statism watch

It’s worth recalling that drones are increasingly being brought online for civilian policing in Western nations as well. How long before they’re armed? The Canadian armed forces recently released a report painting a picture of a dystopian future, with drones flying overhead, a military draft, and ’sleeper cells’ staging terror attacks on the domestic front.

Flashback: UK Police use spy drone for first domestic arrest – without airspace clearance | Future police: Meet the UK’s armed robot drones | UK police plan to use military-style spy drones | US Domestic Espionage Alert: Spy Drone Discovered | Suspected US drone ‘kills 12′ in Pakistan | U.S. Military Joins CIA’s Drone War in Pakistan | US Air Force confirms new ‘Beast of Kandahar’ drone | Clinton confronted by Pakistanis over attacks by aerial drones | UN: Drone attacks may violate international law | Kandahar spy blimp raises privacy concerns | US drone ’shot down over Somalia’ | Canada’s military peers into future, sees drone patrols, draft, insurgency | 250-Foot Long Hybrid Airship Will Spy Over Afghanistan Battlefields in 2011 | Pakistan remains silent as U.S. air attack kills 80 | Military spycraft patrols Ontario border from Fort Drum | Whistleblower Who Linked “Taliban” Leader To US Intelligence Is Assassinated | Homing chips are CIA’s latest weapon against ‘al-Qaida’ targets hiding in Pakistan’s tribal belt | CIA: Our Drones are Killing Terrorists. Promise | 500,000 fleeing Pakistani airstrikes, fighting, UN reports | US air strikes kill dozens of Afghan civilians | NATO denies air strike killed Afghan civilians | Pakistan is ‘abdicating to the Taliban,’ says Clinton | US military may escalate ‘war on terror’ by striking deeper into Pakistan | Pentagon plans blimp to spy from new heights | Remote-controlled planes could spy on British homes | Predator drones patrolling border irk Manitoba MLA | Report: CIA runs secret bases in Pakistan | U.S. set to launch Predator drones to monitor Manitoba border | Military Tech on the Home Front: Predator drones to begin surveillance of Canada-US border | Hoverdrone to be deployed to Iraq | Don’t-ask-don’t-tell Policy: Pakistan and U.S. Have Tacit Deal On Airstrikes | Death toll climbs after U.S. air strike in Pakistan | US Incursion Turned Back by Pakistan Army | Bush secret order to send special forces into Pakistan | Pakistan fury over ‘US assault’ | Kids to Help Create Drones, ‘Fuzzy’ Line to Be Drawn between Military and Civil Spheres | Canadian military acquiring new helicopters, drones | Unmanned spy planes to police Britain | Austin police testing unmanned spy drones | Nunavut taken aback by military plan for drone patrols | U.S. to patrol Manitoba border with drone aircraft

Paul Joseph Watson, Prisonplanet.com
March 4, 2010

Thinktank report figures highlight increasing frequency of missile deaths

One out of every three people killed by unmanned US Predator drones in Pakistan is a civilian, according to a new report that highlights the collateral damage caused by the targeting of Taliban and “Al Qaeda” operatives with missiles.

The report by Washington think tank The New America Foundation has found that 32% of the more than 1,200 people killed since 2004 were innocent bystanders rather than dangerous terrorists.

The nonpartisan public policy institute based it’s research on media accounts from sources including the New York Times, Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, CNN, the BBC, in addition to reports in the leading English-language newspapers in Pakistan, as well as coverage by the largest independent Pakistani television network.

“Our study shows that the 114 reported drone strikes in northwest Pakistan, including 18 in 2010, from 2004 to the present have killed approximately between 834 and 1,216 individuals,” the report by Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann states.

“…around 549 to 849 were described as militants in reliable press accounts, about two-thirds of the total on average. Thus, the true civilian fatality rate since 2004 according to our analysis is approximately 32 percent.” the study concludes.

