US Mercenaries (Black Water) In Pakistan Now, After Iraq

Artical by: Talha Mujaddidi

We are watching it happen in the streets. The recurring nightmare has become a grim, new reality for the people of Pakistan. After watching the horrors of the U.S. invasions and occupations of Iraq and neighboring Afghanistan for 8 years, the "war on terror" has finally arrived in The Land of the Pure. Obama is fulfilling his campaign promise to Pakistan. The sudden arrival of U.S. marines, U.S. military Hummers, the hired killers of Blackwater, houses barricaded for U.S. personnel in Islamabad and the construction of the world's largest U.S. "Embassy" are terrorizing this nation of 180 million people. The U.S. slaughter and destruction in Iraq and neighboring Afghanistan for the last 8 years warn them of what may lie in store for them, their families, their land.

The U.S. Marines Misceneries

On 9/21/08 a bomb ripped through the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad killing scores of people and injuring hundreds. Prior to the bombing, U.S. marines off-loaded steel boxes from a truck, by-passed security and took them to the 4th floor of the building. US officials refused to cooperate with the government's attempts to investigate their activities. One year later, U.S. Marines are leading the occupation of Pakistan.

Until this landing of U.S. forces, the nation's spokesman for Foreign Affairs had been denying that 1000 U.S. marines were on their way to Islamabad. The thousand marines are now in the capital city of Islamabad. Some of them may be quietly slipping into Balochistan where the presence of JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) have been reported by foreign journalists. But most are here to defend what will be the largest U.S. embassy/fortress in the world, now under construction and to spearhead the invasion and occupation.

Costs to the U.S. Taxpayer

The total cost for housing and and general support for the marines alone will be US$112.5 million. US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson said the money is allocated as follows: "$5 million was for Marine quarters, $53.5 for housing infrastructure, $18 million for improvement of general services office area, and $36 million for temporary duty quarters and community support facilities."

In Patterson's explanation of the massive expansion of the U.S. Embassy she talked about 4 Billion (that's with a "B") dollars: "The embassy expansion, she said, was a reflection of the long-term commitment that the US intended to have with Pakistan. Moreover, she said, quadrupling of the social, economic and military assistance that would touch $4 billion a year over the next 18 months, necessitated staff increase."

Ambassador Patterson did not clarify whether the $4 Billion covers the construction which will make this embassy the largest in the world. When this construction is seen in context and coordination with the new level of U.S. occupation of Pakistan, it looks more like a permanent military base than an embassy for running military and covert operations not only in Pakistan but also in the region.

Weapons and Hummers

Eye witnesses and informed journalists have been reporting sightings of U.S. personnel in Islamabad for the past week or so, but now they are seen moving freely throughout the capital. The law (Section 144) provides that Pakistanis who own guns are not permitted to carry them in Islamabad. But U.S. personnel are showing Pakistanis that they are above the law as they openly brandish their weapons. It has also been confirmed that 3,000 U.S. military Hummers, locked and loaded are awaiting dispatch in Karachi's Port Qasim. For millions of Pakistanis news of these Hummers conjures up images of U.S. troops charging through the streets of Iraqi cities, armed to the teeth, terrifying and often killing unarmed civilians.

On Feb. 23, 2009 the Pentagon revealed that over 70 U.S. military advisers had been secretly working in Pakistan.

Blackwater and the CIA

Pakistanis have known about the 300 U.S. military "advisers" lodged in Tarbela. But news of the arrival of the notorious Blackwater mercenaries in addition to the thousand U.S. marines are riveting their attention. In Pakistan, Blackwater is trading its tainted name for a telling name "Xe Worldwide", – the name behind which these paid killers are now hiding.

Also, last week, Creative Associates International Inc (CAII), a CIA front, has been operating in Peshawar. They have now sealed off a road and set up shop near the houses of senior Pakistani officials in Islamabad, directly across from a school.

