ABUL, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-led Coalition forces, Combined Joint Task Force - 82, in Afghanistan on Saturday confirmed that the death of a Taliban commander namely Darim Sedgai was outside the country ( Afghan ).
There was a $50,000 bounty on his head.
"Coalition forces confirmed that Darim Sedgai was killed by unknown gunmen in Pakistan on Jan. 16,"said a press release of the Coalition forces issued from their main base in Bagram, 50 km north of Afghan capital Kabul.
In the press release, the troops described Sedgai as close aid and powerful commander of Taliban leader Sarajudin Haqqani, adding that Segai was first ambushed and later on died of his wounds.
However, it did not identify the exact place of incident inside Pakistan where Sedgai came under attack.
The Pashtun-belt tribal areas of Pakistan located alongside Afghan border where has been the scene of Taliban and al-Qaida network activities over the past years during which hundreds of people including personnel of Pakistani army were killed.
Rusty of MypetJawa has been awarded the "Order of the Squid" by the Internet Anthropologist. The award recognizes him as a "Shark Killer", for services rendered in the GWOT.
While the specific nature of his acts will not be mentioned he has contributed to making the World safer from terrorists and this award recognizes that fact.
Acta non verba
Gerald Anthropologist, ad Magnum ( squid are known to kill sharks even fight whales )
Partition cut a frontier through the heart of the Punjab, leaving its historic capital, Lahore, in Pakistan, and its religious heart, Amritsar, on the other side.
The sight of Indian and Pakistani soldiers marching provocatively towards each other is not unusual at the Indian frontier town of Attari and its Pakistani counterpart, Wagah. But this show of national competitiveness has nothing to do with heightened international tension or political uncertainty on the western side of the border. The daily ritual is a flag-lowering ceremony, greeted by the crowds who gather every day at 4.30pm with an enthusiasm that is usually associated in this part of the world with supporters at a test match. While the spectators arrive to watch the ceremony, patriotic music is played. The arrival of the regular Delhi to Lahore bus is greeted with a roar, and two runners carrying Indian flags are urged to the border gates with a rapturous whoop.
As the spectacle gets underway, immaculately uniformed soldiers – khaki trimmed with red and gold on the Indian side, dark blue for Pakistan – head towards each other, their exaggerated foot stamping and high kicking turning them into a cross between angry flamenco dancers and John Cleese at the Ministry of Silly Walks. A cheerleader on each side eggs the crowd on: "Hindustan!" he cries; "Zindabad!" bellows the patriotic crowd in response. Their cries of "Long live India" are followed by "Pakistan – Zindabad" from across the border, ensuring another wave of enthusiastic cheering from the Indian side. The two countries' flags are lowered and folded, and the crowd gradually drifts away, buoyed up by a feeling of superiority over the people on the other side of the border.
Amritsar is a bustling place, a chaotic mix of sounds and sights and smells: old men sitting cross-legged by the roadside staring aimlessly ahead; eager salesmen attempting to lure passers-by into their makeshift kiosks; bony cows grazing on the rubbish that is piled up on every street corner; and a relentless cacophony of traffic. The noise and bustle of the main thoroughfares can be overwhelming, so I turn into an alley and wander the backstreets. Drawn by the rhythmic sound of hammering, I find myself in the metalworkers' market, and the workshop of Parveen Vig....
Amritsar, Local traffic at train crossing
Today, all that can be heard from the Golden Temple are the devotional hymns that waft through the streets of the old city. Inside, I discover two harmonium players sitting cross-legged in the heart of the temple. The building is in the middle of a lake; around it are smaller shrines, accommodation for pilgrims, and a dining hall where any visitor can come for a simple meal. By day the complex is crowded with visitors, strolling in the required clockwise direction towards the temple entrance. All are barefoot, their heads covered; some stop to bathe in the holy water of the lake. But at night the Golden Temple is at its most captivating, a stunning gold-clad building that glitters in the spotlights, its illuminated reflection glowing in the water below. Late in the evening a fascinating ceremony takes place, as the Sikh holy book, which is the focus of the prayers in the temple, is removed to a separate building for the night. Pilgrims jostle to get close to the golden palanquin, adorned with garlands of marigold flowers, as it makes its way out of the temple to the sound of a narsiga similar to the one I saw being made by Parveen Vig.
Outside the city of Amritsar, the Punjab is mainly rural. Two rivers flow through it, but most of the urban development has taken place along the Grand Trunk Road, built in the 16th century to link Kabul with Calcutta. Yet despite its importance as a thoroughfare, the Grand Trunk Road has none of the attributes of a Western-style highway. Cars and trucks zigzag from side to side, overtaking each other from left and right. Horse-drawn carts pulling precarious cargoes of sugar cane jostle for space with bicycle rickshaws, herds of goats, and the occasional elephant, pressed into service to transport the heaviest loads. Townships along the way are a chaotic muddle of people, animals and market stalls piled high with cauliflowers, carrots and cages of chickens. SOURCE:MORE
Food Street Lahore(Pakistan), UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE "FOOD" ....
Baitullah Mehsud BOTTLED UP.He is 4 ft. 11 inches tall.
Baitullah Mehsud BOTTLED UP, Trapped.
Veteran tribal journalist Sailab Mehsud said the army was attacking with artillery guns stationed at six locations on three sides of Mehsud territory. Two nights ago Mehsud rallied his troops with a radio broadcast, a local source said. "It is an order from God that you continue the fight. You must struggle until your last breath," he said....
Pakistani army in onslaught against Taliban chief linked to Bhutto killing
· Dozens killed as troops encircle mountain base · Locals flee air and ground assault on Afghan border
Declan Walsh in Dera Ismail Khan Friday January 25, 2008 The Guardian
The Pakistani army has launched a blistering air and ground assault on the mountain stronghold of Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban commander accused of orchestrating the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, as a battle for control of the lawless region near the Afghan border intensifies.
The onslaught follows months of sporadic clashes in Waziristan, where Islamists have embarrassed Pakistani forces in recent weeks, and comes amid growing pressure from the US, which finances the operations against the extremists.
