Related Newswires Articles on Fiscal Discipline:
Related Newswires Articles on Fiscal Discipline from the Huffington Post
Related Newswires Articles on Fiscal Discipline from the Washington Post
Accompanying Related Video:
Related Newswires Articles on Fiscal Discipline from the Huffington Post:
Pakistan Embassy: US Plans Massive Billion-Dollar Mega-Structure
from The Huffington Post | By Saeed Shah and Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers
ISLAMABAD — The U.S. is embarking on a $1 billion crash program to expand its diplomatic presence in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, another sign that the Obama administration is making a costly, long-term commitment to war-torn South Asia, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
The White House has asked Congress for — and seems likely to receive — $736 million to build a new U.S. embassy in Islamabad, along with permanent housing for U.S. government civilians and new office space in the Pakistani capital.
The scale of the projects rivals the giant U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, which was completed last year after construction delays at a cost of $740 million.
Senior State Department officials said the expanded diplomatic presence is needed to replace overcrowded, dilapidated and unsafe facilities and to support a “surge” of civilian officials into Afghanistan and Pakistan ordered by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
KBR Inc. Bonuses Paid Out Despite Soldiers’ Deaths
from The Huffington Post | KIMBERLY HEFLING | AP
The chief executive of the military contractor under scrutiny in the electrocution of U.S. troops in Iraq said Wednesday the electrical codes it used in the buildings it maintained in the war zone “were known and thought to be acceptable” by the Pentagon.
William P. Utt, the chairman of Houston-based KBR Inc. told The Associated Press in an interview that the company was not expected to meet the U.S. electrical code in a wartime environment. He said the company was striving to meet the British electrical code, which was more in line with the Iraqi electrical system.
Earlier Wednesday, Jim Childs, an electrical inspector hired by the Army to help review U.S.-run facilities in Iraq testified before the Democrats’ policy committee that 90 percent of KBR’s wiring in newly constructed buildings in Iraq was not done properly, meaning an estimated 70,000 buildings where troops lived and worked were not safe.
“When I began inspecting the electrical work performed by KBR, my co-workers and I found improper electrical work in every building we inspected,” Childs said.
US Army Paid KBR Bonuses Despite Soldiers’ Deaths Resulting From Shoddy Work
from The Huffington Post | Full News Feed by The Huffington Post News Editors
The U.S. Army paid $83.4 million in bonuses to KBR Inc., its biggest contractor in Iraq, despite accusations its wiring work has been linked to the electrocution of at least four soldiers and one contractor, a congressional investigative panel said on Wednesday.
The Senate Democratic Policy Committee said it also determined that more than half of the bonuses — $48.9 million — were awarded after the Defense Department sounded an alarm in early 2007 about what the panel described as pervasive problems with KBR.
Chairman Byron Dorgan opened the hearing by ripping into the Houston-based company and accusing the Army of “stunning incompetence” in rewarding it for its work.
The Senate Democratic Policy Committee is the research arm of the Senate Democratic leadership and conducts investigations of its own.
Dorgan said his panel’s probe “led us to internal Pentagon documents showing that in 2007 and 2008, KBR received bonuses of $83.4 million for work that, according to the Pentagon’s own investigation, led to the electrocution deaths of U.S. troops.”
KBR Wins $35M Pentagon Contract Despite Criminal Probe Into Electrocution Deaths
from The Huffington Post | Full News Feed by The Huffington Post News Editors
Defense contractor KBR Inc. has been awarded a $35 million Pentagon contract involving major electrical work, even as it is under criminal investigation in the electrocution deaths of at least two U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
The announcement of the new KBR contract came just months after the Pentagon, in strongly worded correspondence obtained by The Associated Press, rejected the company’s explanation of serious mistakes in Iraq and its proposed improvements. A senior Pentagon official, David J. Graff, cited the company’s “continuing quality deficiencies” and said KBR executives were “not sufficiently in touch with the urgency or realities of what was actually occurring on the ground.”
“Many within DOD (the Department of Defense) have lost or are losing all remaining confidence in KBR’s ability to successfully and repeatedly perform the required electrical support services mission in Iraq,” wrote Graff, commander of the Defense Contract Management Agency, in a Sept. 30 letter.
Graff rejected the company’s claims that it wasn’t required to follow U.S. electrical codes for its work on U.S. military facilities in Iraq. KBR has said it would cost an extra $560 million to refurbish buildings in Iraq used by the U.S. military, including Saddam Hussein’s palaces, which among other problems are based on a 220-volt standard rather than the American 120-volt standard.
