pakistan in the crosshairs: bombs, blackops & bhutto

huge truck bomb strikes marriot hotel in islamabad
from winter patriot: A huge truck bomb exploded at the entrance to the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Saturday evening, killing at least 40 people and wounding more than 150, the police said. This according to Carlotta Gall, who reports from Pakistan and Afghanistan for the New York Times: "The blast, one of the worst acts of terrorism in Pakistan’s history, went off just a few hundred yards from the prime minister’s house, where all the leaders of government were dining after the president’s address to Parliament." ... an address which was reported as a broadside against both terrorism and US intervention ...

In addition to the speech mentioned above, this attack comes mere days after Pakistan's announcement that its military would fight back if American troops attacked on its soil again, and a few days before a scheduled meeting between the presidents of Pakistan and USA, at which the fight against terrorism is on the agenda - or is the agenda! Thus, the timing can hardly be coincidental. And as you can see quite clearly from the photos posted here, this attack is orders of magnitude beyond the suicide terrorism which occurs in Pakistan on a regular basis. In other words, it appears to be state-sponsored. And you can probably guess which state. You might think everybody would hate these terrorists. But you'd be wrong. Some people like them. For some people, terror is good for business. The presidential candidates lost no time in pointing fingers - even though they can have no idea who was behind this atrocity... So there you have it: the government was "elected" and the threat is "enduring"; that's all the pretext these guys need for another hundred years of war. But what the heck? Your kids weren't planning to do anything different with their lives, were they?

the questionable timing of the pakistan blast
from 9/11 blogger: Let me see if I got this straight now.

Over the past 7 years we have dumped billions and billions of dollars into Pakistan to help with the Global War on Terror™. Yet, we know that former President Musharraf spent much of that money beefing up his military presence on the border of India, while another large part of that money, just went missing. Some of that money was traced to election fraud attempts. All of this, and the accepted wisdom is that the Taliban and bin Laden, are in Pakistan (of course I think he is dead, but that is beside the point).

When Musharraf lost the election, he shut down the democracy in Pakistan and arrested judges and opposition party leaders. Eventually, Pakistan shamed us by actually impeaching their president for corruption, while ours gets off Scott-Free thanks to Nancy Pelosi and a complicit congress.

Along comes a new President, President Asif Zardari, one that isn’t in the pocket of BushCo and low and behold, we start ramping up the rhetoric about needing to attack inside Pakistan “when ever we feel like it“. They even get the leading “progressive” man-god, Obama, to spin the same bullshit story.

Now, after several weeks of international bad press because of drone planes being piloted by 19 year olds with joy-sticks in California, blowing up families in Pakistan willy-nilly, after all that, the “terrorists” in Pakistan decide to blow up a second rate hotel there, killing civilians, and making them the bad guys once again? How’s that for the worst timing ever, huh? Well, the worst timing for them and the best possible timing for those troubled U.S. Military PR guys and all the politicians who had been saying just a month ago we need to step up military action in Pakistan.

Let’s face it, the Global War on Terror™ is the biggest thing since sliced bread for making serious cash, removing those troubling restrictions, and undermining the constitution at every turn.

but before the bombing, all of this was going on...

washington is risking war with pakistan
from robert baer: As Wall Street collapsed with a bang, almost no one noticed that we're on the brink of war with Pakistan. And, unfortunately, that's not too much of an exaggeration. On Tuesday, the Pakistan's military ordered its forces along the Afghan border to repulse all future American military incursions into Pakistan. The story has been subsequently downplayed, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Mike Mullen, flew to Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, to try to ease tensions. But the fact remains that American forces have and are violating Pakistani sovereignty.

unknown powder sent to US diplomats in pakistan
from ap: Two American diplomatic outposts in Pakistan received envelopes containing an unknown white powder last week, sparking a security scare, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said Sunday. Tests are being conducted on the substance, spokesman Lou Fintor said. He declined comment on whether any embassy staffers had become ill or were under observation. The envelopes were sent to the U.S. Consulate in Karachi on Thursday and the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad on Friday. Fintor said both facilities have remained open, with no plans to close them. "Embassy personnel followed established response procedures," Fintor said. "We applaud the rapid and appropriate response by our mailroom and security staff to contain any potential threats. We take threats of this type very seriously, hoax or not." He would not say where the envelopes had been mailed from, pending an investigation, or to whom they were addressed.

bhutto widower elected pakistan president
from ap: Benazir Bhutto's widower swept Pakistan's presidential election on Saturday, offering hope for stability to a nuclear-armed country feeling intense U.S. pressure to crack down on Islamic militants. In a grim reminder of the problems awaiting Asif Ali Zardari, rescuers in the northwest dug with their hands for survivors after at least 30 people were killed in a massive suicide bombing. Already head of the main ruling party, Zardari becomes one of the most powerful civilian leaders in Pakistan's turbulent 61-year history. Last month, he marshaled a coalition that forced stalwart U.S. ally Pervez Musharraf to quit as head of state.