Hundreds of soldiers supported by tanks, helicopter gunships and a multi-pronged artillery barrage encircled Mehsud's home territory in South Waziristan,
The assault comes a week after hundreds of Mehsud fighters stormed a military fortification in South Waziristan, killing at least seven officers from the Frontier Constabulary, a lightly armed tribal police force. "It triggered the whole thing," said army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas. "There was an understanding [with the militants] there would be no attacks on security forces. They broke it."
Preparations for the attack included a blockade of fuel and food supplies to Mehsud territory and considerable secrecy. Last week a French journalist who filmed an army convoy rolling towards Waziristan was detained for 24 hours, interrogated, and forced to delete video footage.
The battle zone is barred to foreign journalists and considered too risky by local media....
Across the border, the Afghans are noting fewer al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists and gunmen from Pakistan. Apparently, the pressure from the Pakistani army is forcing the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies to defend their Pakistan bases. Meanwhile, the United States has openly offered to send Special Forces and commando type troops to assist Pakistan in defeating Taliban and al Qaeda forces along the border. While this is a politically sensitive issue in Pakistan, it keeps coming up. This indicates the Pakistani government is moving towards letting the U.S. troops in. ( What, how does that indicate agreement? Paki keeps saying NO ! G ) There have long been American operatives (mostly CIA, and other U.S. agencies) in Pakistan, and even the tribal areas. But this is unofficial, and discrete. Despite that presence, the U.S. seeks better information about what is going on in the tribal areas. American intelligence analysts believe their Pakistani counterparts are holding out on them. SOURCE:
Pakistani Army launches offensive in South Waziristan
By Bill Roggio Paki three prong atack: The fighting has been reported to be fierce. "Both sides are using heavy weapons against each other at Jandola, Chaghmalai, and Spinkai-Raghzai areas of the region," according to The Nation. The military is deploying tanks and artillery while the Taliban is using mortars, rockets, and heavy machine guns....
Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the tribal areas and the NWFP. Click to view.
The Taliban have attempted to blunt the assault from the north by conducting a rocket and mortar barrage on the military outpost in Ramzak. An estimated 50 to 70 rockets and mortars were launched at the Ramzak base over a four-hour period. I over lay the map from his site onto Google Earth, and take a 3D look around: Blue arrows show attacks. Where the Paki Army has been fighting /coming from. vid below:.... Here: Where the Paki Army is going TO: 3 prong Attack: 1,500 feet. Great Geology. .... Compound by compound fly over 700 feet. Heart of search area.
BAITULLAH MEHSUD: Head of the newly formed Taliban Movement of Pakistan. He has been named by the Pakistan government and the CIA as the man behind the Dec. 27 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He fought in Afghanistan against the Soviets in 1980s; alongside the Taliban in the 1990s and against U.S. and NATO troops after 2001. Now taking aim at the Pakistan military. From the Mehsud tribe of South Waziristan, near the Afghan border where Western intelligence suggests Al Qaida is regrouping.
MAULVI FAZLULLAH: Uses an illegal FM radio station in Pakistan's picturesque Swat Valley in the northwest to rally supporters to his rigid brand of Islamic rule. Followers have burned down CD shops, girls' schools and launched dozens of suicide attacks against Pakistani police and military. Commander in the Taliban Movement of Pakistan.
FAQIR MOHAMMAED: Based in northwestern Pakistan's Bajour Agency, he is considered a close ally of al-Qaida's Ayman Al-Zawahri. Part of the Taliban Movement of Pakistan but also a key member of the Movement for the Implementation of Mohammad's Sharia Law. He has sent hundreds of young men to fight in Afghanistan and has been implicated in dozens of suicide attacks.
SADIQ NOOR: Powerful leader in North Waziristan, where followers have battled Pakistan's military and provided assistance to the Afghan Taliban across the border. He is closely aligned to Afghanistan's Jalaluddin Haqqani, a key eastern Afghan commander who coordinates activities between al Qaida and the Taliban.
MAULVI GUL BAHADAR: The leader behind the deeply flawed September 2006 agreement with the Pakistan military that gave breathing space for the burgeoning Pakistani Taliban. Based in North Waziristan.
Mehsud is based in the rugged, heavily treed mountains of South Waziristan, one of Pakistan's so-called tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan, where Western intelligence says al-Qaida is regrouping. His organization has claimed responsibility, often backed up by videos, for killing and kidnapping hundreds of soldiers, beheading women and burning schools that teach girls anything other than religion. He also claims he has a steady supply of suicide bombers and strong ties to al-Qaida.
During the interview, Mehsud said in halting Arabic that he had never met Osama bin Laden but knew Abu Musab al-Zarqawi well. Al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born head of al-Qaida in Iraq, was killed in a U.S. air raid two years ago.
Al-Qaida gives Mehsud money and logistical advice, according to one of his Taliban allies, Maulvi Muslim, who spoke to The Associated Press in a voice that barely rose above a whisper and fell silent when a stranger walked by.
The Al-Qaida funds don't always come in cash. Rather, Afghan and Pakistani businessmen _ usually in the United Arab Emirates _ are given money to buy high-priced goods like cars. The goods are shipped to Pakistan and sold, often tripling al-Qaida's investment. The businessmen, with sympathies to al-Qaida, take a small cut while al-Qaida spreads the wealth among its allies.
The Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan share ideological goals but have separate structures, Muslim said. The spiritual head of both is the one-eyed Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of Afghanistan's Taliban before being ousted by the U.S.-led coalition in November 2001 and to whom Mehsud swore allegiance in 2001, according to Muslim. ( BUT IT DIDN'T LAST, HE HAS BEEN FIGHTING PAKI INSTEAD OF NATO, SO MUCH FOR ALLEGIANCE. g )
According to Shah, Mehsud's troop strength then went from less than 100 to about 20,000, or roughly half the total thought to be under Taliban command in the northwest region that straddles the Pakistan-Afghan border. The agreement gave Mehsud the time to consolidate his forces and kill pro-government tribal leaders.
"The government policy of appeasement gave Mehsud a free hand to recruit and motivate," said Shah, who described Mehsud as "very cool and calculating."