Security Problems At US Bases In Iraq Cause Serious Concern
from The Huffington Post | RICHARD LARDNER | AP
U.S. military officials want to know if an employee for a private security contractor was fired for telling investigators about serious deficiencies in training and equipment for Ugandan guards hired to protect an American base in Iraq.
Information about John Wayne Nash’s sudden departure from Iraq after he met with staff from the Commission on Wartime Contracting was forwarded by U.S. Central Command to the office of the Pentagon inspector general.
The inspector general’s military reprisal investigation unit is reviewing the material to determine if a full inquiry is warranted, according to a defense official who requested anonymity because he is not allowed to publicly discuss the matter.
The military relies on hired guards at bases in Iraq so troops are available for combat duties. Overall, there are five companies providing security at bases in Iraq under contracts with an estimated value of $250 million.
Human Rights Inquiry Set For Warehoused Asians In Iraq
from The Huffington Post | By Adam Ashton | McClatchy Newspapers
BAGHDAD — The U.S. military and defense contractor KBR are investigating possible human-rights abuses at a compound near the Baghdad airport where a Kuwaiti company housed about 1,000 Asian men it recruited for jobs in Iraq that didn’t materialize.
About 400 of the men continue to wait for flights back to their home countries more than a week after officials from Najlaa International Catering Services said they were planning to repatriate the men. The others were sent home, a Sri Lankan who’s still living on the grounds said Friday.
“We’re tired of their drama. We just want to leave,” said Manoj Kodithuwakku, 28.
McClatchy and the Times of London first reported on the men in the compound Dec. 2, when they started to protest their living conditions in the three windowless warehouses where they’d spent the past two to three months.
Accompanying Related Video:
US Troops in Iraq talk about Halliburton & KBR
Interviews with US troops and Halliburton employees explain what is happening in Iraq.
Related Newswires Articles on Fiscal Discipline from the Washington Post:
KBR Connected to Alleged Fraud, Pentagon Auditor Says
from Wash Post – World News by Ellen Nakashima
KBR, the Army’s largest contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan, is linked to “the vast majority” of suspected combat-zone fraud cases that have been referred to investigators, as well as a majority of the $13 billion in “questioned” or “unsupported” costs, the Pentagon’s top auditor said yesterday.
In testimony before the bipartisan Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, April G. Stephenson, director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency, said investigators have sent to the inspector general a total of 32 cases of suspected overbilling, bribery and other violations since 2004.
“I don’t think we’re aware of a program, contract or contractor that has had this number of suspensions or referrals,” Stephenson said. KBR’s work accounts for 43 percent of the Pentagon’s audited Iraq contracting dollars, according to the agency’s data.
Stephenson’s disclosures come as the Pentagon prepares to draw down forces in Iraq, requiring major support from contractors, while ramping up reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. Lawmakers are pushing the government to introduce more competition in its procurement programs.
Accompanying Related Video:
Hearing on US Embassy in Iraq: Waxman Questions KBR
The Oversight Committee holds a hearing, “Allegations of Waste, Fraud, and Abuse at the New U.S. Embassy in Iraq.” The hearing examines the performance of the State Department and its contractors in the construction of the new $600 million U.S. embassy in Baghdad. The Committee reviews questions regarding the embassy compound construction as well as allegations of labor abuse through improper contracting practices. Chairman Henry Waxman questions Karl Demming of KBR about what they found at the embassy.
27
May
09
Afghanistan our New Challenge
The war in Afghanistan has been in progress for almost eight years, two years shy of the former Soviet Union’s losing duration when they invaded the country in 1979. Today, we are finding ourselves in the same predicament as they were some twenty years later, with the only difference being the stakes are much higher with the spreading battlegrounds reaching into Pakistan with its nuclear weapons potentially falling under the Taliban’s control.
Should we be there, yes – but unfortunately we have made the same mistakes the Soviet Union committed in assuring their failure:
- The difficult terrain features Afghanistan offers to foreign armies
- The ability of small numbered Afghan troops to quickly mobilize, strike swiftly and rapidly disperse into the general populous
- Modern military technology is mostly limited to air support supremacy only
- The appearance of armed foreigners in Afghanistan has always been met with arms in the hands of the Afghans.
