Washington Names Al Qaeda In Pakistan Top Terror Threat

Today's AfPak round-up:

Washington names Al Qaeda in Pakistan top terror threat. The U.S. government's annual terror report also calls Al Qaeda affiliates in Africa leading threats to American security, while singling out Iran as the most world's active "state sponsor of terror." The report says that, while terrorist attacks globally have fallen to their lowest level in five years, Al Qaeda's leadership remains "resilient and adaptable." [BBC]

Spokesman: Pentagon could "compel" WikiLeaks to stop releasing documents. With WikiLeaks preparing to release around 15,000 more classified documents related to the Afghan war, Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morell warned that "if doing the right thing is not good enough for them, then we will figure out what alternatives we have to compel them to do the right thing." Apparently in an effort to deter the Pentagon from acting against it, WikiLeaks recently posted an encrypted file labeled "Insurance," which is 20 times larger than its original Afghan leak—the file could be the full set of 260,000 diplomatic cables supplied by Spc. Bradley Manning, cables he says show "almost criminal political back dealings." [Christian Science Monitor]

British troops in Afghanistan: "We try to help them ... but it just seems pointless."

According to this report by the Guardian's Sean Smith, British troops are frustrated with Afghans' lack of interest in "the bigger picture." "They're only interested in their little crop of land, and their children, and their compound. What happens 1000 meters away is totally irrelevant to them," says one soldier. "They don't even want to help themselves, so it just seems pointless," says another, adding "they just seem to be rather left alone, left to their own devices." [Guardian]

Britain, Pakistan paper over tensions. British Prime Minister David Cameron, a week after claiming that Pakistan "exports terror," lauded the "unbreakable relationship between Britain and Pakistan based on our mutual interests" after meeting with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in London. Zardari, for his part, told reporters that "Pakistan and Britain will stand together... and we will make sure the world is a better place for our coming generations." [Reuters]

Comments

[EJavaM07]

12:48 AM on 08/09/2010

How about instead of chasing around the world looking for this threat or that, we concentrate on training our citizens to spot terrorist threats right here at home.

It would be so much cheaper than the continued costs of the military-industrial complex, and it might even improve our image abroad.

[JoeBlough]

01:41 AM on 08/09/2010

There's too much money to be made from saber rattling and testicle shaking. The MIC has to defend its manhood.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

10:22 PM on 08/08/2010

Re the headline. Could have been from X many years ago?

[omobob]

09:26 PM on 08/08/2010

A Pentagon Fishing Trip? A Run it up (nation building in Pakistan) the Flag pole, kind of an idea. Testing the waters. Gonna need a draft if we do, the surest way to lose any engagement. Hopefully we will at least give the Pakistanis fair warning to move out like Duyba gave Sadaam.

[offred]

06:26 PM on 08/08/2010

So when we start pulling troops from Iraq, are they going straight to Pakistan to fight Al Qaeda there?

[Pleroma]

09:36 PM on 08/08/2010

The shifting boondoggle.

[MyTake]

02:33 PM on 08/08/2010

The World's lone remaining Super Power, that has more weapons of small and mass destruction than has ever been assembled in history, sees threats from a bunch of people wearing gowns, head dresses and sandals!

The truth is that the U.S. Corporate War Machine has to perceive, develop and media pump a list of enemies who have absolutely no military resources in order to keep the corporate military suppliers making huge profit margins even from a Nation that is nearly bankrupt, according to China's recent denunciation of the corrupted U.S. bond agencies.

Let's forget the Middle East and just start up another COLD WAR, this time with China.

[omobob]

09:31 PM on 08/08/2010

Those people wearing gowns, head dresses and sandals have manage to kill and wound tens of thousands of US soldiers. I hope you are not marginalizing their sacrifice by denigrating a determined insurgency. The US has had a large problem under estimating insurgent will power.
VietNam, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

10:23 PM on 08/08/2010

I get your theme. Then again, what military resources brought down the Twin Towers?

[JoeBlough]

02:04 PM on 08/08/2010

Oh Boy! Can we have another war? Huh? Please? Just one more war. I promise it will be our last!

[baba2nde]

02:30 PM on 08/08/2010

No. I will give you three: Iran, Pakistan, Somalia, North Korea, Yemen, Venezuela, and finally, China.

Make that "many" wars, and all of them against brown, red, yellow or black people. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDkhzHQO7jY

[Pleroma]

01:34 PM on 08/08/2010

Ah the crusty but dependable Al-Queda blather!

[BannedNBoston]

12:36 PM on 08/08/2010

Pakistan is drug transport center.
Al-Quaida is CIA creation whos profits go to the Saudi Royal family.