Within a year of the agreement, Shah said, 123 pro-government tribal leaders were gunned down on Mehsud's orders, accused of spying. Other suspected spies were publicly hanged or beheaded. In the Bajour region of the tribal belt, many residents say they buy Taliban protection by letting one son join its ranks. SOURCE:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Note: he is the taliban, the tribes picked him. Sometime in mid-December, as the winter winds howled across the snow-dusted hills of Pakistan's inhospitable border regions, 40 men representing Taliban groups all across Pakistan's northwest frontier came together to unify under a single banner and to choose a leader.
The banner was Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or the Taliban Movement of Pakistan, with a fighting force estimated at up to 40,000. And the leader was Baitullah Mehsud,
And Omar says get rid of him, and they Ignore Omar....the leader of the Afgan Taliban, it seems we have TWO talibans...the Pakistan Taliban and Afghan Taliban. Independent.
If Paki does take out the Taliban in this triangle area that effectively ends the HUGE taliban IN Paki, and cuts it in HALF.
G . UPDATE: New video: Paki Army narrows down target locations HERE. .
Light wife beating is ok: Islam ....the clip ends early because he gave the Black haired woman reporter a light beating for talking back.
Daughter won't wear head cover: Light beating. You can hear the wife tell the daughter its ok. put your hands down. ....
I admit the Nuns used a ruler, and USA doesn't spank kids anymore and they do lack respect for everything. But you can't beat women. I'd like to hear from some Muslim women.COMMENTS BELOW..
On a rain-drenched road in Rawalpindi men, women and children stand patiently behind a truck. It's a few kilometers from the park where Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was slain four weeks ago. And the street is covered in sodden party political paraphernalia proclaiming elections next month. But voting and Bhutto are the last things on these people's minds. Like much of the country they are queuing for bread.
"A 20 kilo bag used to cost 250 ( $4.o8 usd ) Rupees; now it's 295," says Rashid Nabil, a sack of flour on his shoulder. "I have to buy one of these three times a month to feed the eight people in my family. I earn 4,000 ( $65 usd )Rupees a month. That's a lot of your income to be spending on bread"...
Pakistan is in the midst of its worst bread famine in 40 years. The shortage has been exacerbated by massive power and gas outages. Coupled with the pall cast by Bhutto's assassination -- and what seems an endless toll of political violence (the latest being the murder of 12 people by a suicide bomber at a Shia mosque in Peshawar on 17 January) -- the mood among Pakistanis is as leaden as the winter sky.....
Most know why there is a bread shortage in Pakistan, including the poor. Smugglers and hoarders, capitalizing on record global wheat prices, have found it more profitable to send wheat and flour abroad than to meet domestic needs at home. This is why you will find Pakistani flour in Kabul and Delhi but not in Peshawar. Despite a bumper crop the government was compelled to import wheat, jacking up prices still more....
Of Pakistan's 160 million citizens, 65 million live beneath a poverty line of $2 a day and another 65 million live barely above it. Most hale from rural villages but some, like Rashid Nidal and Javed Hansraj, eke out livings on the margins of cities. Historically the poor don't vote in Pakistan. SOURCE:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
That is part of the tribal outlying regions. Now the part of Pakistan USA doesn't show on TV. The WEALTHY:
....
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Now the political and religious layer next: Excellent analysis, but anti-government.
( One should not judge a book by its cover but damn he looks like he would enjoy, like pulling teeth. )
Sohail Qureshi, "The Dentist"
* *
AL QAEDA'S DENTIST
London dentist Sohail Qureshi told the police he was just off to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid with his family in Pakistan…
But instead of dental floss and fluoride, Qureshi, 30, tried to board a plane at Heathrow Airport with $18,000 in cash, a night vision scope, two metal batons, terror handbooks, extremist material, military information on CDs and medical supplies.
Security services didn't buy Qureshi's vacation story and ended his trip before it could start.
Describing his "vacation" in an e-mail, Qureshi wrote, "Pray that I kill many, brother. Revenge, revenge, revenge." On an extremist Web forum, he added, "I am not going for good as far as I know, it is only a 14- to 20-day operation, if it's in Pak, Afg or Waz."
The Islamic extremist was in fact on his way to fight for the Taliban against American and British troops.
In court, he boasted he had been sent to the U.K. by Al Qaeda for terrorist fundraising. He posted a farewell letter anonymously on an Islamist website bragging about raising thousands of pounds from sympathizers in the U.K. for the cause because "bullets cost money."
Taliban wield the ax ahead of new battle By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - With the Taliban's spring offensive just months away, the Afghan front has been quiet as Taliban and al-Qaeda militants have been heavily engaged in fighting security forces in Pakistan's tribal regions.
But now Taliban leader Mullah Omar has put his foot down and reset the goals for the Taliban: their primary task is the struggle in Afghanistan, not against the Pakistan state.
Mullah Omar has sacked his own appointed leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, the main architect of the fight against Pakistani security forces, and urged all Taliban
commanders to turn their venom against North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces, highly placed contacts in the Taliban told Asia Times Online. Mullah Omar then appointed Moulvi Faqir Mohammed (a commander from Bajaur Agency) but he refused the job. In the past few days, the Pakistani Taliban have held several meetings but have not yet appointed a replacement to Mehsud.
This major development occurred at a time when Pakistan was reaching out with an olive branch to the Pakistani Taliban. Main commanders, including Hafiz Gul Bahadur and the main Afghan Taliban based in Pakistan, Sirajuddin Haqqani, signed peace agreements. But al-Qaeda elements, including Tahir Yuldashev, chief of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, undermined this initiative.
"We refused any peace agreement with the Pakistani security forces and urged the mujahideen fight for complete victory," Yuldashev said in a jihadi video message seen by Asia Times Online. Yuldashev's closest aide and disciple, Mehsud, last week carried out an attack on a Pakistani security post and then seized two forts in the South Waziristan tribal area.
As a result, Pakistan bombed South Waziristan and sent in heavy artillery and tanks for a major operation against Mehsud. Other important commanders are now in North Waziristan and they support the peace agreements with the Pakistani security forces.
Pakistan's strategic quarters maintain the planned operation in South Waziristan is aimed particularly at eliminating Mehsud.