This last point is perhaps the most important reason of why the war is dragging on and why the U.S. has not been overwhelmingly successful in conflicts such as this before, such as: Vietnam, Lebanon, Somalia and Iraq.
The aforementioned conflicts, like Afghanistan presents itself, are fundamentally based upon religious differences among the populous and invading foreign powers, where political dissimilarities were secondary and ideological dissimilarities were a distant third.
We have all heard the saying “winning the hearts and minds”, which in my opinion is preached but never practiced; we as Americans are told this usually after our military leaders realize the conflict is going to be long and drawn out.
Our picture of the real social and economic situation in the country was insufficiently clear.
History should have been our textbook to use in the Afghan War!
As mentioned when the Soviet Union invaded the country in 1979 they in essence installed there own president, Babrak Karmal, as we did with Hamid Karzai with both presidents’ first steps rendering hopes for the problems facing their country being resolved with foreign aid and support. However, nothing new emerged and their policies that could have changed for a better attitude of a significantly increased portion of the Afghan population towards their new regime never did reach or as in today’s situation reach maturity.
Moreover, the intensity of the internal Afghan conflict continued to grow, and the military presence was associated with forceful imposition of customs alien to the national characteristics and feelings of the Afghan people.
Both the Soviet’s and our current approach did not take into account the country’s multiple forms of economic life and other characteristics, such as tribal and religious customs. One has to admit that we as the Soviets essentially put our bets on the military solution while developing a counterrevolution with force.
As always we were acting out of our best intentions, trying to transplant the approach to which we are accustomed onto Afghan soil, and encouraging the Afghans to copy our ways. All of this did not help our cause; it bred feelings of dependency on the part of the Afghan leaders in regard to both the sphere of military operations and economic solutions.
The war in Afghanistan is continuing and our troops are engaged in extensive combat actions. Finding any way out is becoming more and more difficult as time passes.
President Obama is fully committed, as we should be, in winning this war; the reasons are straightforward and simple to understand:
- To stop the spread of terrorism in the Eastern hemisphere and establish a permanent military base within Central Asia from which we can protect both our Middle East and Asian allies and our own vast interests in the region.
- Insure nuclear arms in Pakistan are secure from radicals and groups obsessed in conveying their politically motivated messages of ideological concepts
- Halting the flow of narcotics for worldwide consumption
- Eliminating wide scale corruption in aspects of Afghan society
We must face reality in Pakistan; we have poured billions of dollars into the country with, in my opinion very little to show for, other than a much un-needed amount of political bickering and the simple fact the Taliban is gaining more control of the country than ever before.
Here again is our overall lack of understanding the people within Pakistan and as in Afghanistan talking about “winning the hearts and minds” but doing so in such a way to render us as invaders rather than saviors.
Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos all turned around their agricultural communities from harvesting drug producing crops to alternative methods of land usage. This was not an easy task, but accomplished through government sponsored programs and education of the farmers.
Additionally stringent law enforcement was required, not necessarily on the farmers themselves, but more so on the distribution or middlemen and drug lords.
Today, production and the exporting of drugs within these aforementioned countries has been drastically reduced.
Corruption has driven the country since its inception and something that cannot be eliminated by a proclamation or two by the country’s top officials. The elimination of corruption cannot be only approached from a typical top-down or grassroots approach of bottom-up; instead it must facilitate both of the following equally and in conjunction with one another:
- The populous requires an education as to the harmful effects caused by a corrupt government and the benefits received from quick law enforcement.
- Strong and courageous leadership who understands the needs of the populous and willing to enforce or institute corruption laws to protect not only the people but his own position in the government.
An excellent article, authored by Chak Sopheap for UPI Asia, entitled “Cambodia needs anti-corruption culture” details the current corruption problems taking place in Cambodia and the harm it is causing on the Cambodian people. Well worth a read!
What’s my Point:
Lets stop by throwing needlessly money, bullets and bombs at the Afghans and Pakistanis by starting first of all; educating ourselves with the understanding of their culture, traditions and language or give up the tired old line of “winning the hearts and minds” of the people and simply conquer them, which is less time consuming and possibly less costly.
However we as Americans would be bound to rebuild their country in our own image, such as we did after World War II with the countries of Japan and Germany, along with Korea, after the Korean conflict.
I wonder what the international community’s attitude would be towards us, if we conquered Afghanistan and Pakistan? Also, I wonder about the overall cost of rebuilding these two countries?
