This is a Pakpotpourri Exclusive
By: Hamid Waheed
The historians write about the barbaric emperors who fought the wars to kill and maximize slaves. The old saying every thing is allowed in war was rationalized and as the civilization developed Human Rights , ethics , rule of law and morality prevailed. The developed world came up with rules for every game including war and the rights for prisoners. Most of this was refined and formalized by the culture of democracy. It was believed that in the unipolar world headed by the biggest democracy of the world, such practices will thrive and the man will leave the law of caves far behind. The improvement in technology, science and awareness benefited humans during bipolar era. We saw laws coming up to stand for humanity and values. However post bipolar world suddenly finds itself fighting to find escape routes by few to again maximize slave industry.
The American statue of liberty became irrelevant in the new world order and the first target are Americans who are undergoing perceived fear of unknown and being forced to give up their rights and liberty.
The west came up with terms like information operations� or force protection,� and used them to launch intelligence and covert operations through paid informers, perception operators and killers called outsourced groups. The main aim is to avoid legal implications that otherwise might require a presidential finding and notification of the political house if they were conducted by government authority as per rules specified by the International community and law of the land . The contractor named Michael D. Furlong who operated "outside the channel" in Afghanistan and Pakistan outsourced intelligence operation using former journalists with a planned budget of $22 million provided by the west. The stories of Erik Prince running Black Waters for illegal operations including killings are no more secrets.
During the Bush administration, private contractors were involved with interrogating prisoners and sometimes subjecting them to torture and inhuman cruelty, the same continued during Obama administration . Abu Ghauraib prison has a list of such tales. Even now internet tells us that 25 percent of American intelligence work force is made up of private contractors along with 70 percent of the CIA budget(81 billion as of 2010) feeding the outer sources. The starting point for outsourcing was that the U.S. military had long been unhappy about the quality of CIA intelligence in Afghanistan. The frustration surfaced publicly in January 2010 in a report by the top military intelligence officer in Kabul, Maj. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, who said that: "
Eight years into the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. intelligence community is only marginally relevant to the overall strategy
Pakistan the main collation partner fighting War against Terror to defeat Taliban when fighting against Taliban in Swat , Malakand observed foreign hand supporting terrorists by training and arms supply to fight Pakistan army. A 46-page report by the GAO the non-partisan investigative arm of Congress warned in Feb , 2009 that thousands of US weapons, including assault rifles and grenade launchers, may be in Taliban or Al-Qaeda hands in Afghanistan because of lax controls.Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman confirmed the Pentagon had already taken action on the reports recommendations for tracking of serial numbers and physical inventories of weapons given by both the United States and allies
The chairman of the House subcommittee on national security and foreign affairs, John Tierney, asked What if we had to tell families not only why we are in Afghanistan, but why their son or daughter died at the hands of an insurgent using a weapon purchased by US taxpayers.
The Report of Aug 2011 by "The Bureau of Investigative Journalism� claims that after every four days there is one US drone strike. US drone attacks killed 775 civilians including 168 children. The Obama administration have labeled this report based on allegations and blame that one of its sources is Pakistani spy Mirza Shahzad Akbar. Chris Wood Bureau of Investigative Journalism explained all allegations during his interview saying that we suspect far more civilians have died. Mr. Akbar is being smeared as a possible agent of Pakistani intelligence. I think that's unfortunate.
This speaks of mistrust fuelled by contractors and out source operators between collation partners. The Afghan region has been a fertile ground for such groups and their moles sitting in the state depertments. The personal gains like easy money through drugs have been a source of strength and common goal. A retired Admiral Dennis Blair, President Barack Obamas former director of national intelligence, declared that Americas drone campaign "is eroding our influence and damaging our ability to work with Pakistan.�
Such voices of logic get diluted due to the power of outsource groups and increase challenges for genuine intelligence organisations many folds.
The forces operating far from their borders though have lesser regard and relevance to violation of laws and ethics but great powers have to keep international laws in consideration for future strategy. An approach to bypass the laws may give quick tactical victory but will certainly bring strategic defeat. The democracy , the people from America, the West and all over the world will have to stand for themselves and for their coming generations. A nation is recognised by its values and not by name. The civilization has covered a long journey out of the caves to stand for humanity, we must not give in to few who want to take away our rights and liberty.
(THE WRITER IS A KNOWN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR).