"While talking to government representatives in the jirga [peace council] we could clearly discern a grudge against Baitullah Mehsud and the Mehsud tribes by the security forces. And there are signs that the government is obsessed with a military operation to make Baitullah Mehsud a martyr," a leading member of the peace jirga in South Waziristan, Maulana Hisamuddin, commented to Voice of America.
Mehsud came into the spotlight after Taliban commander Nek Mohammed was killed in a missile attack in South Waziristan in mid-2004. Nek was from the Wazir tribe, which is considered a rival tribe of the Mehsud. Haji Omar, another Wazir, replaced Nek, but support from Yuldashev and Uzbek militants strengthened Mehsud's position. He rose through the ranks of the Taliban after becoming acquainted with Mullah Dadullah (killed by US-led forces in May 2007) and Mehsud supplied Dadullah with many suicide bombers.
Dadullah's patronage attracted many Pakistani jihadis into Mehsud's fold and by 2007 he was reckoned as the biggest Taliban commander in Pakistan - according to one estimate he alone had over 20,000 fighters.
The link to Dadullah also brought the approval of Mullah Omar, and when the Taliban leader last year revived the "Islamic Emirates" in the tribal areas, Mehsud was appointed as his representative, that is, the chief of the Pakistani Taliban.
Mehsud was expected to provide valuable support to the Taliban in Afghanistan, but instead he directed all his fighters against Pakistani security forces.
With Mehsud now replaced, Mullah Omar will use all Taliban assets in the tribal areas for the struggle in Afghanistan. This leaves Mehsud and his loyalists completely isolated to fight against Pakistani forces.
Taliban aim for the jugular According to Taliban quarters in Afghanistan that Asia Times Online spoke to recently, the Taliban have well-established pockets around Logar, Wardak and Ghazni, which are all gateways to the capital Kabul.
Many important districts in the southwestern provinces, including Zabul, Helmand, Urzgan and Kandahar, are also under the control of the Taliban. Similarly, districts in the northwestern, including Nimroz, Farah and Ghor, have fallen to the Taliban.
Certainly, the Taliban will be keen to advance from these positions, but they will also concentrate on destroying NATO's supply lines from Pakistan into Afghanistan. The Taliban launched their first attack in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Monday, destroying a convoy of oil tankers destined for NATO's Kandahar air field.
"If NATO's supply lines are shut down from Pakistan, NATO will sweat in Afghanistan," a member of a leading humanitarian organization in Kabul told Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity. "The only substitute would be air operations, but then NATO costs would sky-rocket."
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
Paradigm Intel suggest the Paki fighting might have been getting to close to Mullah Omar or Binny. It's interesting that Ayman al-Zawahari's "town hall meeting" video is overdue by at least SIX days, and there is no longer a banner about it at Ekhlaas. The production might have been destroyed, or at least interrupted, in the recent fighting in Waziristan. Moving forces to Afghan may get the Paki Army off their back in Paki and firing him makes it eaiser to sell him to the Paki Army, in exchange for some seize fire.( I would hazard a guess BM will be dead with in a few days, but not a prisoner. )
Howieto me
10:52 AM (2 hours ago)
I wonder why adam did not subtitle it. ( LATEST aQ video ) More going on there than meets the eye. He must be separated from the main group. G
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The Pakistani military says it is sending reinforcements to the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border to target a Islamic rebel commander accused of involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Military spokesman General Athar Abbas says a recent escalation in militant attacks made it necessary to reinforce military posts in the tribal area. He said additional troops have been sent to the area, but did not specify how many.
South Waziristan is a stronghold of Baitullah Mehsud, a leader of Pakistani Taliban groups who is also believed to have ties to al-Qaida. Mehsud has claimed credit for organizing a series of suicide attacks against Pakistani military targets in the last year, but he has denied government allegations that he masterminded the assassination of Ms. Bhutto. SOURCE:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Really??? Sacked or not? Update: 01.24.08 There are other problems as well. Mullah Omar has "sacked" Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, and then indicated that what he really did was just cut Mehsud loose. That's mainly because Mehsud is a powerful tribal leader, and no one in the region dares to defy him by accepting Omars appointment as new leader of the Pakistani Taliban. Apparently Omar does not have enough power among Mehsud's jihadis (core Taliban fighters) to actually remove him from command.
Mehsud, who's 34 or 35, is accused by the Pakistani government, of organizing the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. He also has strong ties to al Qaeda. On top of that, he has ties to the Dadullah brothers, who ran the unsuccessful "Spring Offensive" last year, but have become non grata with the Taliban senior leadership. Mullah Dadullah was killed last Spring, possibly fingered by someone in the Taliban leadership, in order to get rid of him. The younger Dadullah brother is the Taliban commander who refused Omars order to give up control of Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan. Omar and the younger Dadullah are currently calling each other names. ( Anyone know what names they are using, PLEASE COMMENT. G )
Part of this escalating mess is a generational shift. Omar, and the other senior Taliban leadership, earned their reputations during the 1980s war with Russia. A new generation is more interested in the enormous wealth being generated by the Afghan heroin trade.
Another reason for the leadership crises is tribal politics. The Taliban draws its strength from factions in about half a dozen major Pushtun tribes on both sides of the border. The Taliban goals are derived from ancient customs within these tribes (strict religious rules, hostility to outsiders, no education for women, and so on). Omar got respect because he ran the government of Afghanistan for five years. That's a big deal, but it's also ancient history. Today, the tribes are looking after themselves, not Omar. SOURCE:
A senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan says Taliban and al-Qaida forces in the Pakistan border area are turning their attention more toward Pakistan, and are working together to hit Pakistani forces. Major General David Rodriguez spoke to reporters at the Pentagon Wednesday, and VOA's Al Pessin reports.
General David Rodriguez (file photo)
General Rodriguez says better security in his area of eastern Afghanistan, and increased turmoil in nearby areas of Pakistan, have led Taliban and al-Qaida groups based in the border area to focus on Pakistan and work together more than in the past.
"Many of them, we have seen over the last year, are coordinating with each other more based on their short term goals, rather than their long term goals, which are not necessarily the same," he said. "So, I think that they will move to where the best opportunity is to get the highest payoff. Right not, that probably seems to be in Pakistan, based on what is going on in the last couple of months here."