Reference Documents and Newswire Updates:
Remarks by the President on National Security (pdf)
Press Briefing by Sect. of State Hillary Clinton on Humanitarian Aid to Pakistan (pdf)
Accompanying Video:
Photos by Scott Carrier from Afghanistan. Taken for his Harper’s Magazine article:
http://hearingvoices.com/webwork/carr…Music by Eva Cassidy from her Live at Blues Alley
http://www.evacassidy.org/
Newswire Services:
Related Newswires Articles on Afghanistan from the Washington Post
Related Newswires Articles on Afghanistan from the Huffington Post
Related Newswires Articles on Afghanistan from UPI Asia Online
Related Newswires Articles on Afghanistan from CBS News
Related Newswires Articles on Afghanistan from TIME
Related Newswires Articles on Afghanistan from ABC News
President Obama: Naval Academy Commencement
The President speaks at the US Naval Academy Commencement in Annapolis, Maryland, and reminds us that our military is made up of hundreds of thousands of individual stories, each guided by a common set of values. He connects his admiration for the service of sailors and Marines to the values he espoused yesterday at the National Archives. May 22, 2009.
Related Newswires Articles on Afghanistan from the Huffington Post:
Pakistani Taliban: We’ll Avoid Combat In Swat City
from The Huffington Post | Full News Feed by The Huffington Post News Editors
ISLAMABAD — The Taliban on Monday urged civilians to return to the Swat Valley’s main city, promising they would not attack security forces battling for control out of concern for the safety of trapped residents.
Pakistan’s military dismissed the gesture as a ploy that would allow the militants to blend in with the residents of Mingora, and said it had no intention of halting its offensive in the valley.
More than 2 million civilians have fled Swat and nearby districts, making it easier for the army to single out insurgents, but returning civilians could further complicate the battle
The appeal also appeared designed to play off the growing public concern for thousands still stuck in Mingora amid shortages of food and water.
Afghanistan’s Rebuilding Looms As Sequel To Iraq’s
from The Huffington Post | Full News Feed by RICHARD LARDNER | AP
WASHINGTON — The job of rebuilding Afghanistan is shaping up as an ominous sequel to the massive, mistake-riddled U.S. effort to get Iraq back on its feet.
Since 2001, the U.S. has committed nearly $33 billion for reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. Yet as President Barack Obama sends more troops and aid to quell a growing insurgency, there’s been no detailed public accounting of where the money has gone and how effectively it’s being spent.
As in Iraq, where the U.S. has contributed $50 billion for rebuilding, the flow of money to Afghanistan outpaces the ability to track it. Already, an inspector general looking into the U.S. handling of Afghanistan reconstruction has found worrisome evidence of lax oversight and costly projects left foundering.
Afghanistan presents difficult challenges. It lacks Iraq’s modern infrastructure and oil to generate revenue. Work sites are often in remote and primitive locations, making it hard for investigators to keep tabs on progress and ensure contract terms are being met.
Pakistani Troops Take On Taliban In Main Swat Town
from The Huffington Post | Full News Feed by The Huffington Post News Editors
ISLAMABAD — Pakistani security forces fought street battles with Taliban militants in the Swat Valley’s main urban center Saturday, a critical phase in the effort to wrest the northwest region near Afghanistan out of insurgent hands.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas warned that the operation in Mingora town could be “painfully slow,” noting some 10,000 to 20,000 civilians are still trapped there. The fight also could prove a major test for a military more geared toward conventional warfare on plains than bloody urban battles.
The military operation in Swat and surrounding districts has strong support from Washington, which wants Pakistan to root out insurgents who use its territory to plan attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan. For now, it appears to have broad public support in Pakistan as well.
Abbas said 17 suspected militants had been killed in the past 24 hours of the operation in the valley. He said another major town, Matta, was cleared of militants. But some 1,500 to 2,000 insurgents remained in Swat _ hard-core fighters, he said.
US, Afghan Forces Seize 101 Tons Of Narcotics, Biggest Drug Cache To Date
from The Huffington Post | by the New York Times | By SABRINA TAVERNISE
KABUL, Afghanistan — American and Afghan forces seized what the American military called the single largest drug cache to date in a four-day operation that began Tuesday in the south of the country.
The seizure by Afghan Army commandos and American forces took place in Marjeh, a town in Helmand Province, the American military said in a statement on Saturday. In all, soldiers found more than 101 tons of narcotics, including heroin, poppy seeds, opium and hashish. Large amounts of heroin processing materials were also confiscated, the military said.
