Obama's Secret Wars: How Our Shady Counter-Terrorism Policies Are More Dangerous Than Terrorism

[tekisui]

Source: Alternet

Although President's Obama's partial Afghan troop withdrawal announcement has received more attention, his June 29 "National Strategy for Counterterrorism" is of far greater long-term significance. This remarkable document states that the U.S. government intends to "disrupt, dismantle, and eventually defeat al-Qa'ida and its affiliates and adherents," in the following "areas of focus": "The Homeland, South Asia, Arabian Peninsula, East Africa,Europe, Iraq, Maghreb and Sahel, Southeast Asia (and) Central Asia."

This assassination strategy is already operational in six Muslim countries with a combined population of 280 million: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and Libya, which has become a laboratory experiment for urban drone assassinations. The London Sunday Times reported a year ago that "President Obama has secretly sanctioned a huge increase in the number of US special forces ... with American troops now operating in 75 countries." There are presently 60,000 Special Operations forces worldwide, with 7,000 U.S. assassins unleashed upon Afghanistan and 3,000 in Iraq. Lt.-Col. John Nagle (ret.), an enthusiastic assassination supporter, has correctly called these operations "an almost industrial-scale counterterrorism killing machine."

President Obama, a former constitutional law lecturer, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and rhetorical advocate of the Rule of Law cannot possibly reconcile his previously stated beliefs with his presently creation of an "industrial-size killing machine" that sees U.S. leaders unilaterally hunt, kidnap and murder any person anywhere on earth -- including "the Homeland" -- whenever they feel like it, without outside oversight or their victims enjoying any legal or human rights whatsoever. Whatever his personal beliefs at this point, the president likely hopes that this "counterrorism strategy" will help protect him from inevitable Republican attempts to blame him during the 2012 presidential campaign for the likely losses the U.S. will sustain in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and elsewhere in the next 16 months. And normally principled liberal supporters like the Center for American Progress, which called the strategy "more efficent counterterrorism," may well have made the same calculation.

But this "counterterrorism" program not only formalizes extrajudicial state killing formerly associated in the public mind only with the Gestapo and KGB. It also drastically weakens, not strengthens, U.S. national security. The U.S. is bedeviled today precisely because previous presidents created long-term disasters by making disastrous short-term political decisions -- steadily escalating in Indochina to avoid defeat before the next election, creating al-Qaeda and allowing Pakistani dictator Zia ul-Haq to acquire nuclear weapons in the name of fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, arming the Shah of Iran and then arming Saddam Hussein against Iran after the Shah fell.

more: http://www.alternet.org/world/151596/obama%27s_secret_wars%3A_how_our_shady_counter-terrorism_policies_are_more_dangerous_than_terrorism

[tekisui]

1. This is a great and long article that exposes the folly of Obama's

approach.

[vaberella]

2. I don't think anyone has a clue on Obama's military plan.

Why? The Osama stake out and kill plan went on for 2+ years and no one has a damned clue. I don't think anyone has a clue on what his true military style. If things were secretly done by the O administration---then you definitely wouldn't know. He's proven how good he is at keeping secrets. If they know---then Obama never did anything in secret. That mere fact belies most of this story. Just supposition on exactly what he's telling you. This is exemplified by the mere fact---politically no one knows what Obama is doing.

[tekisui]

3. That isn't exactly true. It is known the US/CIA/Special Ops

have been active and carrying out operations in the countries discussed, yet is not officially acknowledged. The CIA and the WH have yet to admit to the drone assassination program in Pakistan.

Putting that to the side, the article is factual and contains a great deal of important information.