geopolitiks: afghanisurge, false flags, pak & blackwater

12k more troops to afghanistan
from danger room: "The Pentagon will be sending 12,000 to 15,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, possibly as soon as the end of this year," U.S. News is reporting... For more than a year, everyone from Gen. McKeirnan to Sen. Barack Obama has been calling for extra troops in Afghanistan. But the Pentagon brass said it couldn't be done, until forces were pulled out of Iraq. Does that mean a partial withdrawal from Iraq is coming?

judiciary committee to investigate plot to paint plane in un colors & provoke shoot down over iraq
from steve watson: As part of a major examination into the evidence that the Bush administration forged intelligence documents to justify the invasion of Iraq, the House Judiciary Committee will also look into various considerations, plots and attempts to provoke war, including the idea of goading Saddam Hussein to shoot down a mock UN plane. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers has announced that he and his staff will investigate the evidence most recently collated and presented by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind in his book The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism. According to a press release earlier this week, Conyers' office will examine: "Reported examples of the Bush Administration considering other deceptive schemes to justify or provoke war with Iraq, such as the reported consideration of painting a U.S. aircraft with UN colors in order to provoke Iraq into military confrontation."

panic & jubilation in the wake of musharraf's resignation
from winter patriot: Now that Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has resigned, we can expect a tidal wave of propaganda - some of it deliberately false, some well-meaning but still false - about how nervous we should be for our future. After all, Pakistan has terrorists and nuclear weapons. And only Pervez Musharraf could keep them apart. Or so the story goes. We've been hearing variations on this story for years; but it's still only a story. We get it from the right and from the left: Let's attack Pakistan; We were attacked on 9/11 by terrorists from Pakistan; Pakistan is going ballistic and we don't even have anyone left in our government who knows anything about Pakistan, let alone somebody in a position to do something...

iraq: we must prosecute blackwater
from press tv: A top Iraqi official says Baghdad will keep its right to prosecute US private contractors who have committed crime in the Iraqi territory. "There is information that six Blackwater guards are to be tried in Washington," Ali al-Dabbagh Iraq's government spokesman said Sunday. "The Iraqi government stresses that Blackwater has committed a crime and the Iraqi government retains the right to prosecute the company." ... Dabbagh's remarks came after US Justice Department sent 'target letters' to six security guards involved in the deadly shooting. The move indicates a "high likelihood the department will seek to indict at least some of them", Washington Post said Saturday.

bullets, bombs, benazir, fbi spy, quarantines, drugs & hitler

bullet shortage affects police
from ap: A nationwide spike in demand for small-arms ammunition and the skyrocketing cost of raw materials to make the bullets have forced some law enforcement agencies in Washington state to plan their orders further in advance. On average, the cost of ammunition has increased by 67 percent between 2004 and this year, according to the state General Administration office, which negotiates contracts with suppliers for state and local agencies. The woes in Washington are part of a shortage that has strained law enforcement nationwide.

ludicrouser & ludicrouser: alleged liquid bombing plot, revisited again
from winter patriot: In the UK, the prosecution has laid out its case against the alleged terrorist plotters who have come to be known as the "Liquid Bombers", and it's much different than the stories that were leaked just after the suspects were arrested, two years ago this weekend. Those stories sparked considerable interest at this blog, where chemistry is no barrier. And the previous leaked versions of the alleged plot were utterly preposterous, as I've pointed out several times since they were leaked. But the new alleged plot -- the one testified to in court by British authorities -- is even more ludicrous than the alleged plots in any of the previously leaked stories. The technical difficulties inherent in the new alleged plot have been hinted at - just barely - in mainstream media reports, such as one from New York Times reporter Elaine Sciolino, as published in the Seattle Times...

US intel agencies tapped benazir bhutto’s phone
from thinkprogress: In his new book “The Way of the World,” Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Ron Suskind reveals that Vice President Cheney repeatedly backed Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf over former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in December. According to Suskind, the State Department strongly backed Bhutto’s return to Pakistan, but Cheney opposed it, considering her “complicated and unpredictable.” Bhutto regretted that Cheney refused to pressure Musharraf to “behave,” and instead kept pressing her to reconcile with him. U.S. intelligence agencies also reportedly intercepted Bhutto’s phone calls “for months,” including a call made to her son.

fbi says it obtained reporters’ phone records
from nytimes: The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Friday that it had improperly obtained the phone records of reporters for The New York Times and The Washington Post in the newspapers’ Indonesia bureaus in 2004. Robert S. Mueller III, director of the F.B.I., disclosed the episode in a phone call to Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times, and apologized for it. He also spoke with Leonard Downie Jr., the executive editor of The Washington Post, to apologize. F.B.I. officials said the incident came to light as part of the continuing review by the Justice Department inspector general’s office into the bureau’s improper collection of telephone records through “emergency” records demands issued to phone providers. The records were apparently sought as part of a terrorism investigation, but the F.B.I. did not explain what was being investigated or why the reporters’ phone records were considered relevant.