Heroin is a major source of income for the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the American military has said it would be a major focus of future operations as more troops are moved into Afghanistan this summer under President Obama’s plan.
The drugs were taken in a central market area in the town. A battle ensued in which, according to the American military, 60 insurgents were killed. An American military spokesman said the allies met a surprising level of resistance, fighting the militants for four days in gun battles and by aerial strikes.
Accompanying Video:
Pakistan: Experts in the Field
This video documents Lawrence Korb, Brian Katulis, and Colin Cookman’s visit to Pakistan last month. They visited the Pakistani cities of Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi to assess the country’s complex and dynamic political and security situation.
Related Newswires Articles on Afghanistan from UPI Asia Online:
Pakistani people in deep quagmire
from UPI Asia Online by By Mehwish Hassan Sara
The latest scourge inflicted on poverty-ridden Pakistan is the burden to quell insurgencies sprouting in the country. Resentment and fear of the Taliban have gripped the Pakistani public; but there is also resentment toward the government and the United States for imposing the war on terror on Pakistan.
Afghanistan: Back to the 90s?
from UPI Asia Online by By M.D. Nalapat
Manipal, India — At the risk of some repetition, it is worth mentioning two facts that seem unknown to policymakers such as U.S. envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke. The first is that the Asia of the 21st century is a tad different from that of the 19th – hence dredging up stored wisdom on how European colonial powers handled situations in the continent during that era may not be an entirely accurate guide to sensible policy.
The second is that the ideology of the Pakistan army is based not on military needs and capabilities, but on a vision of Mughal-era India, and the conviction that someday that glorious epoch will return to the subcontinent.
Despite 50 years of standing by as money and equipment meant to fight first communism and later the Taliban were diverted toward India-centric purposes, the United States – under a proposal originally made by Joe Biden, now U.S. vice president, and Senator Richard Lugar – is likely to provide a huge budget boost to Pakistan. It seems that U.S. and European Union policymakers are still under the delusion that the Pakistan army will – or indeed can – take on the jihadists.
Given this, it seems inevitable that the coming years will see the return of the Taliban to effective control of much of Afghanistan.
Accompanying Video:
The President’s Trilateral Meeting with Pakistan & Afghanistan’s Presidents
The Presidents schedule was virtually clear except for three pivotal meetings with leaders from two pivotal countries. He was joined by Vice President Biden first for a meeting with President Karzai of Afghanistan, then with President Zardari of Pakistan, and finally for a trilateral meeting with both of them. He was flanked by the two leaders when he spoke to the press afterwards.
Related Newswires Articles on Afghanistan from the Washington Post:
Pakistani Refugee Camps Seen as Recruiting Grounds for Extremists
from Wash Post – World News by Griff Witte
MARDAN, Pakistan — Bacha Zab, a 32-year-old fruit salesman, dodged army shelling and Taliban sniper fire to escape his native Swat Valley. But when he reached the safety of a government-run refugee camp in this northwestern Pakistani city, he was told there was no more room.
Pakistan Intensifies Effort With Thrust Into Swat’s Main City
from Wash Post – World News by Griff Witte
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 23 — Pakistani troops pushed into the largest city in the contested Swat Valley on Saturday and fought block to block with Taliban militants in an apparent escalation of the army’s effort to retake the picturesque area, which has become a symbol of insurgent defiance and…
Taliban Is Foiling Pakistani Military
from Wash Post – World News by Griff Witte
KHWAZAKHELA, Pakistan, May 22 — The Pakistani army has retaken control of key parts of the contested Swat Valley in recent days, but the Taliban has kept its grip on some of the area’s largest towns nearly a month into a massive military offensive, army commanders said Friday during a visit near…
Taliban Is Foiling Pakistan Army: Washington Post
from Washington Post | By Griff Witte
KHWAZAKHELA, Pakistan, May 22 — The Pakistani army has retaken control of key parts of the contested Swat Valley in recent days, but the Taliban has kept its grip on some of the area’s largest towns nearly a month into a massive military offensive, army commanders said Friday during a visit near the front lines.
Speaking at a rudimentary base in the heart of this verdant valley, the commanders acknowledged that regaining full control of Swat will probably take months and involve intense combat with the well-trained, well-funded Taliban militia. Highlighting the difficulty, some extremists are simply melting back into the civilian population so they can fight another day, as they have during previous clashes over the past 18 months in Swat.