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It’s the ample corroborating material that takes his statement from the realm of mere assertion or, say, false confession extracted by Iran (both potential objections to this story) to the realm of probability. Factor this knowledge of international intelligence involvement in Pakistani terror organizations into your judgement next time you hear that some dispossessed Muslim kid went to Pakistan to get ‘jihad training’, was subsequently trailed around by the secret service for months upon return, incited by informants to discuss plans with no hope of fruition before being set up in a sting.

Flashback: CIA admits Blackwater presence in Pakistan | Taliban: Blackwater to blame for Pakistan attacks | How the US Funds the Taliban | Taliban Chief Blames Blackwater, ISI for Peshawar Blast | Ex-CIA agent confirms US ties with Jundullah | Iranian commanders assassinated, Iran fingers Western intelligence | Madsen: CIA collusion with “Al Qaeda” financiers and attack planners | Whistleblower Who Linked “Taliban” Leader To US Intelligence Is Assassinated | Pakistani president Asif Zardari admits creating terrorist groups | Western Governments Funding Taliban & Al-Qaeda To Kill U.S. Troops, Destabilize Countries | The Main Result of the “War on Terror”: The Destabilization of Pakistan | Report: CIA runs secret bases in Pakistan | Delta Force Officer: We Weren’t Allowed to Kill Osama Bin Laden | Key Benazir Bhutto assassination witness shot dead | CIA, Pakistani ISI have long, complicated relationship | US scales up covert destabilization efforts in Iran, continues funding ‘al-Qaeda’ | Report: U.S. Gave Green Light For Taliban Prison Attack | Investigative Reporter Seymour Hersh: US Indirectly Funding Al-Qaeda Linked Sunni Groups in Move to Counter Iran | US Allowed Taliban, Al-Qaeda Airlift Evacuation

Steve Watson, Infowars.net
February 26, 2010

Al Qaeda affiliate says his group was armed and assisted by U.S., Britain and Israel

The leader of a Pakistan based terrorist organisation closely affiliated with Al Qaeda has detailed how his group benefited from extensive political and financial support from the CIA in return for continued attacks against the government, the people and the infrastructure of Iran.

Abdolmalek Rigi, the leader of the Pakistan-based Jundullah terrorist organization was captured earlier this week by Iranian security officials in the south of the country.

Rigi was tracked by Iranian intelligence when he boarded a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday.

According to officials, Rigi was using a forged Afghan passport which was issued to him by the U.S. government.

The 31-year-old terror leader issued a statement on Iranian state TV yesterday, during which he alleged that he had made a pact with the U.S. for safe haven and unlimited military aid to pursue terrorist activities against the Iranian government.

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In a background piece on the arrest, the BBC reports “Some quarters here indicate that the arrest may have been “orchestrated” by elements within the Pakistani establishment to facilitate back-channel talks with “willing” Taliban commanders. This line of thinking presupposes a scenario in which the Pakistanis “brought in” Mullah Baradar under a pre-arranged pact with the CIA to pave the way for negotiations. If true, this may indicate a serious move towards a negotiated settlement of the Afghan imbroglio.”

Flashback: NATO, Afghan troops launch largest air assault of Afghan war | Afghanistan conference agrees on exit timetable, Taliban bailout | General McChrystal indicates talks with Taliban to be discussed

BBC News
Febuary 17, 2010

Rehman Malik denied US agents had been involved in the capture

The US has hailed the capture of the Afghan Taliban military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, as a “big success” for US-Pakistani cooperation.

A White House spokesman confirmed the capture for the first time, saying it was a significant development.

Pakistan earlier confirmed the capture which was reported on Tuesday.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik added that other suspects had been arrested in the swoop “seven to 10 days ago” and were being interrogated.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is said to have overseen Taliban military operations in Afghanistan, run the group’s leadership council, and controlled its finances.