Dr. Shireen Mazari

Dr. Shireen M. Mazari is a scholar and commentator on Strategic Studies and Political Science from Pakistan. She has a Ph.D. from Colombia University and was Director General of Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad, Pakistan and former Chairperson of Department of Defense and Strategic Studies at the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. She is critical of the relationship the Pakistan government has with the United States and India. Speaking for an opposition political party (Tehreek-e-Insaaf) , Dr. Shireen Mazari speaks about the new arrival of U.S. forces in Pakistan:

"Will some of these go to the Pentagon's assassination squads, who may take up residence in some of the barricaded Islamabad houses and with whom the present US commander in Afghanistan was directly associated? Ordinary officials at Pakistani airports have also been muttering their concerns over chartered flights flying in Americans whose entry is not recorded – even the flight crews are not checked for visas and so there is now no record-keeping of exactly how many Americans are coming into or going out of Pakistan. Incidentally the CAII's (CIA/Blackwater) Craig Davis who was deported has now returned to Peshawar! And let us not be fooled by the cry that numbers reflect friendship since we know what numbers meant to Soviet satellites."

The Pearl Continental, a luxury hotel in Peshawar was bombed on June 9, 2009. The U.S. routinely blames these attacks on Muslim terrorists. The U.S. has also routinely sabotaged peace agreements between the Pakistan government and various resistance groups in Pakistan. Attacks like this are used to justify the current invasion and occupation by the United States.

Given little attention in the corporate media, Peshawar's Pearl Continental Hotel was bombed on June 9, 2009. At the time of the bombing, Pakistani media reported officially that it was housing U.S. personnel at the time but did not mention Blackwater. However, Blackwater's name began to surface in rumours and unofficial reports after the Peshawar bombing.

Ahmed Quraishi

On August 5, 2009, Ahmed Quraishi, political analyst, columnist and independent owner of a news website reported on the insertion of U.S. Marines, Blackwater, the CIA and military hardware into Pakistan: "Pakistanis ask, `Who rules our streets, the Pakistani government or the Americans? And who let them in?'

"Three weeks ago a group of concerned Pakistani citizens in Peshawar wrote to the federal interior ministry to complain about the suspicious activities of a group of shadowy Americans in a rented house in their neighborhood, the upscale University Town area of Peshawar. A NGO calling itself Creative Associates International, Inc. leased the house". According to its Website, CAII describes itself as `a privately-owned non-governmental organization that addresses urgent challenges facing societies today … Creative views change as an opportunity to improve, transform and renew …' The description makes no sense. It is more or less a perfect cover for the American NGO's real work: espionage…

"In Peshawar, CAII, opened an office to work on projects in the nearby tribal agencies of Pakistan. All of these projects, interestingly, are linked to the US government. CAII's other projects outside Pakistan are also linked to the US government. In short, this NGO is not an NGO. It is closely linked to the US government. Meanwhile, when asked about the expansion of the embassy, U.S. Ambassador Anne W. Patterson was "visibly shaken" and replied, "I'm speechless. To spy on Pakistan we don't need a big US embassy." Quickly recovering, she added, "And we don't need to spy either." Patterson went on to say that Pakistan could turn into a "family station" – whatever that means to a U.S. colonial bureaucrat.

Ahmed further explains the CIA's cover for the Blackwater mercenaries:

"In Peshawar, CAII told Pakistani authorities it needed to hire security guards for protection. The security guards, it turns out, were none other than Blackwater's military-trained hired guns. They were used the CAII cover to conduct a range of covert activities in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province. The infamous Blackwater private security firm operates as an extension of the US military and CIA, taking care of dirty jobs that the US government cannot associate itself with in faraway strategic places. Blackwater is anything but a security firm. It is a mercenary army of several thousand hired soldiers.

"Pakistani security officials apparently became alarmed by reports that Blackwater was operating from the office of CAII on Chinar Road, University Town in Peshawar. The man in charge of the office, allegedly an American by the name of Craig Davis according to a report in Jang, Pakistan's largest Urdu language daily, was arrested and accused of establishing contacts with `the enemies of Pakistan' in areas adjoining Afghanistan. His visa has been canceled, the office sealed, and Mr. Davis reportedly expelled back to the United States.

"It is not clear when Mr. Davis was deported and whether there are other members of the staff expelled along with him. When I contacted the US Embassy over the weekend, spokesman Richard Snelsire's first reaction was, `No embassy official has been deported'."

Keep in mind that Dr. Shireen Mazari who is in a position to know, stated flatly, "CAII's Craig Davis who was deported has now returned to Peshawar!"