“You cannot distinguish between a Talib and a normal citizen,” said Maj. Gen. Sajjad Ali, who commands troops in the northern portion of Swat. “The area is densely populated, and it’s very easy for the terrorists to hide.”
The battle for control of Swat has tested the Pakistani government’s resolve to confront a raging Islamist insurgency that has gripped much of the northwest and threatened to reach into the nation’s heartland. The most recent wave of fighting in Swat began late last month after a peace deal collapsed and the insurgents, who had agreed to lay down their weapons if they were permitted to institute Islamic law in Swat, instead overran adjacent districts and moved to within 60 miles of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.
Accompanying Video:
A New Strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan
President Obama lays out his plans for a comprehensive and regional approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan, from military support to developmental aid.
Related Newswires Articles on Afghanistan from TIME:
Losing Hearts and Minds and Lives in Afghanistan
from TIME.com | By Jason Motlagh / Kabul
Afghanistan is in an uproar following U.S. airstrikes that may have killed more than 100 civilians in the western part of the country. Reports from Farah province said that on Thursday a mob of several hundred protesters chanted anti-American slogans and threw rocks outside at provincial governor’s office before being disbursed by police gunfire. In Kabul, outraged lawmakers called for new laws to clamp down on foreign military operations. Ahead of talks with President Obama in Washington, Afghan President Hamid Karzai bluntly said the deaths were “unjustifiable and unacceptable.”
Details of the attack are still vague. On Monday, free-ranging Taliban militants reportedly came upon an Afghan police checkpoint and killed three officers. When Afghan Army units arrived to back them up, they encountered stiff resistance and called in U.S. air support. The International Committee of the Red Cross has confirmed that “dozens” died in the ensuing bombardment, including women and children. Afghan officials alternately say between 100 and 150 people died in their homes, where miltants were using them as human shields. A team of U.S. and Afghan investigators is now examining the scene. See pictures from recent fighting in Afghanistan’s dangerous Korengal Valley.)
Some of the victims have already been buried in accord with Islamic custom, Belquis Roshan, a woman on Farah’s provincial council, told TIME by telephone. But if the higher total is confirmed, it would amount to the deadliest single attack on civilians since the American-led invasion that ousted the Taliban in 2001. Worse, it’s part of a growing pattern. According to U.N. figures, 2,118 civilians were killed in conflict-related violence last year, a jump of nearly 40% compared to the year before. Of that figure, pro-government forces were responsible for 828 deaths. (See how Afghanistan’s travails have been interpreted by local artists.)
How Afghanistan’s Little Tragedies Are Adding Up
from TIME.com | By Jason Motlagh / Herat
There are large-scale civilian deaths in Afghanistan that make headlines, and then there are the small incidents that are barely noticed at all. That was the fate of 12-year-old Benafsha Shaheem.
On May 3, she was traveling with family members from her village in western Farah province to a wedding party in the neighboring province of Herat. Packed into a white Toyota Corolla wagon, they neared the outskirts of the city of Herat when, according to a report compiled by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, the vehicle was fired on by an Italian patrol convoy. Benafsha was seated in the middle of the backseat wearing a red dress, her relatives say. She was shot in the face and died instantly. Her mother was wounded in the chest. (See pictures of U.S. troops operating in Afghanistan’s deadly Korengal Valley.)
Italian security forces based in Herat province said the vehicle was repeatedly warned to stop before it was fired on. Benafsha’s uncle, Ahmad Wali, who was driving, says traffic was moving in both directions but that rain made visibility poor. Suddenly, he recalls, sparks flew in front as armored vehicles came into view. Glass was sprayed into his face.
The CIA’s Silent War in Pakistan
from TIME.com | By Bobby Ghosh and Mark Thompson/Washington
The wilds of Waziristan, the tribal belt along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, make an unlikely showcase for the future of warfare. This is a land stuck in the past: there are few roads, electricity is scarce, and entire communities of ethnic Pashtun tribesmen live as they have for millenniums. And yet it is over this medieval landscape that the U.S. has deployed some of the most sophisticated killing machines ever created, against an enemy that has survived or evaded all other weaponry. If al-Qaeda and the Taliban could not be eliminated by tanks, gunships and missiles, then perhaps they can be stamped out by CIA-operated unmanned drone aircraft, the Predator and the Reaper. (See a diagram of a Reaper here.)
