GAO: Terrorists operating freely on Pakistan border

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - Terrorists are still operating freely in Pakistan along the country's Afghanistan border, despite the U.S. giving Pakistan more than $10.5 billion in military and economic aid, according to a government watchdog agency.

The Government Accountability Office says in a report released Thursday that the U.S. lacks a comprehensive plan to deal with the terrorist threat.

Democrats called the report appalling because of congressional mandates demanding the nation do more to coordinate efforts by federal agencies.

"For anyone wondering how we're doing in the fight to get the terrorists who killed 3,000 Americans on 9/11, this report pretty much says it all," said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080417/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_pakistan

---

pdf link here:
Combating Terrorism: The United States Lacks Comprehensive Plan to Destroy the Terrorist Threat and Close the Safe Haven in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas
GAO-08-622 April 17, 2008
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08622.pdf

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Somebody has to cultivate the CIA's crop of poppies. Smirk." - Commander AWOL

"No poppies, no dope to keep the masses quiet and our occult republicon Black Ops awash in cash money bucks. Smirk."

- Commander AWOL

[maddezmom]

2. Bush's missing bin Laden plan

Bush's missing bin Laden plan
To hear the White House tell it, protecting the United States and its interests against al-Qaida is the government's top priority. It makes revelations like these all the more alarming.


The Bush administration doesn't have a comprehensive strategy for eliminating Osama bin Laden's sanctuary in Pakistan's tribal region and preventing the region from being used for launching terrorist attacks on the United States, the investigative arm of Congress said Thursday.

President Bush and his senior lieutenants frequently claim that eradicating the threat that bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network poses to United States and its allies is their top national-security priority.

But in a scathing report, the Government Accountability Office said there was no plan that "includes all elements of national power -- diplomatic, military, intelligence, development assistance, economic and law enforcement support -- called for by the various national-security strategies and Congress."


The administration's own counterterrorism policy and the mission of the National Counter-Terrorism Center mandate that officials have a "comprehensive strategy for meeting U.S. national-security goals" in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. The GAO, however, found that no such strategy currently exists.

more: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/04/17/gao/index.html

[Supersedeas]

3. the surge is a success; the surge is a success

[maddezmom]

4. U.S. Effort To Rebuild From War Criticized

U.S. Effort To Rebuild From War Criticized
Oversight of Teams In Iraq, Afghanistan Faulted in Hill Report

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 18, 2008; Page A18

The U.S. effort to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan through local reconstruction teams lacks clear goals, organizational structure and lines of command, according to a new congressional report.

Funding for the Provincial Reconstruction Teams, which President Bush has called the leading edge of stabilization efforts in the two nations, is ad hoc and comes from so many sources that congressional investigators were unable to determine how much has been spent on the joint military-civilian teams, the report by the House Armed Services oversight and investigations subcommittee says.

The subcommittee, which conducted a six-month investigation, recommends that the State and Defense departments develop a "unity of command" for the PRTs, as they are known, along with specific objectives and ways to ascertain whether they have been met. It also urges more intense and streamlined congressional oversight.

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/17/AR2008041703701.html

[fshrink]

5. For the past 25 years at least and with

the benediction and active support of the US for the first part.

[struggle4progress]

6. U.S. faulted for lack of coherent Pakistan policy

The Government Accountability Office says the Bush administration has not monitored billions in aid to Pakistan and nor has it come up with a comprehensive plan to deal with terrorist groups there

By Josh Meyer, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
7:22 PM PDT, April 17, 2008

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has not drafted a comprehensive plan to destroy a resurgent Al Qaeda or other militant groups in the tribal areas of Pakistan and has not adequately monitored the billions in U.S. taxpayer dollars sent to the Pakistani government to combat the groups, according to a sharply critical report by an independent government watchdog agency issued Thursday.

The Government Accountability Office said the administration's effort has been so ineffective that the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan has resorted to drafting her own strategic plan for the largely lawless rural region because no one in Washington sent one ...

A number of private sector and government agencies, including the Sept. 11 commission in 2004, have called for a comprehensive plan for fighting terrorist threats from the tribal areas, according to the nonpartisan GAO, which is the investigative arm of Congress. Such a plan was also mandated by congressional legislation in 2007, and one reason that the National Counterterrorism Center, or NCTC, was created in 2004, the GAO report says.

But the NCTC, the White House's National Security Council and other executive branch departments have never developed a plan that covers all elements of national power -- diplomatic, military, intelligence, development, economic and law enforcement support, GAO auditors found ...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan18apr18,0,2607966.story