Jeremy Scahill writes a must read detailed report on the operations of Blackwater in Pakistan. His extensive investigation naturally starts off from The White House which refused to comment or respond to his emails but a spokesperson from the US Department of Defense denied the presence of Blackwater in Pakistan to categorically say “We don’t have any contracts to do that work for us. We don’t contract that kind of work out, period”
I share some important points from the article, while I strongly suggest to read the full write at The Nation
The denials by the DOD comes amidst an anonymous and reliable source confirming to Jeremy that nearly every aspect of the US operations in Pakistan has been outsourced to Xe Services [Blackwater], a name which has now become Total Intelligence Solutions (TIS) [a sister company of Blackwater’s founder, Erik Prince] the name change was necessitated as Blackwater and the mysterious Xe had become quite infamous in Pakistan- A former senior executive at Blackwater confirmed the military intelligence source’s claim that the company is working in Pakistan for the CIA and JSOC. “This is a parallel operation to the CIA,” said the source. “They are two separate beasts.”
- He said that Blackwater is also working for the Pakistani government on a subcontract with an Islamabad-based security firm [Kestral Logistics]
- The main JSOC/Blackwater facility in Karachi, according to the source, is nondescript: three trailers with various generators, satellite phones and computer systems are used as a makeshift operations center. “It’s a very rudimentary operation,” says the source. Blackwater’s work for JSOC in Karachi is coordinated out of a Task Force based at Bagram Air Base in neighboring Afghanistan, according to the military intelligence source
- According to the source, Blackwater has effectively marketed itself as a company whose operatives have “conducted lethal direct action missions and now, for a price, you can have your own planning cell. JSOC just ate that up,” he said, adding, “They have a sizable force in Pakistan–not for any nefarious purpose if you really want to look at it that way
- The former Blackwater executive, when asked for confirmation that Blackwater forces were not actively killing people in Pakistan, said, “that’s not entirely accurate.”
- Blackwater works on a subcontract for Kestral Logistics, a powerful Pakistani firm, which specializes in military logistical support, private security and intelligence consulting.
For years, Kestral has done a robust business in defense logistics with the Pakistani government and other nations, as well as top US defense companies. Blackwater owner Erik Prince is close with Kestral CEO Liaquat Ali Baig [his interview on Arrehman-Arraheem], according to the former Blackwater executive. “Ali and Erik have a pretty close relationship,” he said. “They’ve met many times and struck a deal, and they [offer] mutual support for one another.”- For months, the Pakistani media has been flooded with stories about Blackwater’s alleged growing presence in the country. For the most part, these stories have been ignored by the US press and denounced as lies or propaganda by US officials in Pakistan. But the reality is that, although many of the stories appear to be wildly exaggerated, Pakistanis have good reason to be concerned about Blackwater’s operations in their country. It is no secret in Washington or Islamabad that Blackwater has been a central part of the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan and that the company has been involved–almost from the beginning of the “war on terror”–with clandestine US operations. Indeed, Blackwater is accepting applications for contractors fluent in Urdu and Punjabi. The US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, has denied Blackwater’s presence in the country, stating bluntly in September, “Blackwater is not operating in Pakistan.” In her trip to Pakistan in October, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dodged questions from the Pakistani press about Blackwater’s rumored Pakistani operations. Pakistan’s interior minister, Rehman Malik, said on November 21 he will resign if Blackwater is found operating anywhere in Pakistan.
- In September, the Pakistani press covered a report on Blackwater allegedly submitted by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies to the federal interior ministry. In the report, the intelligence agencies reportedly allege that Blackwater was provided houses by a federal minister who is also helping them clear shipments of weapons and vehicles through Karachi’s Port Qasim on the coast of the Arabian Sea.
These points above are some short extracts of the statements made in Jeremy’s article in The Nation.
By all reports there seems to be a definite possibility of Blackwater being present in Pakistan – as a self respecting Pakistan – I plea to our government to declare all such individuals persona non-grata, whilst I would take up the challenge of Mr. Rehman Malik and ask for his resignation which so promised a few months back
Comments
20 responses to “Blackwater’s Secret War in Pakistan being Verified”
JSOC = Joint Special Operations Command, as described in this Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Special_Operat…
John Perkins in his book 'The confessions of an economic hitman' has termed such covert operators who are primarily used to spread rumours, overthrow governments, create chaos and consternation as 'JACKALS'.