But Ahmed Quraishi explains the denial by the U.S. embassy: "This defensive answer is similar to the guilt-induced reactions of US embassy staffers in Baghdad and Kabul at the presence of mercenaries working for US military and CIA. I said to Mr. Snelsire that I did not ask about an embassy official being expelled. He said he heard these reports and `checked around' with the embassy officials but no one knew about this. `It's baseless' [he said]. So I asked him, "Is Blackwater operating in Pakistan, in Peshawar?" `Not to my knowledge'. [he answered].

"Fair enough. The US embassies in Baghdad and Kabul never acknowledged Blackwater's operations in Iraq and Afghanistan either. This is part of low-level frictions between the diplomats at the US Department of State and those in Pentagon and CIA. The people at State have reportedly made it clear they will not acknowledge or accept responsibility for the activities of special operations agents operating in friendly countries without the knowledge of those countries and in violation of their sovereignty. Reports have suggested that sometimes even the US ambassador is unaware of what his government's mercenaries do in a target country."

Finally, Ahmed discusses a U.S. diplomat met secretly with an Indian diplomat inside Pakistan, knowing full well that India is considered to be an enemy state of Pakistan:

"In May, a US woman diplomat was caught arranging a quiet [read 'secret'] meeting between a low-level Indian diplomat and several senior Pakistani government officials. An address in Islamabad – 152 Margalla Road – was identified as a venue where the secret meeting took place. The American diplomat in question knew there was no chance the Indian would get to meet the Pakistanis in normal circumstances. Nor was it possible to do this during a high visibility event. After the incident, Pakistan Foreign Office issued a terse statement warning all government officials to refrain from such direct contact with foreign diplomats in unofficial settings without prior intimation to their departments" .

NGOs that are not NGOs

In addition, many U.S. sponsored NGO's are working to create news reports in mainstream media which are pro-U.S. For this purpose, many Pakistani analysts, retired generals, businessmen, journalists, and academics are being recruited. As Ahmed Quraishi said, "this NGO is not an NGO", i.e. some Non Governmental Organizations operate under the control and direction of governments who use them for covert operations in foreign countries and fund them surreptitiously.

Conclusion

It's clear that the current government has given full privileges to the US. They neither know how, nor want to draw a line against U.S. interference in Pakistani affairs. To put it bluntly, they are surrendering the sovereignty of Pakistan to a foreign power. Dr. Shireen Mazari says, "Whatever the US embassy gives out … the terrified Pakistani leadership echoes." The objectives of the U.S. are clear: Deeper U.S. penetration will result in the destabilization of Pakistan, leading to destabilization of the entire region. These U.S. military installations also strengthening their encirclement of Iran. The Pakistani political opposition parties are lip stuck at all these developments. The main reason for their silence is that they are as corrupt as the ruling PPP. No political party in Pakistan is in the mood to resist US hegemony. The Pakistan Army no longer shows any interest in directly interfering with political decisions. After the disastrous eight years under the military dictatorship of Musharraf, the people are also not ready for the Pakistan military to intervene in the political life of the country. The TTP terrorists have just been brought under control – barely. Now millions of Pakistanis are terrified by their new, unwelcome guests from the west – the U.S. terrorists. We will now have to learn to tolerate and survive under this growing and increasingly dangerous U.S. colonization of Pakistan.

Leadership and Terrorism

Friday 12, June 2009 two suicide bombing incidents, in two different places terrorists killed many innocents including prominent Islamic Cleric who was opposing terrorist activities in the name of Islam in Pakistan. Two different terrorist factions claimed responsibilities of the today’s suicide bombings. In my previous articles I tried to convey the message that such incidents will happen but the nation has to remain committed and courageous to fight this menace.
As expected terrorists are hitting the local people so blindly that they do not even care of children, women, old, common citizens whoever come their way they are killing for one cause that they want to create panic in the general public and want to pressurize the government to stop their offensive against them.
We hope that the nation’s high moral remains high in future too but I want to discuss other important aspect in this fight against terrorism and that is role of leadership, the elite class who are ruling this country , enjoying numerous luxuries, do they have role here?
Today, following these incidents in the country, the president of Pakistan decided to address the nation. It was good move but this opportunity was mishandled. Why? I discuss it below.
Non serious attitude of our president gives us impression that he is kind of peon in any government office not the president of nuclear state…

§ He was about to address the nation at 10 PM Pakistan standard time, but he addressed nation 3 hours late keeping his fellow countrymen 3 hours waiting.