Pakistan has experienced increased insurgent violence particularly in the Swat Valley, north of Islamabad.
"They are doing more coordination and more training off of everything from resources to intelligence and technical expertise and things like that, yes, that is shared a lot more than it has been in the past," said General Rodriguez.
General Rodriguez says the insurgent focus on Pakistan has contributed to a drop in infiltrations across the border into Afghanistan, and could mean the insurgents will not launch much of a spring offensive in Eastern Afghanistan this year.
General Rodriguez and other U.S. officials say the increase in attacks inside Pakistan is convincing Pakistani military leaders that they have to deal with the Taliban and al-Qaida threat, which had been seen as aimed mainly at Afghanistan.
General Rodriguez says Pakistani military officers are beginning to respond.
"They are working, for example, to develop a better capacity to do counterinsurgency operations, like many other nations are, because that has not been their forte and what they have been trained on as a major focus here, but they are adjusting their military now to do those things," he said.
The general says the United States is helping with coordination and information sharing, but no U.S. involvement inside Pakistan is being contemplated.
Regarding his area of responsibility in northeastern Afghanistan, where security has improved over the last year, General Rodriguez says he expects several thousand more Afghan soldiers to be ready to join the fight in the coming months. He says he does not need any more U.S. or NATO combat troops, but he does need 800 trainers for the Afghan police. He hopes to get some of the one thousand U.S. marine trainers whose deployment to Afghanistan was announced last week.
USA now has all the keys to the al Qaeda type paradigm, ( Violence based recruiting ).
Terrorism will continue into the foreseeable future but on a much less intense level, and will be responsive to police type actions, tracking criminal gangs.
We've posted on the combining of Internet efforts by al Qaeda and Taliban.
Rumsfeld's first post-Pentagon public comments at a conference today on network centric warfare sponsored by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement. According to Rumsfeld, the United States is losing the war of ideas in the Muslim world, and the answer to that, in part, is through the creation of this new government agency.
During the the Q&A after the speech, I asked Rumsfeld what this new agency might entail (he was pretty clear it wouldn't be a resurrected U.S. Information Agency, which was merged into State Department in 1999), and why, when there is an abundance of media available in the private sector, the government needs to get involved.
I'll just let Rumsfeld speak for himself:
Private media does not get up in the morning and say what can we do to promote the values and ideas that the free Western nations believe in? It gets up in the morning and says they're going to try to make money by selling whatever they sell... The way they decided to do that is to be dramatic and if it bleeds it leads is the common statement in the media today. They've got their job, and they have to do that, and that's what they do.
We need someone in the United States government, some entity, not like the old USIA . . . I think this agency, a new agency has to be something that would take advantage of the wonderful opportunities that exist today. There are multiple channels for information . . . The Internet is there, pods are there, talk radio is there, e-mails are there. There are all kinds of opportunities. We do not with any systematic organized way attempt to engage the battle of ideas and talk about the idea of beheading, and what's it's about and what it means. And talk about the fact that people are killing more Muslims than they are non-Muslims, these extremists. They're doing it with suicide bombs and the like. We need to engage and not simply be passive and allow that battle of competition of ideas. SOURCE: Continue reading "Rummy Resurfaces, Calls for U.S. Propaganda Agency" »
I'm glad to hear that NATO is getting into the sphere o' blogs. But, wow, this has to be one of the lamer ways to introduce oneself: An e-mail signed "Blogger" and a bitmapped form letter, making links oh-so-very cumbersome.
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Date: Jan 21, 2008 3:14 PM Subject: NATO Allied Command Operations Website and Blog To: danger_room@wired.com
The thing that really amazed me and was unexpected is the quality of WAR analysis from the Civilian sector.
Our review of the demographics indicate the USA Government on both an official and unofficial levels also recognize this quality.
And I want to call this the "Brilliant civilian sector". It included the likes of Bill Roggio,Dancho Danchev, Douglas Farah, Ray Robison, team at Counter terrorism Blog, Jamestown, Laura Mansfield, Memri, Site, and many many others.
This "Brilliant sector " is missing part of the "Civilian War Effort Paradigm", The out put has been voluminous and timely and very high quality. But it has been aimed at only part of the Demographic. The American or Western sector.
The "Brilliant sector" recognizes the value of translating terrorist media, documents etc. And their analysis is top level. But they seem to have missed the value in translating their analysis into indigenous languages, or Arabic at least.
Very little of the Western analysis reaches the part of the demographic with mud on their war boots and speaking Arabic. That is a very important part of the demographic to influence. al Qaeda recognizes the value of translating their work into English in their Internet effort. USA hasn't recognized the value in translating their work into Arabic, yet.
Part of the reason USA is loosing the battle for the hearts and minds. USA is ignoring the MINDS in that demographic.
Are the Taliban moving "voters" across the Taliban stealth border to vote in BOTH the Afghan and Paki elections? Taliban plannig on stealing the elections?
How much could the Taliban influence the elections in Paki and Afghan? Is there a cross check of voter registration for both countries?
The world already understood who the Taliban is and what they want. They just started Sunni and Shia war in Pakistan to make a motive for transferring of thousands Pashtuns from Pakistan to Afghanistan because of the next election. So they can make more votes for the Pashtun future president of Afghanistan.
Why do they not go to Peshawar, Quetta and Islamabad etc, those cities are more peaceful than Afghanistan?
Now if they don't representing Pashtun why do they always supporting other Pashtuns with any politic ideologies? Shah Nawaz Tanai Ex Defense Minster of Communist regime is now on Taliban side.
Osama Ben Ladin use Islam as tools to empower Pan Arabism so do the Taliban, they empower Pan Pashtunism. Source: in comments section.