That was the bet President George W. Bush placed during his final months in office, when the CIA greatly increased drone sorties and strikes in Pakistan. The accelerated attacks have been stepped up under President Barack Obama. Nowadays, the low hum of the drones has become a familiar sound in Waziristan, where tribesmen call them machay, or red bees. Their lethal sting has been felt in villages and hamlets across the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA). The main objectives of the campaign: to take out al-Qaeda’s top tier of leadership, including Osama bin Laden, and deny sanctuary in FATA for the Taliban and those fighters who routinely slip across the border to attack U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Combining high-tech video surveillance with the ability to deliver deadly fire, drones allow joystick-wielding operators on the far side of the world–Creech Air Force Base, near Las Vegas–to track moving targets in real time and destroy them. All this, without spilling American blood and for a small fraction of the cost of conventional battle.
Afghanistan: Can the U.S. Win This War?
from TIME.com | Aryn Baker / Loi Kolay
The soldiers crept into the village of Loi Kolay under the light of a crescent moon, slipping into defensive positions around a darkened house, gun sights trained on the rocky cliffs above. Four sharp knocks on the wooden door echoed through the silent valley. “Niazamuddin, we know you are in there!” the interpreter shouted. After a few tense moments, the tribal elder appeared. For months the village leaders of the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Kunar had complained about the U.S. and Afghan armies’ searching of houses, a practice that went against tribal custom. Niazamuddin had suggested that he go along on the next search to help soften the impact. The U.S. soldiers were about to take him up on his offer.
Nobody was sure where Niazamuddin’s loyalties lay. The local Afghan army commander was sure he was Taliban, though the U.S. commander wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. If Niazamuddin was willing to lead a search, that would provide an example of solid leadership in a town riven by extremist sympathies. But Niazamuddin had gone back on his offer. If members of the Taliban found out he had led the Americans to suspicious houses, he said, they would kill him. The operation’s leader, 1st Lieut. Glenn Burkey, exploded with frustration. U.S. forces had taken gunfire from the village several times, and previous house searches had turned up weapons, explosives and even a Taliban flag. Yet repeated raids risked alienating residents further. Burkey needed the elder’s help. “You told us we had to do things differently,” he said to Niazamuddin. “We are trying. I want the U.S. and Afghan forces to work together with the villagers to make this place safe.” Niazamuddin was silent. “You remember Qadir?” he finally asked, naming his predecessor. “I don’t know if he helped the U.S. or not, but the Taliban thought he did. They shot him coming out of the mosque.” Then they beheaded his corpse in the public square. (See pictures of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.)
Accompanying Video:
Sustainable Security: A New Afghanistan Approach
Merely reacting to global crises is a costly strategy in terms of both human lives and direct financial costs. In order to get out ahead and prepare itself to face the challenges of the 21st century, the United States should:
1. Fully integrate prevention into the national strategies that guide foreign policy formulation and implementation.
2. Build an integrated, interagency mechanism for long-range strategic planning that is tied directly to the allocation of resources.
3. Organize the government to support prevention and ensure coherence across the executive branch.
4. Invest intelligence, diplomatic, and economic resources in the most vulnerable areas and regions.
5. Re-engage with the international community, and improve and then support international treaties and norms.
6. Develop new tools and capabilities for crisis management.
7. Address the resource and staff shortages of civilian agencies, particularly the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development.
Fiscal Discipline and the State and Defense Departments
Tags: Afghanistan, Commentary, Congress, Democrats, Department of Defense, DoD, Economy, Fiscal Discipline, Halliburton, Hilary Clinton, House of Representatives, Iraq, KBR, Obama, Pakistan, Politics, Republicans, Robert Gates, Secretary of State, Senate, Taliban
Personally of course I do not possess the ability to carefully analyze, digest and render judgment on each department’s cost reductions and understand there value to the overall needs of there justifications. However, the two budgets of most interest were the State and Defense Departments. The State Department in regards to Central Asia and the DoD’s as it pertains to Iraq only.
It also requires mentioning that “I recognize the 2010 budget presented to congress was not of President Obama’s Administration, instead authored by the Bush Administration, which included numerous “earmarks”; regardless of this fact, my posting is basically unconcerned with the monetary size or the needless earmarks themselves, but only to suggest for consideration aspects of unfinished business within congress regarding the Department of Defense and the reckless “fat” that should be trimmed within the proposed State Department budget.”