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Flashback: U.S. prods Pakistan to expand offensive | CIA admits Blackwater presence in Pakistan | US military may escalate ‘war on terror’ by striking deeper into Pakistan | Report: CIA runs secret bases in Pakistan | Don’t-ask-don’t-tell Policy: Pakistan and U.S. Have Tacit Deal On Airstrikes | Bush secret order to send special forces into Pakistan | CIA, Pakistani ISI have long, complicated relationship

PressTV.ir
February 12, 2010

A senior US official says the American military plans to expand new training centers inside Pakistan in a bid to boost its so-called war on terror.

The senior US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the centers would be used to accelerate and expand the training of Pakistani forces, AP reported.

Washington which invaded neighboring Afghanistan more than eight years ago to allegedly destroy the militancy says the Pakistani military is key to rooting out al-Qaeda leaders allegedly hiding along the mountainous Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

According to the official, the plan will build a number of smaller training centers in the Northwest. Senior US officials have said they hope to train more than 9,000 members of the Pakistani Frontier Corps paramilitary force. The plan will also slash their previous four-year training time by half.

This comes at a time when anti-US sentiments are running high in Pakistan. Indiscriminate US drone attacks have killed hundreds of civilians in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal areas, resulting in a surge in anti-American sentiments.

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Who knows if this is true or not? Who knows if Hakimullah Mehsud is (or was) a puppet of the occupying forces, as has been reported of his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud? This must be what is referred to as the ‘fog of war’. One thing is for certain – it is extremely difficult to trust the media, which in wartime especially operates on a set of principles Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman proposed in the 1980s – the propaganda model of the media. The truth, when it can be discerned, must be arrived at by a close reading and comparison of multiple stories in the attempt to abstract out bias.

Flashback: Killer of CIA agents in Afghanistan called for revenge for Baitullah Mehsud | Pakistani militant leader dead: Taliban | Whistleblower Who Linked “Taliban” Leader To US Intelligence Is Assassinated | Pakistani president Asif Zardari admits creating terrorist groups | Western Governments Funding Taliban & Al-Qaeda To Kill U.S. Troops, Destabilize Countries | The Main Result of the “War on Terror”: The Destabilization of Pakistan | Report: CIA runs secret bases in Pakistan | Key Benazir Bhutto assassination witness shot dead | CIA, Pakistani ISI have long, complicated relationship | US Allowed Taliban, Al-Qaeda Airlift Evacuation

CBC News
January 31, 2010

The Pakistani army said Sunday it is investigating reports that Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud died from injuries sustained in a U.S. drone missile strike in mid-January.

The militant leader’s death would be an important success for both Pakistan, which has been battling the Pakistani Taliban, and the U.S., which blames Mehsud for a recent deadly bombing against the CIA in Afghanistan.

The army’s disclosure came shortly after Pakistani state television, citing unnamed “official sources,” reported that Mehsud died in Orakzai, an area in Pakistan’s northwest tribal region where he was reportedly being treated for his injuries.

“We have these reports coming to us,” army spokesman Gen. Athar Abbas told The Associated Press. “We are investigating whether it is true or wrong.”