So do they know whom is voting in both Elections, Paki and Afghan? G
A Ministry of Borders and Tribal Affairs was even established during Zahir Shah’s time and exists to this day. This Ministry solely concentrates on the Pakistani border even though Afghanistan shares its borders with five other countries: Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and China. The purpose of this Ministry is to give the tribes of the Pashtuns living around that border area a regular salary as well as weapons under the pretense of having them protect the border. Even the Pashtuns on the Pakistani side receive Afghanistani ID cards, a steady salary and weapons for the same purpose. Not surprisingly, 90% of the violence comes from that region. Now, if the government refuses to acknowledge that the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan exists, why bother having a Ministry dedicated to it as well as giving money and weapons for its protection? . .
Iranian Website: In Response to an Israeli Attack, Iran Can, With Syria's Help, Wipe Out Half of Israel
Following reports on Israel's January 17, 2008 test of the Jericho III missile, which has a range of 4,500 km, the Iranian website Tabnak, which is affiliated with Iranian Expediency Council secretary and former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander Mohsen Rezai, wrote that the missile's addition to Israel's arsenal does not change the balance of power between Israel and Iran.
The website stated that in the event of a conflict with Israel, Iran would use its strategic alliance with Syria to fire missiles at Israel from Syrian territory. [1] It also hinted that, in addition to assistance from Syria, any attack by Israel would also bring retaliation by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hizbullah. [2]
Further, in an interview on Al-Jazeera TV, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the Israeli missile test, saying that "even before this missile test, the Zionist regime enjoyed this military technology, because of its support from several powers. But such measures will not improve its situation, and will not prevent its fall. The Zionist regime has lost the rationale on which its existence was based,and all nations identify it as criminal. Therefore, it will not achieve legitimacy for its existence through threats and sowing fear." [3]
The following are the main points of the Tabnak article: [4]
"...The message to Iran from Israel's test of the new Jericho III missile is that this missile is, according to Israel, capable of travelling 4,500 km and striking any point in Iran. If these statements are true, then the Israelis have made several fundamental mistakes in sending [this] threatening message to Iran...:
"1. Iran's defense strategy towards any type of possible attack, by Israel or by the U.S., is based on [the assumption] that both are capable [of carrying out] a missile attack and an aerial attack on Iranian targets. Iran has never denied that Israel and the U.S. are capable [of carrying out] a missile or aerial attack on it.
"2. The fundamental assumption of Iran's strategy is that [even] if Israel did not have long-range missiles aimed at Iran, the U.S. would arm it with long-range strategic missiles as soon as it could.
"3. Any country determines, and deploys, its strategic missile launching system based on its geographical breadth. Accordingly, Israel automatically comes up against a difficult limitation: While Iran's area is 1,648,195 [square] km, the area of 'the regime that occupies Jerusalem' [i.e. Israel] is 26,323 [square] km, and if we subtract the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, [this area] shrinks to 20,150 [square km]. This means that [even] if Israel can fire 100 missiles a day at Iran, and hit 100 cities, Iran can [launch] thousands of missiles, and with them eradicate half of Israel. For this reason, the missile balance between the sides will end up in Iran's favor.
"4. In the event of an attack on Iran, if the Iran-Syria Joint Strategic Defense Agreement is implemented, Iran need not launch long-range missiles from its territory, [but rather] will be able to face Israel with a wave of missile attacks from [missiles with] a maximum range of 500 km, and with much higher explosive potential. At the same time, [even] if we leave out reciprocal attacks by the Islamic resistance in Lebanon [i.e. Hizbullah], Iran and Syria know very well that an attack on Iran will bring in its wake an attack on Syria, and that an attack on Syria will bring in its wake an attack on Iran - and that in both situations, the third target or the parallel [target] are the Islamic Resistance [organizations] in Lebanon and Palestine. If, prior [to such an attack], Iran employs joint defense measures, and arms itself with a missile defense system through cooperating with Syria, Israel will beyond a doubt receive a crushing response if it attacks Iran.
"5. [The placement of] Iran's missile sites is based on the doctrine of irregular warfare. Accordingly, neither Israel nor the U.S. can take out Iran's missile sites in a single surprise attack. For the same reason, Iran's strategic missile defense doctrine benefits from the advantage of [territorial] depth, particularly because Iran can use at least 400,000 square km of its territory as an effective area for aiming [its missiles] at Israel, since it has the benefit of mountainous topography, not a plain.
"6. In the past decade, Iran has focused on developing long-range missiles with a range of 3,000 km, in order to benefit from deterrent defense power in the face of any possible Israeli attack. [5] The Israelis know that because [Iran's missiles have attained] a range of 2,500 km, they are in Iran's range of fire, and [they also know that] the shorter the missile's range, the greater its explosive power. For this reason, Iran's missiles have a very great explosive power.
"Therefore, it can be explicitly said that Israel's recent missile test, on January 17, changes Iran's missile defense balance [against Israel] not one whit, and does not impinge on a single one of its defense doctrines... For this reason, this missile test does not create a new situation or [new] result, in any arena of possible confrontation between Iran and Israel...
"Thus [it appears that] the real idea behind this Israeli missile test is psychological warfare [in order to affect] public opinion in Israel, and not psychological warfare against Iran."
[2] In an August 9, 2007 article posted on the IRGC website Basirat, IRGC political bureau head Yadollah Javani called Hizbullah "one of Iran's strategic backup [tools] in the region."
[5] For more on Iran's missile systems, see MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No. 407, "Iran's Response to Western Warnings: 'First Strike,' 'Preemptive Attack,' Long-Range Ballistic Missiles, 'Asymmetric [Guerilla] Warfare,'", November 28, 2007, http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=ia&ID=IA40707.
Taliban criminal identy of the Pashtun, Pathan or Afghan
Taliban criminal identy of the Pashtun, Pathan or Afghan. ( This transcript may contain the paradigm for converting Taliban to Pakistanis and Afghanis.) I was reading an excellent article on Informed Comment: Global Affairs a remarkable Blog.
The following comments from Indigenous Pakis are educational and a view point I had been missing.
Transcript follows:
Anonymous said...
Hi,
I am absolutely certain that Taliban are Pashtons and they are truly and representing Pashtons identity. This thoroughly factual and no need for justification.
Amin
Scotland January 10, 2008 6:00 AM Mohammad Fahim Khairy said...