US cities would be locked down, quarantined under pandemic flu response plan
from natural news: The federal government would need to quarantine infected households and ban public gatherings to contain pandemic flu, according to a computer simulation study conducted by researchers from Virginia Tech and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “You wouldn’t go out to the movies. You wouldn’t congregate with people,” said researcher Stephen Eubank. “You’d pretty much be staying home with the doors and windows battened down.” The consensus among health experts is that a pandemic, or global epidemic, of influenza is inevitable. The last such pandemic, in 1918, killed between 40 and 100 million people.

clinical trials test potential of hallucinogenic drugs to help patients with terminal illnesses
from guardian: Scientists are exploring the use of psychedelic drugs such as LSD to treat a range of ailments from depression to cluster headaches and obsessive compulsive disorder. The first clinical trial using LSD since the 1970s began in Switzerland in June. It aims to use "psychedelic psychotherapy" to help patients with terminal illnesses come to terms with their imminent mortality and so improve their quality of life.

hitler’s relative found happiness in israel
from javno: The descendants of war criminals are often marked by the sins of their ancestors. We can find examples of that across the globe and throughout human history. Somewhat more rare are cases of descendants who decided to flee from the past by running of to the descendants of the victims of their ancestors. A reporter of the Guardian, Tany Gold, discovered this paradox after reading a magazine for Orthodox Jews. The son of a notorious SS officer converted to Judaism and moved to Israel where he served the army. She also found dozens such examples. So she travelled to Israel to find out what exactly made them make such a change in their lives.

musharraf on the ropes: pakistan preps for impeachment

from winter patriot: President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan - the former Army Chief of Staff who took power in a coup in 1999 - is suddenly facing impeachment! ... The Daily Times lists the charges against Musharraf... So I'll cut to the chase:

Musharraf's next logical moves would be declaration of martial law, dissolution of the national parliament and the provincial assemblies, and incarceration of all opposition political leaders. I would not be surprised if he did all these things -- or at least tried to... and I would also not be surprised to see Bush do any or all of these things -- or at least try to -- even absent the threat of impeachment. Desperate despicable people tend to do desperate despicable things, especially when their illegitimate hold on power is threatened.

related updates: pakistan govt hailed over musharraf impeachment, US weighs stepped-up military forays into pakistan & mushareff to expected to resign

crankin' up the osama propaganda

deal lets US drones strike bin laden
from washington times: The United States has a standing agreement with Pakistan that CIA-operated Predator drones may strike Osama bin Laden's hide-out without prior permission from Islamabad, according to people familiar with the arrangement.

is osama bin laden dying... again?
from time: Which is closer to dying: Osama bin Laden or the CIA's effort to catch him? Nothing has characterized the fruitlessness of the hunt for the al-Qaeda leader so much as the recurrent - and mostly inaccurate - reports that he is seriously ailing, or even at death's door. In 2002, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said bin Laden had kidney disease, and that he had required a dialysis machine when he lived in Afghanistan. That same year, the FBI's top counterterrorism official, Dale Watson, said, "I personally think he is probably not with us anymore." Since then, of course, bin Laden has appeared on multiple videos looking healthier than ever.

US blocks bin laden murder plan

from press tv: The White house has blocked a secret plan into the tribal regions of Pakistan to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants. The Pentagon had drafted a secret plan to put American commandos in Pakistan's tribal areas, along the Afghanistan border, to hunt for Bin Laden and his top aides who took refuge there. But the White House has balked at giving the mission a green light, The New York Times reported late Monday.

former pakistan pm benazir bhutto killed in attack

from bbc: Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated in a suicide attack.

Ms Bhutto - the first woman PM in an Islamic state - was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi when a gunman shot her in the neck and set off a bomb.

At least 16 other people died in the attack and several more were injured.

President Pervez Musharraf condemned the killing and urged people to remain calm but angry protests have gripped cities across the country.

Security forces have been placed on a state of "red alert" nationwide.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack. Analysts believe Islamist militants to be the most likely group behind it.


update: bhutto said to 'hold musharraf responsible' if she died
from raw story: In an e-mail sent to a confidant in the US two months ago, assassinated Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said she would hold the country's current leader Pervez Musharraf "responsible" because his government did not do enough to provide for her security.

