Video: The Pakistani Offensive in the Swat Valley

We're still trying to get to grips with the extent of the Pakistani military's offensive against the Taliban in the Swat Valley. In contrast to the knowledge that up to 1 million people (a sizeable portion of the population) have fled the area, details on the fighting are sketchy and overshadowed by rumour. Al Jazeera have a video report documenting Pakistani airstrikes and the reaction of residents of Mingora, the largest town in the area:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKyEIhjo6CA[/youtube]

Torture: The Pelosi "Controversy" in One Sentence

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I have consciously avoided all comment on the furour --- whipped up by former Bush Administration officials and their supporters --- over how much Nancy Pelosi (pictured), the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, knew about the torture programme from 2002. I have done so not out of political bias or a lack of academic interest (for example, the limits on Congress' oversight of illegal activity when an exclusive group of 4 or 8 legislators are given some information --- and thus sworn to secrecy --- over that activity). I have done so because this is a blatant attempt by those who served Bush to deflect attention from their actions.

I will break silence, however, to post this question which I put to Mr Karl Rove, a Bush advisor, when he wrote that Pelosi was an "accomplice to 'torture'" (I received no reply):

If Nancy Pelosi is an accomplice to a felony.....

Who are the felons?

Afghanistan: US Special Operations, Civilian Deaths, and the New US Commander

Related Post: Now It’s Petraeus’ War - US Replaces Top Commander in Afghanistan

On Friday, The Independent of London put together some pieces of a military puzzle, linking US special operations and Afghan deaths from American bombing and missiles, to declare, "The US Marines Corps' Special Operations Command, or MarSOC...was behind at least three of Afghanistan's worst civilian casualty incidents."

Reporter Jerome Starkey explained that the unit, "created three years ago on the express orders of Donald Rumsfeld,...call[ed] in air strikes in Bala Boluk, in Farah, last week – believed to have killed more than 140 men, women and children". In March 2007, after a suicide bombing close to the Pakistan border, a MarSOC company "fired indiscriminately at pedestrians and civilian cars, killing at least 19 people", while in August 2008 "a 20-man MarSOC unit, fighting alongside Afghan commandos, directed fire from unmanned drones, attack helicopters and a cannon-armed Spectre gunship into compounds in Azizabad, in Herat province, leaving more than 90 people dead – many of them children".

Yet, for all the credit Starkey deserves for getting this story, The Independent's misses its significance in its headline, "Rumsfeld's Renegade Unit". The Secretary of Defense may have authorised the special force, but in 2004 it was for "targeted" operations in Iraq, identifying and then capturing or killing key insurgent leaders. The MarSOC Starkey is writing about is far different: it appears to be a ground commando force, carrying out attacks on its own or in combination with Afghan special units or acting as "spotters" for American air assaults.

The most important warning in the story is hidden instead in one sentence, "News of MarSOC's involvement in the three incidents comes just days after a Special Forces expert, Lieutenant-General Stanley McChrystal, was named to take over as the top commander of US and Nato troops in Afghanistan."

Exactly. McChrystal's reputation was built as head of the Joint Special Operations Command as it developed during the Iraq occupation. For his supporters, he is the general who organised the capture and killing of key insurgent leaders; for his most ardent critics, he was at the head of an "executive assassination ring" that reported to Vice President Dick Cheney's office.

Whatever the truth between these two views, which are actually more compatible than conflicting, McChrystal's significance is now in Afghanistan and his approach to this year's American "surge". And, as Starkey writes, "his surprise appointment has prompted speculation that commando counterinsurgency missions will increase in the battle to beat the Taliban".

If McChrystal was moving sideways to becoming a supporting commander for Special Operations, with other military and civilian leaders putting a focus on reconstruction efforts and political, economic, and social development, there might be some hope --- as our readers have commented --- in US "counter-insurgency". He is, however, the commander.

Thus "special operations", with the targeting of insurgent units, will continue and probably escalate. And, from benefiting from a new American military strategy, the deaths of Afghan civilians may match that escalation.

President-Possibly-A-Muslim: Obama Bows Down...Again!

Latest Post: Video Alert - Obama Does Not Bow to Saudi King

Last month Enduring America brought you the controversy surrounding Obama's apparent bow to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. We were sceptical, but after a link from a major news site brought us thousands of new readers, it was established that the bow could mean only one thing: President Obama was secretly a Muslim and a terrorist (cos al-Qaeda terrorists love the Saudi royal family, doncha know). Now he's at it again...and we have the picture to prove it.

The cat's out of the bag- President Obama is clearly bowing to this child. Just where do his loyalties lie? To the American people? Or to five-year-olds?

[Photo by Mark Knoller, via Squashed, via AZspot]

Iran: Following Up the Roxana Saberi Case

Related Post: Monday’s Israel-US Showdown - Iran First or Palestine First?

Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, freed on appeal after an 8-year sentence for espionage, is now far from Iran. Her drama will now disappear from public view.

The significance of the outcome, however, will be lasting.

There were some interesting revelations in the last stages of the case. In particular, Saberi's lawyer revealed that his client had translated a confidential Iranian document on the US position in Iraq. This, plus Saberi's visit to Israel, had aroused Iranian suspicions that the journalist was not operating without a licence but providing information to a foreign agency. Here was Saberi's representative, not Tehran, was offering evidence for the escalation of the charges from buying wine to carrying out espionage.

This did not rule out the political dimension of the case, in particular, the rush to try and sentence Saberi. However, it could explain why the US Government was careful not to press Tehran too hard. Indeed, it appeared that the attorney's statement was part of a deal with Tehran in which Saberi would be released but Iran's actions would be (at least partially) vindicated.

For the Iranian political system, after Saberi was sentenced, acted very pragmatically. President Ahmadinejad was quick to "request" the hearing of an appeal, which meant the court would hear an appeal. And, since defendants who are allowed to appeal are almost always successful in Iran, the message was clear: Saberi's sentence would be reduced, most likely to the point where she would be able to leave the country.

None of this should be read as benevolence. The calculation was clear: the Obama Administration has advanced towards engagement with Tehran, and Iran --- tentatively at first, but now steadily behind the scenes --- has responded. The Saberi case should not derail that process. That assessment was reinforced, I suspect, as it became clear that Saberi was naive rather than sinister in her activities.

Thus a court case becomes politically significant, especially becomes of its timing. Saberi was released a week before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Washington to insist that the US break off the engagement with Iran. The freeing of Roxana removes a card (albeit probably a 7 rather than an ace) from Netanyahu's hand.Of course, the rhetoric will continue about the maniacal leadership in Tehran, but the substance here is realpolitik rather than evil or ideology.

Sometimes, the celebration is not only of a humanitarian outcome but of the less-than-humanitarian manoeuvres that lie behind it --- and of the political and quite positive consequences that may follow.