Article

2009-03-25 India-Pakistan

Strategypage: Who can a terrorist trust?

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Posted by tu3031 2009-03-25 12:55|| || Front Page|| [11 views ] Top

#1 Who's the rat? Check the dude with the turban.

Posted by Shavirt Forkbeard8424 2009-03-25 17:19|| 2009-03-25 17:19|| Front Page Top

#2 First of all, the U.S. has had a good informant network in the Pakistani tribal territories for the last few years. This came about in the late 1990s when, after having been away for a decade (since Russia left Afghanistan in the late 1980s), U.S. intelligence operatives returned to the Afghan border area, and began developing an informant network inside Afghanistan, using tribal connections on the Pakistani side.

To the person who had this particular bright idea: thank you!!!!

After September 11, 2001, this network kept growing. So did the force of Predator (and later the larger Reaper) UAVs available to run round-the-clock surveillance on al Qaeda operations.

The U.S. intelligence network in Pakistan had connections everywhere. Even pro-Taliban tribesmen were willing to earn some money by informing on al Qaeda. That's because many Taliban did not like the al Qaeda people (most of the them foreigners) much at all. The Taliban has tried to maintain good, or at least civil, relations with al Qaeda. But that efforts has frayed to the point where al Qaeda big shots like Osama bin Laden spends most of his time staying hidden from U.S. UAVs, Pakistani troops and hostile Pushtun tribesmen.

The poor man!

It's bad enough that al Qaeda is losing senior people, it's worse that they are now seen, by local tribesmen, as a way to get rich.

Schadenfreude. We should all be ashamed to feel it so strongly.

Posted by trailing wife 2009-03-25 19:01|| 2009-03-25 19:01|| Front Page Top

#3 "Schadenfreude. We should all be ashamed to feel it so strongly."

Or not.

(I vote "not.")

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2009-03-25 20:34|| 2009-03-25 20:34|| Front Page Top

#4 Now, if Obama just stays the heck out of the way and lets it continue, we might have a chance.

Posted by Rambler in Virginia">Rambler in Virginia 2009-03-25 21:33|| 2009-03-25 21:33|| Front Page Top

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