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Flashback: US pours millions into anti-Taliban militias in Afghanistan | Taliban: Blackwater to blame for Pakistan attacks | UK ‘backs Taliban reintegration’ | How the US Funds the Taliban | Ex-diplomat says Afghanistan in ‘civil war,’ calls for US withdrawal | Ethnic hostility is a big, maybe the biggest, part of the Afghan war | Occupiers involved in drug trade: Afghan minister | Afghan leader’s corrupt brother paid by CIA, U.S. officials say | Pakistani Army working with ‘Good Taliban’ | French troops were killed after Italy hushed up ‘bribes’ to Taleban | Afghanistan Drug Raid Snares Border Police Commander | Afghanistan’s Hidden Heroin Addicts | Britain and US prepared to open talks with the Taliban | Pakistani president Asif Zardari admits creating terrorist groups | Western Governments Funding Taliban & Al-Qaeda To Kill U.S. Troops, Destabilize Countries | Taliban flee new U.S. drive in Afghanistan | Whistleblower Who Linked “Taliban” Leader To US Intelligence Is Assassinated | US arms sent to Afghan forces ‘in Taliban hands’ | Canada, allies will never defeat Taliban, PM says | Canadian troops could soon target Afghan drug trade: top soldier | Reports reveal concerns over drug use among Canadian military | NATO to let troops fight Afghan drug lords | Karzai’s kin linked to heroin trafficking | ‘Reconstruction’ efforts in Khandahar not apparent to Afghanis | Delta Force Officer: We Weren’t Allowed to Kill Osama Bin Laden | Afghani Narco-state Continues to Blossom under Puppet President | Report: U.S. Gave Green Light For Taliban Prison Attack | The Lies that Led to War | US Allowed Taliban, Al-Qaeda Airlift Evacuation

Mark Tran, The Guardian
January 25, 2010

General Stanley McChrystal hints that negotiations in London could see Taliban leaders join new Kabul government

The US military’s surge in Afghanistan could counter a resurgent Taliban and pave the way for a political deal that could end the war, Nato’s commander in the country said today, before a flurry of diplomatic activity to find a way out of the eight-year conflict.

The comments by General Stanley McChrystal indicate that Thursday’s international conference in London will concentrate on ways to reach a political settlement with the Taliban.

“It’s not my job to extend olive branches, but it is my job to help set conditions where people in the right positions can have options on the way forward,” McChrystal told the Financial Times.

“I think any Afghans can play a role if they focus on the future, and not the past,” he said when asked whether he would be content to see Taliban leaders in a future Afghan government.

Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, last week also held out the possibility of a deal with the Taliban when he described them as part of Afghanistan’s “political fabric”.

David Miliband, the foreign secretary, said efforts to stabilise Afghanistan had reached a decisive moment. Speaking as EU foreign ministers gathered in Brussels to discuss issues including Afghanistan, Yemen and Iran, Miliband said: “The combination of a new Afghan government and a new focus of the international military and civilian efforts means that this is going to be a decisive period in the Afghan campaign.

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Diplomacy by CIA: It’s okay, Pakistan, you can go ahead and hold off on killing the Pashtuns for a few months. Robert Gates is a top spook, having previously served in the upper echelons of the USA’s shadow government: a National Security Council member and director of the CIA under George HW Bush.

Flashback: U.S. prods Pakistan to expand offensive | Pakistan anti-Taliban offensive in South Waziristan ‘over’ | Refugee flood reveals human cost of South Waziristan’s invisible war | ‘Taliban’ resist Pakistan onslaught | Pakistani troops assault ‘Taliban’ stronghold | Militants attack Pakistani cities | Pakistan launches air strikes before offensive

Anne Gearan, Associated Press
January 21, 2010

U.S. eases pressure on crucial ally in Afghanistan

God be praised! Another jihad video from the glorious CIA contractor brothers at Intelcenter, known for their timely, exclusive access to all the Islamic insurgent media that our Western outlets can choke down. Were it not for Intelcenter, how could Al-Qaeda ever get its message out? Yes, this is sarcasm. And another thing that should be noted is that days before Baitullah Mehsud (the lost Emir they’re blathering about below) was targeted by a CIA drone, a whistleblower – Qari Zainuddin – called him out as an intelligence agency stooge and was himself promptly if indiscretely assassinated by one of Mehsud’s men. Suffice it to say, there’s a lot of double-dealing and accusation going on in Af/Pak, but it looks as though this guy was a bona fide suicidal Taliban fighter. That’s assuming he even knew whom he was ultimately working for.

