"Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence."

[Are_grits_groceries]

There was a definite method to BushCo's madness: Namely, hire subcontractors to evade the laws that prevent the DoD and the CIA from taking part in torture and assassination. From The Nation:

Sources: Blackwater's Running A Secret War in Pakistan - So Classified, Even Administration Doesn't Know

At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help run a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus.

The source, who has worked on covert US military programs for years, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has direct knowledge of Blackwater's involvement. He spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity because the program is classified. The source said that the program is so "compartmentalized" that senior figures within the Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence.

<snip>
http://crooksandliars.com/

There is no telling what is going on in that part of the world. There are so many players with so many agendas. Some are probably both allies and enemies on different levels.

[The Wielding Truth]

1. Okay now you're the Pres, and you find out about a secret army that does

not come under US government control yet was developed by the former administration. What would you do?

[Are_grits_groceries]

2. If it's run by the JSOC at all,

the government should have some control over it. I'd shut it down If it isn't under our control per se, there should be a way to shut it down with the right pressure applied by withholding contracts, etc.

This is of course if we want to know and don't want it operating.

[The Wielding Truth]

3. Would it be easy to "shut down" a rouge army?Who gives the orders

of the mission to this group of mercenaries?

[Are_grits_groceries]

5. I think that there is and has been

a lot of off the hook stuff by the CIA and others that we don't know about. If there is anybody that can be pinned down, that part might be shut off.

However, they could be involved with a brazillion other groups. They could be getting intel from a lot of places.
This is under the 'Mission Impossible' creed of 'the director will disavow any knowledge of your actions.'

The US in some form has probably always had a footprint in the region. It doesn't necessarily have to come from the government.

[elehhhhna]

9. PULL IT and prosecute everyone possible. Clawback the payments, as well.

[leveymg]

4. The Blackwater/Xe execs are the same guys who brought you 9/11. Should be VERY alarming.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/438

The problem here is that Blackwater is run by the same guys who let the 9/11 hijackers into the US


Former CIA Counter-terrorism Center (CTC) Director Cofer Black also directed the assassination targeting, along with rendition and torture programs that silenced the surviving al-Qaeda conspirators. Some targets, like Derwish, were done away with permanently, while others like KSM and Abu Zubyadeh - figures with long ties to US intelligence - were allowed to run around for a while before capture. The Al-Qaeda figures subjected to brainwahing and waterboarding that turned them into near-vegetables all had ties with the CIA during the 1990s in Bosnia and Chechnya.

Cofer Black was the Chief of CIA station in Khartoum when bin Laden and Abu Zubaydeh were there, running CIA-ISI-Saudi Jihadist operations against the Russians in Bosnia and Chechnya. Black admitted in testimony before Congress that he had contact with bin Laden in Sudan.

Basically, Cofer Black and some others got away with allowing the Flt. 77 hijackers (one of whom was also intimately involved with the Cole attack) into the country and these same CIA/CTC managers then were put in charge of the mopping-up operation.

Also, see: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/440

It's the same Buzzy Krongard/Cofer Black crew who were in charge of the CIA units that were running the Al-Qaeda attack cells inside the US, obstructing FBI investigators, that ended up killing 3,000 Americans that eventful day. See,

leveymg's Journal - P.S. - Der Speigel Names Head of Blackwater ...
Der Spiegel has named A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, former CIA Executive Director of Operations ... attention is CIA Counter-Terrorism Center Director Cofer Black, ...
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/440 - Cached


Why are these people still running ops in AfPak and not under indictment by a Grand Jury?

[formercia]

6. Is President Obama 'Cleared for Weird?'

Perhaps that might explain his being unaware of what is going on.

There are people in the 'Government' that have their own agendas.

When I worked at CIA, there were projects that were so secret, that, even I, didn't know what I was doing.

[cdsilv]

7. Follow the money, or better yet, stop the flow of money....n/t

[snot]

8. Great thread.