If this ploy doesn't work brainwashed men and women from the US Army will be sent to invade 'The land of the pure'
Technically, Rehman Malik and Anne Paterson and Hillary are not lying. It's not Blackwater thats working inside Pakistan…its Xe or TIS 😛
good piece, good to see a blogger who is not towing the line.
Question is not the presence of blackwater in pak!
Question is how they entered in pakistan?
even bigger question is:
where are our legendary heroes of army and ISI?
I do not think there will be a single house in Peshawar who would have not burried a loved one,a friend ,a neighbour in recent months.
Rest are killed by drone attacks and than operations,and than the Bad Talibans kill us and now on top of it all USA contracters kill us.
So for all Paksitani's death warrants have been signed.
By the way what is this crap of,"Good contracters and Bad contracters"
Forign agencies are not allowed to operate within Pakistan.FULL STOP.
as if internal institutions are not enough to torture and abuse us.
—a classic story where USA feeds us cakes of aid and than murder us……
sick psychos…….
—-
USA has secret locations around the world where it keeps abducted people.they cannot keep them in USA because these people have to have committed some crime and if they are in a prison they have to have a trial.
A fair trial which will be in the news and media so public openion will be against it.to save image and to avoid public pressure at home
US carries out its BIG BROTHER dirty games in the countries where public awareness or openion is not so strong.
So the camps in Iraq,Afghanistan and Gitmo were the best options for detaining,abusing and torturing people because these people were not prisoners of war so the humanitarian rules of law like Geneva convention or International law of Human Rights etc does not apply to them.
This is the safe heaven which USA is seeking .It has nothing to do with OBAMA or Clinton
it is US long term strategy to protect its citizens.
Now in the absence of cold war and in the absence of an obvious enemy or threat like that of Russia they have invented imagenary threats like Terrorists to have an excuse of keep spending on its military and to keep other Nations under its rule.
This contract scheme makes absolute sense and the planning seems to be long term.
Pressure must be built on to Pakistan government to bring any such contracts into public knowledge .all such contracts should be terminated.
We do not need aid if the basis of it is Torture cells and contractual killings of any nationality.
We cannot be a party to a crime committed against ourselves.
I am convinced USA is an affair which is AN AFFAIR WHICH IS SEALED WITH A KISS OF DEATH.
(above is written by me for referece please read Noam Chomsky)
Why beat on the monkey if you don’t like the organ grinder’s tune? Systemic behaviors don’t change by merely moving the chairs around.
In classical political theory, the difference between oligarchies and democracies comes down to the size of the franchise.
If the shots (literally) in Pakistan are being called (in part) by the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence—that would be a key franchise. What’s your relationship with those deciders?
How easy is it for Senate staffers and members of the committee to understand Pakistan? How often do they have the opportunity to enjoy frank, unbiased conversations with Pakistanis outside of government or the military? Answers: almost impossible and never.
Put 6-10 people in Washington D.C. for a week. Leave the OPs and goras out of this. Include some MSM people in the trip. Bring video cameras.
Make the rounds of the committee members’ offices. Start with the staffers assigned to support the members’ activities on the committee. Work them. Then ask for a meeting with the Senators. Consider picking at least one other committee (in both houses) with responsibility for U.S.-Pakistan relations.
Be un-American: ask for directions and advice.
The opportunities for dialog—and change—that YOU create will be huge.
where are our legendary heroes of army and ISI? [Dr Jawwad Khan]
=======================
Dr Sahab,
Earlier they were NAB
Swift Accountability
Zamir said the ISI together with the NAB was instrumental in pressing the lawmakers to join the pro-Musharraf camp to form the government to support his stay in power. The man, who rigged 2002 polls, spills the beans Sunday, February 24, 2008 By Umar Cheema
http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id…
and nowadays:
ISI Chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha meets CIA director Updated at: 2130 PST, Thursday, October 01, 2009
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/updates.asp?id=87992
Islamic militancy is a foreign policy tool of the US and
Pakistani establishments Download this article By Yousuf Nazar http://www.yousufnazar.com/?p=777
Admiral Mike Mullen (first from left), the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Pervez Kayani (third from the left) and next to him, the ISI Chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha (then Major. Gen. and Director General Military Operations) aboard the US naval carrier Abraham Lincoln in Indian Ocean; in a secret meeting on August 26, 2008. Pasha was promoted to the rank of Lt. Gen. and appointed as the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence on Sept. 29, 2008. –
How we used to react to USA in 1996.