Maybe Taliban doesn't t representing Pashtun, Pathan or Afghan but whatsoever they do is based on Pashtonwali's law. After Taliban captured the capital, Kabul, in just a few months. The first thing they did was to kill Dr. Najibullah. Then they invited their Pakistani, Arab, and Pashtun brothers to Kabul and gave these foreigners the most luxurious houses of Kabul located in Wazir Akbar Khan.
When the Taliban started invading the North in 1996, they burnt down houses, they raped women and girls, they killed men and boys, and they were planning to move Pashtuns from the South into the North so as to replace the original inhabitants of the North. The Taliban also attacked the Hazarajaat and they massacred thousands of Hazaras.
Instead of not hurting any Pashtun in north and central Afghanistan they gave them power, weapons, lands and money.
Gargaray Khan a Pashtun rebel, thief, and drug dealer who was a member of Junbish Mili Gen Dustom became the Taliban top commander in Mazar-I-sharif.
Gargaray with his bloodshed and robbery history started to rule the areas as an educated Islamic Clergy ''Mullah''.
Gargaray never went to school in his whole life even cannot read the Quran. There are other hundreds of illiterate and criminal Pashtuns whom gave power by the Taliban even former communists after they captured north cities and Kabul.
The world already understood who the Taliban is and what they want. They just started Sunni and Shia war in Pakistan to make a motive for transferring of thousands Pashtuns from Pakistan to Afghanistan because of the next election. So they can make more votes for the Pashtun future president of Afghanistan.
Why do they not go to Peshawar, Quetta and Islamabad etc, those cities are more peaceful than Afghanistan?
Now if they don't representing Pashtun why do they always supporting other Pashtuns with any politic ideologies? Shah Nawaz Tanai Ex Defense Minster of Communist regime is now on Taliban side.
Osama Ben Ladin use Islam as tools to empower Pan Arabism so do the Taliban, they empower Pan Pashtunism. January 10, 2008 6:50 AM Anonymous said...
Pashtons are dreaming and working hard to Afghanize(Pashtonize) all Afghanistan and the neibours accordingly ,but they hav been failed for decades.Now people of Afghanistan fed up and saden by the work of Pashtons(Afghans)People are struggling to find a new Afghanistan with a new vision of democracy and civil society.Not tribal kindgom! January 10, 2008 6:57 AM Daniel said...
I'm sorry I missed this post, as it was my question to Dr. Rubin that prompted the entry. I defer to Dr. Rubin of course, but note that Vali Nasr described the "Talibanization" as the "Islamization of Pathan nationalism. Selig Harrison has written about this as well http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/01/opinion/edharrison.php and quotes Afghan Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani as worrying publicly that "I hope the Taliban and Pashtun nationalism don't merge. If that happens, we've had it, and we're on the verge of that." January 16, 2008 11:09 AM gerald said...
Excellent posts. Lot of food for thought. Thanks
Gerald January 16, 2008 11:21 AM Anonymous said...
For the sake of argument…let us assume for a moment that there is a religious ideology behind the Taleban movement.. which sustains them. Then the question arises where does the motivation for that ideology comes from? ... Deobandi School of Thought? many others of the type, Paki state-funded mufties, and Paki State sponsored Mullahs? Where this religious ideology comes from? Do you know that all these things are not indigenous to the Pashtuns at all? Pashtuns being a proud nation with history going back thousand of years do not need a religious identity. In other words the use of religion as a means for acquiring political power either in Afghanistan or in Pakistan. In fact the crisis of identity is with the Panjabi state Pakistan..which needs religion to bind it together in the absence of any meaningful contract between the various groups for a collective well being of all its citizens. You remove that religious motivation and preach secularism for a while...and the phenomena of Talebanisation will recede automatically ..because it is superfluous, imposed and not indigenous to the Pashtun culture which offers a much better alternative identity. The fact of matter is that Taleban were not a force/movement until they were given a political agenda, to control Afghanistan and marginalize the Pasthon nationalists in the context of Pak-Afghan relations. Which means that there is nothing religious about the Taleban, its the political agenda behind that facade which needs to be addressed / neutralized if there has to be a long lasting solution to the problem. The moment that political agenda is addressed, the Taleban phenomena will recede.
Regards, a concern Pakhtun. January 21, 2008 4:28 PM gerald said...
First read: wow, excellent points, thank you. One caveat, you must replace what ever it is they are getting from the Taliban, before they can shift.
Then they are trading for a know wanted quantity, not an un-known quantity. Offering them an alternative isn't enough,
In Iraq once enough got to experience the new quantity, it became self converting, pro-Islam, anti-Terror.
Very insightful analysis.
Gerald This transcript contains the paradigm for converting Taliban to Pakistanis and Afghanis.
After you feel you have a good grasp of the above concepts see " THE GREAT GAME"
This is not a World market problem, meaning part of the world isn't participating, China. China has a liquidity surplus...While Europe and USA has a liquidity shortage??
If this continues it will ruin/trash/crush Chinas Olympics dreams. Tourism will crash in a recessionary environment. Chinese confused perspective
OIL $100 per bbl, Opec is shooting its self in the foot. Saudi Arabia is facing terrible inflation and Milk boycott.Saudi Inflation = oil $100 BBL
Most know why there is a bread shortage in Pakistan, including the poor. Smugglers and hoarders, capitalizing on record global wheat prices, have found it more profitable to send wheat and flour abroad than to meet domestic needs at home.
Gold $800 an oz up from $400 a few years ago. Gold prices have gone through the ceiling by striking an all-time high of $980 per ounce this week, and smashing a 28-year record. Experts attribute this to oil prices breaching the $100 per barrel mark, a weak US dollar, political instability in Pakistan following the assassination of the country's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, as well as cold weather which has raised demand for heating fuel.
"Each market reacts to news as it happens, and gold is always trading, wherever the sun shines as the earth turns," explained Hani Milad, secretary-general of the Jewellery Division at the Egyptian Association of Chamber of Commerce. "Prices are set and regularly re-set by the ever-changing supply and demand, input by investors, central banks, governments, miners, jewellers, dealers, and others who trade in gold almost daily." Although gold as money is not a part of daily life, every major nation holds gold as a fiscal insurance policy.