§ It was very short speech maybe not more than 6 minutes.

§ It seemed that he gave bullet points on speech rather explaining them.

§ He made some very fruitful announcements but his presentation was so bad that will further create doubts in general public about the government.

§ Like the announcements he made for setting up a cantonment in the swat once operation is over, was not well described or explained. He should have described importance of the cantonment in the swat valley so that it would have given the feelings to the internally displaced people who left their homes due to army operation in the swat that the government is taking serious measures to ensure their safety and security in the future when they return back to their homes.

§ The president announced that the operation will continue but in a very ordinary tone. The body language of the President did not seem to be like the Head of the state who is winning the war. He was not aggressive in his tone.

§ Further he appreciated the role of arms forces and the soldiers who martyred during operation and announced bonuses to the soldiers and officers who are involved in the operation.
These were the points on which he just gave hints not discussed.
Leaders give directions to their nation, share their vision, their goals, take common people into confidence, tell them what is happening and present their good image. If leaders don’t do this, the result is Pakistan like situation. Taking some political parties leaders into confidence is not enough, share your goals and objectives and your paths with the common people. Tell them what is really happening and what are you doing in that regard. If you do not do that, it will create hopelessness and falling moral and divisions.
The role of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Mr. Yousaf Raza Gillani was only active at the times of Lawyers Long march to Lahore, he played its positive role and according to recent survey he gained his popularity. After that he again got lost somewhere. I am afraid what are they doing. Why our leaders are shy of their main power that is their voters, the common people of Pakistan.
Our nation badly needs good leadership that guides them and gets them out of this darkness.

PC Peshawar Sucide Attack

On 9th June, 2009, the people of Peshawar witnessed yet another suicide attack; this time PC (Pearl Continental Hotel)... short time ago a CCTV fotage has been released on media. It described clearly how the operation was carried out by the terrorists. After swat offensive it was said that now the terrorist will strike the cities to pressurize the government to stop offensive against them. And just after swat offensive terrorist organizations have struck major cities like Peshawar, Lahore and Islamabad of Pakistan in very short interval.

I will describe my paper in following parts.

Moral

Efficiency

Moral: The moral of the general public and arm forces is seen high after a long time when people, major political parties (some minor religious parties are still opposing operation publically but support government in meeting rooms) and arms forces are united on a common causes that is to defeat terrorists and flush them out completely. For last 8 years it was observed that whenever where army started operation a lot of opposition was seen and also within army ranks. There were doubts that they are right in perusing military action against these local terrorist or not. But now everybody is united and has no doubts about the common goal which is defeat terrorist now or never. What has changed this mood of general public....? An American pressure????? ... No, it’s not true; Americans can only pressurize governments like they did Former President Pervez Musharaf with famous words "Either with us or against us". This forced General to take U-Turn but the people of Pakistan and vast majority even in the establishment ranks was against Pakistan’s alliance with USA. Now the point is what happened this time that the mood has changed.... It was the peace deal in swat called Nizam-e-Adl (means Justice system)Please note that western media quoted this deal as Shari a deal.. Shari a means full Islamic law, Islamic economic system, Islamic judiciary system, Islamic social system etc... Anyways when the peace deal was broken by militants it mobilized the general opinion of the public against the militants, even many were stunned by their action. Their strong supporters had even no choice just to condemn them and support government to take action against them.
Moral of the general public cannot stay much higher if the war prolongs or such bombings in cities continue. The government needs to keep up the moral of public if they really want to continue their war against terror. Avoid such incidents to happen again and again.

