectric dams on the same river just 120 kilometers apart - the Jirau and Santo Antônio dams - in northwestern Brazil. "I’ve lived in this area since 1989," Silva told Tierramérica. He earns a living from mining, fishing and gathering Amazonian fruit, such as açaí and cashews, when he is not providing taxi service between cities and towns in western Rondônia.

Obama to pledge Billions of Dollars in aid to back 'Arab Spring' in Middle East (Guardian, 19 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Guardian, UK", 19 May 2011
Barack Obama to back Middle East democracy with billions in aid

President pledges cash to support Egypt and Tunisia after criticism US has been too slow to support uprisings

By Ewen MacAskill in Washington

Barack Obama is to announce that the United States and the west will pour billions of dollars into the Middle East in support of Egypt, Tunisia and other countries embracing democracy, a move the White House portrayed as being on the scale of aid to former communist countries after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Speaking in Washington, the president will attempt to reposition the US as a champion of the newly-emerging Arab democracies. His speech comes amid criticism that the US has been too slow to support the uprisings, and has adopted contradictory approaches in its dealings with different countries.
It is his most important speech on the Middle East since Cairo in 2009, when he called for a new beginning in relations between the US and the Muslim world. The support for Obama in the Arab world in 2009 has since dropped sharply.