"I wld (sic) hold Musharraf responsible," Bhutto wrote to her US spokesman, Mark Siegel, in the October e-mail, which was reported Thursday afternoon by CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "I have been made to feel insecure by his minions, and there is no way what is happening in terms of stopping me from taking private cars or using tinted windows or giving jammers or four police mobiles to cover all sides cld (sic) happen without him."


update: washington post reported the day before bhutto assassination that 'US troops to head to pakistan'
from washington post: 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.

news on the march

for god's saic!
from op-ed news: Who in the hell is SAIC? Who in the hell is it's former chairman, J. Robert Beyster? For that matter, who in the hell is its current chairman, Kenneth C. Dalhberg? Well, after some virtual footstepping and some practical considerations, my conclusions lead to the word, trouble. Big trouble! ... "Nobody knows who they are," says Glenn Grossenbacher, a Texas lawyer who has battled SAIC in court on a whistle-blowing case. "Everybody knows Northrop Grumman and G.E., but if you went out on the street and asked who the top 10 [defense] contractors are, I can guarantee you that SAIC would not be one of them..."

iran completes enrichment process
from press tv: Director of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization says Tehran has completed the enrichment process and can produce its own nuclear fuel. Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh said the pellets applicable in the 40-megawatt Arak heavy water research reactor have been produced based on existing standards. He added that the fuel manufacturing plant would be ready by September 2008 to provide fuel for Arak research reactor.

ari fleischer’s freedom’s watch advertises iran war
from thinkprogress: In September, the New York Times reported that the White House front group Freedom’s Watch, led by former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, was considering a “national advertising campaign” to make the case for war with Iran, claiming that “Iran poses a direct threat” to U.S. security. Previously, Freedom’s Watch doled out $15 million to flack for the Iraq escalation.

US knew musharraf planned martial law
from raw story: The Bush Administration knew that Pakistani strongman Pervez Musharraf planned to institute emergency rule but did not act or speak out about the plan, according to officials with knowledge of the discussion who spoke anonymously in Friday's Wall Street Journal. "In the days before the Nov. 3 announcement, the general's aides and advisers forewarned U.S. diplomats in a series of meetings in Islamabad, according to Pakistani and U.S. officials," the paper said.

pentagon ok with martial law in pakistan

from the news: The Pentagon said Gen. Pervez Musharraf's declaration of state of emergency in Pakistan does not affect U.S. military support, a spokesman said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is monitoring the fast-developing situation, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.

"Pakistan is a very important ally in the war on terror and he is closely following the developments there," Morrell told reporters aboard Gates' plane as he traveled to China.

The emergency declaration "does not impact our military support of Pakistan" or its efforts in the war on terror, Morrell said of the country, which is a key U.S. partner in the fight against al-Qaida militants.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is taking the administration’s lead in dealing with the situation, Morrell said, and Gates had not spoken to Musharraf and had no plans to during his 17-hour flight to Beijing.

bin laden tape to declare war on musharraf

from ap: Osama bin Laden will release a new message soon declaring war on Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, al-Qaida announced Thursday.

The announcement of the upcoming message came as al-Qaida released a new video in which bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, boasted that the United States was being defeated in Afghanistan, Iraq and other fronts.

Speakers in the video promised more fighting in Afghanistan, North Africa and Sudan's Darfur region.

The messages are part of a stepped-up propaganda campaign by al-Qaida around the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Earlier this month, bin Laden released two messages — including his first new appearance in a video in nearly three years.

A banner posted on an Islamic militant Web site on Thursday advertised that another message would be released, though it did not say whether bin Laden would appear in video or speak in an audiotape.

"Soon, God willing: 'Come to Jihad (holy war)', from sheik Osama bin Laden, God protect him" the banner read.

US carried out madrasah bombing

from times online: The bombing of a Pakistani madrasah last month, in which 82 students were killed, was carried out by the United States, a Pakistani official has admitted, writes Christina Lamb.

The madrasah in the tribal agency of Bajaur was bombed during a visit to Pakistan by the Prince of Wales amid allegations that it was being used to train suicide bombers.

“We thought it would be less damaging if we said we did it rather than the US,” said a key aide to President Pervez Musharraf. “But there was a lot of collateral damage and we’ve requested the Americans not to do it again.”

The Americans are believed to have attacked after a tip-off that Ayman al-Zawahiri, the deputy leader of Al-Qaeda, was present. Local people claimed the victims included boys as young as 12 and that the tribal area had been negotiating with the Pakistan government for a peace deal.

Pakistani officials insist they were shown satellite images of people training and have checked the identity cards of all those killed, and that all were adults.