Efficiency: Each time we see when an important government building or any strategic location is being targeted we see its live camera recording on TV. This not only demoralize the general public also give a chance to terrorists to re-access their operation where they went wrong. When Marriott hotel was bombed, its video was aired on all TV stations.... the result they came up with new efficient strategy. They loaded some commando style guys with the van when they were attaching Rescue 15 and ISI buildings. Those guys cleared the way and escorted the bomb loaded van into the main area... this time when they attacked PC hotel Peshawar; they loaded people on a car. Each time they are reinventing their strategy and our media is helping in that sense. So I guess our media should not air such videos... till now we have observed that the terrorists are working hard on their strategies and making their attacks more efficient. The forces need to act efficiently also. How??? It is hard to stop and check every car and every person carrying some explosives with himself... this method is not efficient because we know our police well how honestly they do perform their duties and how loyal they are.... they might unseen those terrorist intentional maybe or any reasons.To me the best form of defense is to attack... our arm forces and intelligence agencies know their planning cells in Waziristan and tribal areas. If I wait for somebody indefinitely not know when he is going to attack me defiantly at time I will be lenient after some time...so arm forces should attack their locations and hit them where they are not allowing them to even think of launching their attacks in settled areas.

Say no to oppresion and join hands with Pak arm forces

After 26 years of long civil war, Sri Lankans finally crushed the LTTE (also known as Tamil Tigers) rebellion moment by taking their final strong hold and killing their top leadership including Prabhakaran. Also LTTE in their website announced end of their almost three decades of arm struggle that killed thousands of civilians and some well prominent Sri Lankan politicians and Indian Serving Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
A brief intro:
LTTE is well known notorious terrorist organization that conducted numerous suicide attacks than any other organization in the word. In such suicide attack LTTE assassinated Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. It was the only terrorist organization of its kind that has navy, army and also air force. Their navy wing conducted suicide attacks on Sri Lankan navy and causing them a lot of damage. They also had very effective intelligence network too. In short it was not less than any state that on one stage controlled the eastern, western and north of the Sri Lankan map.
Who was sponsoring LTTE:
It was considered to be sponsored by Indian government as LTTE was formed for the creation of the Tamil state on the eastern and northern portion of Sri Lanka, as originally Tamils belong to the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Indian government trained Tamil guerrillas against Sri Lankan government and supplied them huge pile of arms and money.
Peace initiatives:
There were numerous attempts by the Sri Lankan government to solve that matter with dialogues. Even the government of Norway once intervened and signed a peace deal with Tamil tigers but it didn’t work as Tamil tigers didn’t give up their violence path as a result sir Lankan government cancelled the deal.
The end:
The LTTE finally admitted defeat on May 17, 2009, with the rebels' chief of international relations, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, stating on the website that "This battle has reached its bitter end ... We have decided to silence our guns. Our only regrets are for the lives lost and that we could not hold out for longer.”
Full credit to Sri Lankan President who stood against international pressures, its forces who fought bravely for such a long time and the government of Pakistan that offered full support to the Sri Lankan forces by providing arms and ammunition to Sri Lankan government.
The above whole story I just mentioned is just to relate the situation of Pakistan with the Sri Lanka. It has no difference. Sri Lankan was dealing the same kind of terrorists that currently Pakistan is facing. We don’t have to think a lot and confuse ourselves in finding the right path and direction in dealing with the terrorist organizations in Pakistan.
There are some voices in Pakistan that the Pakistan army should have not started this offensive against so for called Taliban. I ask them why….. Pakistan also gave them a lot of relaxations and peace deals what happened. Did they give up their tempered versions of Islam even I must state here that they are the people who have tried to temper the teachings of Islam. They did every worse thing and referenced them according to the teachings of Islam. I don’t see any difference in LTTE and Tehrek-e-Taliban or any other religious group promoting their own versions of Islam and hatred and violence.
The people and the government of Pakistan had no choice except one is to crush war monger like Taliban in Pakistan. History teaches us a lot and it teaches that the rebellions moments are crushed with force not with peace deals and talks. So my messages to people like Imran Khan who is immature politicians and Qazi Hussain Ahmed a politician by name but black mailer in his deeds. I didn’t see him any time supporting any government action. He is kind of guy who wakes up and doesn’t brush his teeth and gives away calls for hesitation without any reason.
This is my opinion; I strongly agree that such rebellion moments should be crushed by force and the government of Pakistan not only in swat even start military operations in FATA agencies too, once swat operation is over. And when all is done give them some good governance in those areas. Like keep the Nizam-e-Adl (Justice System - Islamic) enacted when the militants in swat area are flushed out.
And in FATA agencies same kind of operation should be initiated to get rid of curse like Bait Ullah Mehsood. And include FATA agencies in Frontier Province or merge these tribal agencies in one separate province.

Please post me your feedbacks.
Thanks