Ayub is President ,Bhutto foreign secretary
from TIME Friday,April,8-1966
——–
"After tumultuous greetings in Rawalpindi (TIME, April 1), perhaps 1,000,000 people poured into the streets of Lahore, the old Mogul capital, sprinkling rose water into the path of the Chinese, heaping flower petals on Liu's car, shouting "Long live Pakistan-China friendship!" It was the greatest celebration since Independence in 1947, and, predictably, in spots it had a distinctly anti-American flavor. Young toughs waved "Chinese yes, Yankees no" signs, taunted U.S. newsmen with shouts of "white skinned monkeys" and "Yankee bastards." "We cannot altogether control the response of our people," muttered one Pakistani official lamely.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,…
How our National character has changed.Apart from Imran Khan and Zaid Hamid rest treat Americans like sacred cows.
Aljazeera coverage on the article by Scahill, includes comments by Mosharaf Zaidi, a Pakistani journalist in NY.
http://www.youtube.com/user/aljazeeraenglish?blen…
Scahills comments on his own article:
http://i4.democracynow.org/2009/11/24/blackwaters…
No-Pakistani could accept foreign presence of mercenaries on Pakistani soil. Its a shame, if the government deliberately allowed such personals working in Pakistan.
The question is who was Ali Zaidi who was arrested?
I personally think that our government should be transparent and come out cleanly on the whole Black-Water fiasco.
if the government deliberately allowed such personals working in Pakistan. [Ali]
———————
Janab Chishti Sahab,
Read about those who allowed them free ticket in Pakistan.
9 -11 & Said Bahaji: Right under the Nose of Bush, Musharraf and Mahmud.
http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/10/9-11-sai…
Ali K.Chishti,
MQM is another blackwater on Pakistan's soil. I hope Allah will erase this group of mercenaries too, Ameeen.
From dawn
The article’s assertions about US government collusion with Blackwater or any other contracting firm are equally baseless and false,’ a statement issued by the US Embassy here said.
‘US government programs for Pakistan are open and transparent and function in partnership with the Government of Pakistan,’ said Ambassador Anne W Patterson.
‘US personnel and programs in Pakistan have only one purpose – to assist the government and people of Pakistan as they face the complex challenges confronting their nation.’—APP
——
Dear Madam
I do appologise that I see no transparency in your statement.
1.You do not deny the presence of Black water in Pakistan.
2.I agree with your statement that "US government programs for Pakistan are open and transparent and function in partnership with the Government of Pakistan"
but not to the people or masses of Pakistan.
3.I also agree with reluctance to ,"US government collusion with Blackwater or any other contracting firm are equally baseless and false"
It can be a private Business man of USA with business ties to Pakistan who has hired Black Water to serve the purpose .
Black water is not a part of US government machinary it is a private company.
3.US personnel and programs in Pakistan have only one purpose – to have hagmoney in the region .To keep the Democracy weak,masses un-previliged and to keep creating confusion so that it is easier for USA to monitor and control the region for strategic gains.
The reason for your presence in paksitan is to protect your citizens and for that reason imagenary Terrorists or let us be realistic on the basis of some Terrorist you have killed whole generation of Afghanistan and now you are after Pakistan.
hate the silence from the ppl of pakistan
Guys i dont know if it is relevant or not but Mr babar chaudry, who has interviewd Mr liaqat ali baig for his website arrehman-arrahim, is also a suspected foreign agent trying to infiltrate the ranks of pakistani military and civil establishment for last 10 years.i guess he was sent 10 years back by his foreign masters to find pesons in higher places to fulfill their agenda.this guy babar
chaudry lives a lavish lifestyle and runs a tv channal
preaching moderate islam.his deciples get visas for us and europe.i m not blaming anyone but i wanna know what our ISI is doing?
dr jawwad khan :
you said: "where are our legendary heroes of army and ISI?"
They are planning how to eat all the aid money (bharwat) without sharing with zardari….
NRO or NO-NRO are just games.
NRO was introduced by one of the biggest PIMP of PAK FAUJ, Pervez Musharraf… so all those who enjoyed the benefits were happy and all those supporters of Musharraf justified it as necessary to strengthen the country.
Now, (Na)Pak Fauj is using it as a card to claim all the bharwat money instead of sharing with Zardaris clan.
MQM is future's FBI in Pakistan.who works for his interests yet.LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANAT he..ALTAF ? If he considers a leader him self then why he is not coming in Pakistan?
Is he better tha Benazir?
He is a curse for Pakistan.
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