Monday, August 23, 2010

Why I'm Voting for Ron Fisher for Congress

Hi Yupette,

If you didn't see the front page of today''s NY Times, you should:


Pakistanis Tell of Motive In Taliban Leader's Arrest

Officials Say Spy Agency Sought to Squelch Militants' Peace Talks With Afghans

By Dexter Filkins

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

When American and Pakistani agents captured Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's operation commander, in the chaotic port city of Karachi last January, both countries hailed the arrest as a breakthrough in their often difficult partnership fighting terrorism.

But the arrest of Mr Baradar, the second-ranking Taliban leader after Mullah Mohammad Omar, came with a beguiling twist: both American and Pakistani officials claimed that Mr. Baradar's capture had been a lucky break. It was only days later, the officials said, that they finally figured out who they had.

Now, seven months later, Pakistani officials are telling a very different story. They say they set out to capture Mr. Bradar and used the C.I.A. to help them do it, because they wanted to shut down secret peace talks that Mr. Baradar had been conducting with the Afghan government that excluded Pakistan, the Taliban's longtime backer.

"We picked up Baradar and the others because they were trying to make a deal without us," said a Pakistani security official, who, like numerous people interviewed about the operation, spoke anonymously because of the delicacy of relations between Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the United States. "We protect the Taliban. They are dependent on us. We are not going to allow them to make a deal with Karzai and the Indians."


Yupette, it's been obvious to me for years that Bin Laden and the senior Taliban commanders are worth more alive than dead to the New Democrats and NeoCons who are ruining American with warfighting in the Middle East. I'm voting for Ron Fisher for Congress. Ron will help get us out of fighting ruinous wars with Third World nations.

Joan 22207

14 comments:

Wash Post Front Page 8-23-10 said...

Al-Quida presence limited in war

AFGHANS WARY OF GROUP

Foreign fighters are often seen as liability

By Craig Whitlock

"Although U.S. officials have often said that al-Quida is a marginal player on the Afghan battlefield, an analysis of 76,000 classified U.S. military reports posted by the Web site WikiLeaks underscores the extent to which Osama bin Laden and his network have become an after thought to the war.

The reports, which cover the escalation of the insurgency between 2004 and the end of 2009, mention al-Quida only a few times and even then just in passing. Most are vague references to people with unspecified al-Quida contacts or sympathies, or as shorthand for an amorphous ideological enemy

Moran vs. Murray - We Lose Either Way said...

Yeah, the so-called "bad guys" are worth more alive than dead to Moran's military contractor buds and Murray's warfighter buds.

Sheesh said...

You mean to tell me this is happening while New Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton is Secretary of State? Sheesh.

Wash Post Front Page 8-24-10 said...

U.S. aid buys little goodwill

Pakistanis say they see scant evidence of the billions spent

BY Griff White

More aid, little affection

"The U.S. has substantially increased civilian aid to Pakistan in recent years, and will continue to give large sums under the $7.5 billion Kerry-Luger bill. The aid money is intended to help convince the Pakistanis that tje Unites States cares about their well-being, and not just about helping Pakistan's military.

While aid to Pakistan has increased the aid seems to have made little difference in Pakistani perceptions of the United States, which remain overwhelmingly negative. There is little awareness in Pakistan of U.S. assistance levels."

Anonymous said...

John Kerry...wasn't he the New Democrat who ran for President? And isn't Richard Lugar a NeoCon?

Anonymous said...

Same wonderful Pakistanis who are protecting the Taliban.

NY Times Front Page 10-24-10 said...

Graft Dispute In Afghanistan Is Test for U.S.

Intervention by Karzai Raises Tensions

By ROD NORLAND and MARK MAZZETTI

"KABUL, Afghanistan -- As corruption investigations begin to focus on President Hamid Karzai's inner circle, and Afghan official on Monday pinned blame for endemic corruption in Afgnanistan on foreign contractors, which he said had created an 'economic mafia' in the war-torn country.

At a news conference on Monday, Waheed Omar, Mr. Karzai's spokesman, elaborated on criticisms made by the Afghan president during an interview with ABC News on Sunday, and blamed foreign contractors spending Western reconstruction money for much of Afghanistan's corruption."

Anonymous said...

"Foreign contractors"? Like Moran's NewDem campaign contributors? Like NeoCon Blackwater-Xe?

Anonymous said...

No, he must mean foreign contractors from Greenland or someplace like that.

Wall Street Journal 8-25-10 said...

Expanded Strikes Weighed in Yemen

By Adam Entous
And Siobhan Gorman

WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials believe al Quida in Yemen is now collaborating more closely with allies in Somalia and Pakistan to plot attacks against the U.S., spurring the prospect that the Administration will mount a more intense targeted killing program in Yemen.

Such a move would give the Central Intelligence Agency a far larger role in what has until now been mainly a secret campaign against militant targets in Yemen and across the Horn of Africa. It would likely be modeled after the CIA's covert drone campaign in Pakistan.

The U.S. military's Special Operations Forces and the CIA have been positioning surveillance equipment, drones and personnel in Yemen, Djibouti, Kenya and Ethopia to step up targeting of al Quida's Yemen affiliate, al Quida in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAB, and Somalia's Shabaab - Arabic for The Youth.

fed up Dem said...

More of the same - NewDem Jim Moran's contractor friends provide the weapons and NeoCon Pat Murray's buds fire them at the terrorists, and anyone else nearby.

NY Times Front Page 8-26-10 said...

KEY KARZAI AIDE IN GRAFT INQUIRY IS LINKED TO C.I.A.

SAID TO BE ON PAYROLL

Conflicting Goa;ls Seen for U.S. in Its Call to Fight Corruption

By Dexter Filkins
and Mark Mazzetti

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The aide to President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan is being paid by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to Afghan and American officials.

Mohammed Zia Zeheli, the chief of administration for the National Security Council, appears to have been on the payroll for many years, according to officials in Kabul and Washington. It is unclear exactly what Mr. Saheli does in exchange for his money, whether providing information to the spy agency, advancing American views inside the presidential palace, or both.

Mr. Saheli's relationship with the CIA underscores deep contradictions at the heart of the Obama administration's policy in Afghanistan, with American officials simultaneously demanding that Mr. Karzai root out the corruption that pervades his government while sometimes subsidizing the very people suspected of perpetuating it.

Anonymous said...

The NeoCons are complaining about Moran's constituent brochure. Have you read Murray's campaign literature? It's totally dishonest. The guy is to the right of Sarah Palin, but he's portrayed as being a progressive independent.

Repub said...

Patrick Murray is a nasty right wing neocon.