Tag Archives: investigation

U.S Taxpayers Funding the Taliban

25 Monday Jul 2011

Posted by in Afghanistan

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“Every day, families are figuring out how stretch their paychecks – struggling to cut what they can’t afford so they can pay for what’s really important.  It’s time for Washington to do the same thing…We need an approach that goes after waste in the budget and gets rid of pet projects that cost billions of dollars.” President Obama’s weakly weekly address.

Speaking of:

“A year-long military-led investigation has concluded that U.S. taxpayer money has been indirectly funneled to the Taliban under a $2.16 billion transportation contract that the United States has funded in part to promote Afghan businesses.

The unreleased investigation provides seemingly definitive evidence that corruption puts U.S. transportation money into enemy hands, a finding consistent with previous inquiries carried out by Congress, other federal agencies and the military. Yet U.S. and Afghan efforts to address the problem have been slow and ineffective, and all eight of the trucking firms involved in the work remain on U.S. payroll. In March, the Pentagon extended the contract for six months.

According to a summary of the investigation results, compiled in May and reviewed by The Washington Post, the military found “documented, credible evidence . . . of involvement in a criminal enterprise or support for the enemy” by four of the eight prime contractors. Investigators also cited cases of profiteering, money laundering and kickbacks to Afghan power brokers, government officials and police officers. Six of the companies were found to have been associated with “fraudulent paperwork and behavior.”

Fraudulent paperwork and behavior? That’s no big deal. Just ask the banksters.

Obama to Announce Afghanistan Drawdown

22 Wednesday Jun 2011

Posted by in Afghanistan, Obama

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In an address to the country tonight, President Obama is expected to announce the beginning of troop withdrawals from Afghanistan. The Washington Post is reporting that the numbers will be 5,000 by the end of this summer, another 5,000 by the end of the year and possibly another 20,000 by the end of 2012. Not enough and not fast enough for me, and according to Pew, not for the majority of the American people:


Numbers which have increased substantially among just about every political and demographic group since June of last year:


Back to WaPo:

“Even by drawing down the 30,000 reinforcements, there still will be great uncertainty about how long the remaining 70,000 troops would stay there, although the U.S. and its allies have set Dec. 31, 2014, as a target date for ending the combat mission in Afghanistan.

…If Obama were to leave the bulk of the 30,000 surge contingent in Afghanistan through 2012, he would be giving the military another fighting season — in addition to the one now under way — to further damage Taliban forces before a larger withdrawal got started. It also would buy more time for the Afghan army and police to grow in numbers and capability.”

“Grow in numbers…” An audit from SIGAR (Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction) showed that even though we’ve spent nearly $30 billion since 2002 to train and equip Afghan security forces, “Afghanistan’s government does not know exactly how many people work for its national police force.” And according to the Pentagon’s own report, “there are currently no Afghan National Police units that are able to operate independently.”

“…and capability.” This from an investigation into a 2009 battle in which 8 Americans were killed and 22 wounded:

“[F]irst-hand accounts from the battle at Keating, detailed in witness statements included in the investigation, provide a different, highly critical view.

One of the harshest came from two Latvian soldiers stationed at Keating and responsible for mentoring the three dozen Afghan troops at the base in mountainous Nuristan province near the Pakistan border. In interviews conducted after the attack, the Latvians told the U.S. investigators that the Afghan soldiers lacked “discipline, motivation and initiative.”

Close to 300 insurgents attacked Keating at dawn with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and guns. As the chaos of combat enveloped the base, the Latvians said they saw three Afghan soldiers at the aid station waiting to be treated for minor scratches and cuts. An Afghan platoon sergeant was in a corner of the station, curled up in a fetal position, they told the investigators.

Later, they opened a door to one of the buildings and found several other soldiers and Afghan security guards sitting on beds “anxiously waiting.” None of them had weapons at the ready or made an aggressive move when the door swung open. In other buildings, they found Afghan soldiers “in ones and twos, hiding under blankets in the fetal position.”

Whether we leave Afghanistan in stages or all at once, whether we do it in 2012, 2014, or 3014, Afghanistan is going to be what Afghanistan has always been. Not an actual country but a region on the map with lines drawn around it, with a weak, corrupt central government, and with never-ending tribal disputes and clashes. The only difference any kind of timeline will make is how many billions of dollars we pour in and how many flag-draped coffins we take out.

Taliban Hired for Security at U.S. Bases in Afghanistan

08 Friday Oct 2010

Posted by in Afghanistan, Congress, Pentagon, war on terror

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On the day that marked the beginning of the 10th year of the Afghani-Nam cluster(bleep) the Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by Carl Levin (D-MI), released the results of an investigation which found that private security forces hired by the Pentagon to protect our military bases there include Taliban warlords and people with ties to Iran.