Defense Department:
The Defense Contract Auditing Agency as found KBR’s contracts for awarded work, accounts for forty-three percent of the Pentagon’s total audited Iraq contracting dollars. Furthermore, according to the agency’s data, thirty-two cases are now under current investigation.
The Army has paid an additional $83.4 million in added “bonuses” to KBR, despite documented accusations of its inferior electrical wiring work that was incorporated into military facilities and the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, which has been linked to the electrocution of at least four soldiers and one contractor (please review the reference sources below for details).
A Senate Democratic Policy Committee has determined that more than half of the aforementioned bonuses, $48.9 million, to be exact, were awarded to KBR after the DoD sounded an alarm in early 2007 regarding what was described as pervasive problems with KBR.
Let us not forget the Halliburton Company was the parent company to KBR where former Vice President Dick Cheney served as Halliburton’s Chief Executive Officer from 1995 to 2000 before becoming George W. Bush’s running mate.
While serving in the Bush Administration, some critics have charged Cheney’s received “deferred” compensation from Halliburton which represented a conflict of interest and questioned Halliburton’s winning of lucrative government contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The contractual money awarded to KBR for work, unsatisfactorily completed, must be fully accounted for and returned before any additional contract is awarded to KBR.
State Department:
The White House has asked Congress for and seems likely to receive $736 million to build a new U.S. embassy in Islamabad, with permanent housing for U.S. government civilians and new office space in the Pakistani capital. The request also includes funding for two additional Consulate Offices in other regions of Pakistan.
I seriously question this request and needless spending for the following reasons:
Cairo, Egypt to Baghdad, Iraq is 800 miles,
Baghdad, Iraq to Islamabad, Pakistan is 1,600 miles
Cairo, Egypt to Islamabad, Pakistan is 2,400 miles
This last point is of the utmost importance, since one of the primary reasons for the State Department’s justification of existence is to arrange and promote American business interests within countries. How can this objective successfully be accomplished with an unstable and perhaps corrupt government in Pakistan.
Other major State Department projects are planned for an expanded embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan; and for consulate offices to be setup in the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Peshawar. In Peshawar, our government is negotiating the purchase of a five-star hotel that would house a new U.S. consulate. Again, I wonder how this is going to go down with our thousands of already homeless, here in the states and aid our laid off auto workers desperately trying not to become homeless?
What’s my Point:
However, I feel there are defined limits to be adhered to and there should not be a blanket, coverall “card blanc” policy towards proposed State Department expenditures.
Our president who I believe comprehends the American people, more so, than any other president in the past thirty-five years has acted in a diligent prudent manner, requesting each of his fifteen departments, he oversees, to cut unnecessary items from their budgets.
This can be witnessed here, where the President as taken the following action (links added by myself for reference):
Rarely, do I agree with the media who have criticized the President for this small cost savings reduction or members of our legislative branch of government, who infer this is a small amount of the overall 2010 budget. However, I feel the federal government should look again for additional cost savings measures and rescind programs and projects that may not be needed at this time.
I do hope in the coming four years both the Defense and State Departments act responsibly to fiscal spending along with both Congress and President vetoing any and all requests for haphazard expenditures, at least until our country is relieved from some of its financial burdens.
Finally, consider authoring an e-Mail to both your House Representative and Senator, requesting an update on the status of where the KBR investigations presently are and your opinion regarding another expensive new embassy in Pakistan along with two new and additional Consulates offices in Lahore and Peshawar.
Reference Sources and Documents:
Newswire Articles and Updates
Defense Department:
The Use and Misuse of Reconstruction Funding Affects the War Effort in Iraq and Afghanistan
Senate Committee Hearing Contractor KBR Misconduct in Iraq (pdf)
Senate Document Questionable Contracting Practices by KBR and the Pentagon (pdf)
House of Representatives Committee Hearing – Statement Thomas Bruni KBR Engineer (pdf)
Senate Document Request to KBR – Blackwater Payments (pdf)
Department of Defense base budget for 2010 (pdf)
Department of Defense Organizational Chart (pdf)
State Department:
State Department FY 2010 Budget in Brief (pdf)
State Department Organization Chart – May 2009 (pdf)
White House:
Remarks by the President on Reducing Spending in the Budget (pdf)
Budget Fact Sheet (pdf)
Fiscal Year 2010 budget overview (pdf)
Accompanying Video:
The President Announces Key Spending Cuts in His Budget