The value of gold during the first trading week of 2008 was $866.90 per ounce, after rising by 30 per cent last year to reach about $630 per ounce. Two years ago, gold was selling for less than $550 an ounce and cost $350 per ounce five years ago. The highest record for gold in recent history was in 1980 when it cost $850 an ounce, after investors rushed to buy the precious metal in response to high inflation sparked by soaring oil prices amid the Iranian Revolution.
The Financial Times reports that Japanese inflation rates, which have traditionally been very low by international standards, doubled between November and December 2007 Smell the inflation building?
I would be taking my bond capital gain profits and ( as interest rates go down the value of older bonds, paying a higher rate go up in principal, as intrest rates go up older bond principal values go down as they pay the older lower rates, BOND PRINCIPAL GOES IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF THE INTEREST RATE MOVE. INTREST RATE UP, BOND PRINCIPAL DOWN...... INTEREST RATES DOWN, BOND PRINCIPLE GOES UP ) switching to investments with a inflation hedge. Utilities, commodity related stocks etc.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Two excellent reads: Europe and the West are trying to improve short term liquidity.Expand. ( Linked to sub-prime loans, and ? ) The cost to borrow in euros plunged after the European Central Bank added an unprecedented $500 billion to the banking system as part of a global effort to ease credit-market gridlock through year-end.
China is trying to curb "excessive liquidity".Contract. The Chinese government, which spent 2007 trying to prevent the country's economy overheating, caught investors on the hop this week with the sixth interest rate rise of the year, adding to indications that it will intensify its efforts to cool the economy in the coming 12 months.
They both speak of a 7 yr, time frame.
The biggest concerted effort by central banks in six years to restore confidence in global money markets is showing little sign of success. SOURCE:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx NEW YORK (AP) -- Wachovia Capital markets analyst Douglas Sipkin on Monday lowered his fourth-quarter estimate for Merrill Lynch & Co., forecasting a loss on further expected writedowns of collateralized debt obligations. Dec. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Merrill Lynch & Co. will receive a cash infusion of as much as $6.2 billion from Singapore's Temasek Holdings Pte. and Davis Selected Advisors LP. Merrill Lynch & Co., reeling from the biggest loss in its 93-year history, will receive a cash infusion of as much as $6.2 billion from Singapore's Temasek Holdings Pte. and Davis Selected Advisors LP.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Who is draining liquidity? "CPI is going to be very important. The Fed has injected massive amounts of liquidity and they don't seem to be getting any major impact. We still have a credit crunch," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Paradigm Intel, and inductive reasoning indicates the possibility of a Global monetary cash flow problem. Currently focused on short term liquidity, it has the momentum to spread. China is heavy and the West & Europe are short?
$100 bbl oil is accumulating significant economic pain world wide.
A publication by GIMF—an analysis of the global strategy of Al-Qaeda—is even more lucid. Under the title "Al-Qaeda's War is Economic not Military," wonders if there have been any strange or unusual transactions by world State players.
All of this points to at least a recession. And maybe some manipulation, intentional or not.
USA DOESN'T KNOW WHAT IS CAUSING THE LIQUIDITY PROBLEM?
Possibilities: 1) Large country pulling funds. ( switching to other reserve currencys, or Gold ) 2) Sub-prime some how affecting money markets ( Derivatives ) 3) Derivatives based on Money Market rates: crashing? 4) Asymmetrical warfare. 5) Market cycle? Any other explanations? comment please.
Stock market shaping up for severe bruising.
Gerald Series 7 & 13 Its going to get very bumpy
Pumping out the sub-prime paper with a AAA wrapper is an criminal event, they were giving loans under false pretenses, lying about income, values, appraisals, some should be prosecuted, they made Billions in a organized criminal enterprise. Lack of supervision or checks and balances.
The subPrime problem is just the tip of the Iceberg. The mounting bad debt from poor standards and practices is still to come, the Credit Card companys have been engaged in loan sharking using Credit Cards, whom do you think would agree to 33% interest rates? ( They incorporated in states without " consumer rights laws", no linit on interest charges, and claim other states Usury laws don't apply to them. ) Even higher in some circumstances, USURY. The MOB only broke your leg, these guys got the bankruptcy laws changed ( Lobbyists ) so when they can't pay the 33% vig. They attach property/homes etc. You can't even escape these criminal loan sharks in bankruptcy. The Mafia didn't even have it this good, and these bad loans have to surface sooner or later.
And I hope the criminal investigations. We know who's greed triggered this debacle.
How are the credit card co.s contributing to the bad Debt debacle? Over the past year, the consumer banking industry has come under increased scrutiny in Washington for interest-rate hikes, questionable legal practices, and debt-collection procedures. And when bank representatives appear before Congress, they often repeat the same message: Whatever their practices, their consumers agreed to them....
And it's not as if financial institutions are scrambling to draw your attention to the contracts. In some cases, consumers have to blindly agree to a credit-card holder's agreement when applying for a card; and only get a chance to look at it when they receive it, their new card, and a bevy of inserts in the mail sometime later.
Figuring out what it all means can be difficult. Interest rates can be calculated in a variety of ways, and the ultimate effects of certain clauses aren't always clear. "It's getting to the point where it's like opening up the guts of a Dell and a Mac and asking to choose based on that," says Kathleen Keest, senior policy counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending.
But what you don't know can hurt you: You may assume you have rights that you've actually signed away, and knowing what the rules are now can save you major financial problems later on.
To help, we're magnifying the small print. Here is a by-no-means-comprehensive list of common clauses to be aware of before signing up for that next credit card or checking account:....
Interest rates can increase, and in some cases, interest may be charged on the portion of your bill you already paid. And then you get hit with fees: late fees and over-the-limit fees can exceed the amount you owe.....
Many can change anytime, for any reason. "Even though creditors can stipulate the terms, they still insert a clause that says no matter what else is in the contract, we can change the provisions anytime for any reason," says Travis Plunkett, legislative director of the Consumer Federation of America. "[Credit-card agreements] are the single worst piece of consumer disclosure I've seen in 25 years of consumer work."....
READ MORE
READ OR SUBSCRIBE, Our WAR OSINT on Twitter
Tweet