Flashback: Spy links with CIA suicide bomber are problem for Jordan |Taliban: Blackwater to blame for Pakistan attacks | How the US Funds the Taliban | Taliban Chief Blames Blackwater, ISI for Peshawar Blast | Pakistani Army working with ‘Good Taliban’ | French troops were killed after Italy hushed up ‘bribes’ to Taleban | Has Osama Bin Laden been dead for seven years – and are the U.S. and Britain covering it up to continue war on terror? | Links to ‘Al-Qaeda’, Pakistani training camps linger after ‘Toronto 18′ member imprisoned | A Sibel Edmonds Bombshell – Bin Laden Worked for U.S. Until 9/11 | Pakistani president Asif Zardari admits creating terrorist groups | Western Governments Funding Taliban & Al-Qaeda To Kill U.S. Troops, Destabilize Countries | Pakistani militant leader dead: Taliban | Whistleblower Who Linked “Taliban” Leader To US Intelligence Is Assassinated | The Main Result of the “War on Terror”: The Destabilization of Pakistan | Not very cricket: Witnesses report Pakistani security abandoned convoy prior to attack | Pakistani officers helped plan Mumbai attacks, says India | Report: CIA runs secret bases in Pakistan | Former ISI Chief: Mumbai And 9/11 Both “Inside Jobs” | Afghanistan suggests Pakistan responsible for embassy bombing | Key Benazir Bhutto assassination witness shot dead | Report: U.S. Gave Green Light For Taliban Prison Attack | Terror accused refuses to discuss links to Pakistan secret service, family threatened | London terror plotter was ‘hardened’ in ISI camp | CIA, Pakistani ISI have long, complicated relationship | US Allowed Taliban, Al-Qaeda Airlift Evacuation

David Batty, Agencies, The Guardian
January 9, 2010

Video aired posthumously shows former Jordanian militant urging attacks on US to avenge killing of Taliban chief

The suicide bomber who killed eight people at a US base in eastern Afghanistan has called for revenge attacks on US targets in a video aired posthumously on Pakistan television.

Private television station AAJ showed a video purportedly of the bomber Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi with Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud beside him.

Balawi, a Jordanian doctor, said all jihadists must attack US targets to avenge the killing of the Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud by a CIA missile strike in August.

“We will never forget the blood of our emir Baitullah Mehsoud. We will always demand revenge for him inside America and outside,” he said in the minute-and-a-half video.

The IntelCenter, a US-based group monitoring Islamist websites, said the video had been released by the Pakistani branch of the Taliban.

Balawi blew himself up at a meeting with seven CIA employees after a Jordanian intelligence officer reportedly took the bomber to Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province.

Balawi was arrested by Jordanian intelligence more than a year ago on suspicion of extremist sympathies, then apparently agreed to support the US in its fight against al-Qaida.

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Flashback: U.S. Military Joins CIA’s Drone War in Pakistan | US Air Force confirms new ‘Beast of Kandahar’ drone | Clinton confronted by Pakistanis over attacks by aerial drones | UN: Drone attacks may violate international law | Kandahar spy blimp raises privacy concerns | US drone ’shot down over Somalia’ | Canada’s military peers into future, sees drone patrols, draft, insurgency | 250-Foot Long Hybrid Airship Will Spy Over Afghanistan Battlefields in 2011 | Pakistan remains silent as U.S. air attack kills 80 | Military spycraft patrols Ontario border from Fort Drum | Whistleblower Who Linked “Taliban” Leader To US Intelligence Is Assassinated | Homing chips are CIA’s latest weapon against ‘al-Qaida’ targets hiding in Pakistan’s tribal belt | CIA: Our Drones are Killing Terrorists. Promise | 500,000 fleeing Pakistani airstrikes, fighting, UN reports | US air strikes kill dozens of Afghan civilians | NATO denies air strike killed Afghan civilians | Pakistan is ‘abdicating to the Taliban,’ says Clinton | US military may escalate ‘war on terror’ by striking deeper into Pakistan | Pentagon plans blimp to spy from new heights | Remote-controlled planes could spy on British homes | Predator drones patrolling border irk Manitoba MLA | Report: CIA runs secret bases in Pakistan | U.S. set to launch Predator drones to monitor Manitoba border | Military Tech on the Home Front: Predator drones to begin surveillance of Canada-US border | Hoverdrone to be deployed to Iraq | Don’t-ask-don’t-tell Policy: Pakistan and U.S. Have Tacit Deal On Airstrikes | Death toll climbs after U.S. air strike in Pakistan | US Incursion Turned Back by Pakistan Army | Bush secret order to send special forces into Pakistan | Pakistan fury over ‘US assault’ | Kids to Help Create Drones, ‘Fuzzy’ Line to Be Drawn between Military and Civil Spheres | Canadian military acquiring new helicopters, drones | Unmanned spy planes to police Britain | Austin police testing unmanned spy drones | Nunavut taken aback by military plan for drone patrols | U.S. to patrol Manitoba border with drone aircraft