Wack the beehive like this or drown it!!!
http://www.pakalertpress.com/2010/08/06/pakistan-flood-photos-haarp-fingerprints-found-allover/

[Edward Standley]

12:07 PM on 08/08/2010

In 2001, John Kerry said, and in 2008, Joe Biden said, that actions against al-Quaida should be pursued through intel, informants, and small squad actions, not with 100,000 troops over long periods of time. They were both laughed at. They were both right. Pakistan will contain whatever Taliban that are in Pakistan. They will also continue to send arms and $ to Taliban in afghanistan.The Pakistani military and ISI are not under the control of the civilian Pakistani govt.
They operate totally independent of civilian control. We can have any kind of diplomatic relations that we want with the govt. of Pakistan,it will not change the way the Pakistani army or ISI do business.

[mariusvinchi]

11:21 AM on 08/08/2010

This "new crisis" is directly related to our rush to war in Afghanistan without proper planning, thought, or human intelligence assets in the region. The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is incredibly porous. So much so, that many extended families actually live in both countries. That has been the case for basically..ever! The border regions "falling" to the Taliban comes as no surprise. What also doesn't surprise me is the Pakistani governments inability, and to a point, unwillingness to address this issue. The Pakistani government and military is chock full of like minded anti-western supporters. Quite terrifying considering they are a nuclear power! All it would take is a small amount of fissile material to change the game forever...

[1776 or 1984]

08:42 AM on 08/08/2010

Understanding the Empire's slogan: "War_on_Terror is Peace"

Although the War_on_Terror is unreal it is not meaningless. The primary aim is to spend without raising the general standard of living, and, to preserve the special mental atmosphere that a hierarchical society needs.

The consciousness of being in 9-1-1 w@rs, and therefore in danger, makes the handing-over of more and more power to a small caste seem the natural, unavoidable condition of survival.

Essentially, the W@r on Terr0r is waged by the Empire against its own subjects, and the object of the w@r is not conquests of territory or to vanquish terr0rists, but to keep the structure of society intact.

Without fear, eventually, the small people in the richest nation would ask its piggy_rulers to spend taxes on things that raise the general well being of the small people (i.e., universal healthcare, good schools, etc.), which would lead to more critical minds.

Real peace puts the Empire at risk. In defense of the Empire, like a general ordering troops to storm an enemy beach, a.couple thousand small people are sacrificed in New York City by outsourced "terrorists."

This -- although the vast majority of Empire_piggies understand it only in a shallower sense -- is the inner meaning of the Empire’s slogan: "War_on_Terror is Peace."

==================
Be a rebel, not a subject

[Pleroma]

01:37 PM on 08/08/2010

Fanned. Your avatar is my Halloween costume. I do it in high heels though.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

10:24 PM on 08/08/2010

A bit dark for me, but fanned.

[SouthSideHooligan]

02:52 AM on 08/08/2010

Large bases...even smaller camps... are simply stationary targets in Afghanistan and the enemy has moved East deeper into the Hindu-Kush in the FATA and NWFP of Pakistan. The administration understands this. That is why everything was pulled out of Iraq. Afghanistan will follow suit. There will be a small group of camps that will serve as support areas for small unit special operations groups like Delta, SF, SEALS, and Ranger units to go into Pakistan and destroy AQ and Taliban cells and groups. This way, everyone gets what they want and big Army comes home while we do what we should have done in the first place before Bushie went to war in a country totally unrelated to AQ: let small-unit special operations teams go in silently, kill off the enemy leaders, and return back to their camp.

There are threats in Pakistan. To deny this is to deny reality. But the way to go is small, highly specialized and lethal units targeting individuals and avoiding the large civilian deaths experienced more recently.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

10:29 PM on 08/08/2010

With all due respect, it's not about operational tactics when we're not establishing secure stability, and while Pakistani intelligence is helping the Taliban.

We're not exactly winning hearts and minds in Afghanistan with civilian death toll in the tens of thousands. And yet Obama -- taking the Pentagon's advice -- wants to send in some 30k more troops.

[Manhajsadiqeen]

02:46 AM on 08/08/2010

A mere declaration on the famed terror list and how would that translate to achieving victory over the Taliban? When the Taliban wake up in the morning certainly they will not shutter in fear for being deemed by the US greatest terror threat.

[stevethetruck]

11:19 PM on 08/07/2010

Washungon names Al Quaeda? That's not NEWS. Lots of people already know Washigton/CIA made up Al Qaeda a long time ago. It's the boogey-man they use to keep us in perpetual war that never needs to be won, we just move it from one country to another, THAT is what it is designed for, just ask Goebbels. "Keep a nation frightened of an "enenmy' and they will go along with anything." Anything, like 2 illegal undeclared wars fixin' to shift to Iran and Pakistan and they NEVER have to win, just keep us frightened with their false flags and distract us while they rob us blind and eliminate and power WE THE PEOPLE once had.

[Pleroma]

02:23 PM on 08/08/2010

Fanned you for that. Succinct! Good!

[lonngfello]

09:19 PM on 08/07/2010

With todays technology everyone in the world is a potential threat.