“Afghan private security forces with ties to the Taliban, criminal networks and Iranian intelligence have been hired to guard American military bases in Afghanistan, exposing United States soldiers to surprise attack and confounding the fight against insurgents, according to a Senate investigation.

The Pentagon’s oversight of the Afghan guards is virtually nonexistent, allowing local security deals among American military commanders, Western contracting companies and Afghan warlords who are closely connected to the violent insurgency, according to the report by investigators on the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

[…]

There are more than 26,000 private security employees in Afghanistan, and 90 percent of them are working under United States government contracts or subcontracts. Almost all are tied to the militias of local warlords and other powerful Afghan figures outside the control of the American military or the Afghan government, the report found.”

But as usual, Congress loves to have investigations and release reports followed by nothing. Especially true when the findings involve the Pentagon, which is apparently a government unto itself, with an unlimited budget and unrestrained power.

“Levin did not indicate that he would seek any legislative fixes. The panel’s investigation likely will inform two Pentagon task forces that are looking into the problems.”

Letting the fox “look into problems” at the henhouse is always a good idea.

“Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Afghanistan, earlier this month issued guidance on the use of contractors “that made it clear that all corrective actions, including terminating contracts and suspending and disbarring contractors, will be on the table,” Levin said.

Levin said that commanders in Afghanistan, with Petraeus in the lead, are committed to change the “status quo” of private security contracts in Afghanistan.”

I take it General Petraeus and Sen. Levin aren’t aware that the State Department recently awarded a 5-year, $10 billion contract to eight private companies for security in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the infamous Blackwater under another name.

But always looking on the bright side, Republicans on the committee “faulted the report for failure to acknowledge the positive impact of providing employment to Afghans.”

If only they were that interested in providing employment to Americans.

“Levin said…that his panel’s report underscores the need to “shut off the spigot” of U.S. money going into the “pockets of warlords.”

I know of one sure-fire way to “shut off the spigot,” Sen. Levin. Get the hell out of there. Now.

Eight Americans Die for Ground With “No Tactical or Strategic Value”

06 Saturday Feb 2010

Posted by in Afghanistan

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McClatchy has a report on the investigation into the battle for Command Outpost Keating in Afghanistan which should infuriating to most Americans and, sad to say, is likely to be repeated in the months to come as President Obama ramps up the war there (emphasis mine):

“A U.S. military investigation into a battle last October in eastern Afghanistan that cost eight American soldiers their lives has concluded that the small outpost was worthless, the troops there didn’t understand their mission, and intelligence and air support were tied up elsewhere in the province.

…The report also says…that Combat Outpost Keating was located “deep in a bowl in Nuristan province, surrounded by high ground,” with limited protection from one observation post. By mid-2009, the report says, “there was no tactical or strategic value to holding the ground occupied by COP Keating,” which had been established to support a provincial political and economic reconstruction effort that never materialized.”

Do we never learn? Sending American soldiers to die in a country thousands of miles away, in order to prop up a puppet government which came to power by way of a fraudulent election, and is not supported by the people of that country. We’ve been there before.

George Santayana was right. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Our System of Justice Works–If We Let It

03 Wednesday Feb 2010

Posted by in terrorism, torture

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Despite this bi-partisan group of senators with their moistened fingers in the air during an election year, our system of justice works, if we just let it:

“Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a jetliner bound for Detroit on Dec. 25, started talking to investigators after two of his family members arrived in the United States and helped earn his cooperation, a senior administration official said Tuesday evening.

…[F.B.I.] agents and the two family members flew back to the United States on Jan. 17. They met with the F.B.I. to discuss a way forward. After meeting with Mr. Abdulmutallab for several days, the official said, the family members persuaded him to talk to investigators.

Mr. Abdulmutallab, 23, began speaking to F.B.I. agents last week in Detroit and has not stopped, two government officials said. The officials declined to disclose what information was obtained from him, but said it was aiding in the investigation of the attempted terrorist attack.

“With the family, the F.B.I. approached the suspect,” the senior administration official said, speaking to reporters at the White House on the condition of anonymity because of the pending legal case. “He has been cooperating for days.”

Note the key phrases; “earned his cooperation,” not tortured him until he talked. “Approached the suspect,” not made him fear for his life. “Persuaded him to talk to investigators,” again, no “enhanced interrogation techniques” required. And what do you know, it was all done with Abdulmutallab’s lawyer present.

Score one for the rule of law and the American criminal justice system.