BBC News
January 6, 2010

Two suspected US drone missile strikes have killed at least 12 people in a tribal region of north-west Pakistan, Pakistani security officials say.

The missiles targeted a compound described as a Taliban training centre, about 30km west of Miranshah the main town in North Waziristan.

Officials say the first strike killed seven people. Five died in a second attack as they searched for bodies.

It is the fourth suspected US drone attack in North Waziristan in a week.

North and South Waziristan are a major sanctuary for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.

Hundreds of people, many of them civilians, have been killed in drone attacks since mid-2008. Top Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was among them.

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Either this guy is being manipulated very badly, or he’s throwing up some sort of smokescreen deliberately. it seems likely that the former is the case, given the tmiing of his most recent retraction two days after the news hit the press that India believes the man Kasab says came to talk to him in prison is both a CIA agent and one of the principals behind the attacks.

Flashback: Mumbai suspect is US double agent, India claims | Mumbai police ignored security alerts, says report | Mumbai highlights security on attack anniversary | Pakistan charges 7 in Mumbai attacks | Mumbai attack suspect shocks court and own defence lawyer by pleading guilty | Mumbai attacks suspect alleges torture, retracts confession | Pakistani officers helped plan Mumbai attacks, says India | Indian Mumbai dossier details gunmen’s calls with handlers | India signs new anti-terror laws in wake of Mumbai attack | India to create national spy agency in wake of Mumbai attacks | Former ISI Chief: Mumbai And 9/11 Both “Inside Jobs” | Indian Intelligence Provided SIM Cards to Mumbai Gunmen | CIA Foreknowledge of the Mumbai Attacks | “Fair-skinned, blonde” assailants began attack in Mumbai | Terror strikes Mumbai

Gethin Chamberlain, The Guardian
December 18, 2009

Mohammad Ajmal Kasab tells court he came to India to break into Bollywood and was framed

One of the prime suspects in last year’s Mumbai terrorist attacks suddenly withdrew his confession today and claimed he had been framed by police.

Mohammad Ajmal Kasab is on trial in Mumbai accused of being the lone surviving gunman from the attacks, in which 166 people died over three days in November last year.

Prosecutors are adamant that Kasab is the young man seen clutching an automatic rifle and striding through the city’s railway station in a picture that has become the iconic image of the attacks.

Kasab insisted today that this was not the case, smiling as he set out his new version of events. Far from arriving by sea with the other gunmen on the night the attacks began, he said, he had pitched up nearly three weeks earlier hoping to break into the Bollywood film industry and had been picked up by the police three days before the attacks for being Pakistani. [Ed. Note: Well, someone ought to be able to verify that either way.]

It was his misfortune, he claimed, to be the doppelgänger of one of the gunmen shot dead by police. Lacking a culprit to put on trial, they had taken him from his cell the day the attacks were launched, shot him to make it look as if he had been injured in the crossfire and then framed him, he said. [Ed. note: Apparently it won't be Mumbai police, though.]

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