Defense Secretary Robert Gates Confirms Blackwater in Pakistan

[laststeamtrain]

Source: Rebel Reports

Defense Secretary Robert Gates Confirms Blackwater in Pakistan

By Jeremy Scahill

In an interview with the Pakistani TV station Express TV, Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed that the private security firms Blackwater and DynCorp are operating inside Pakistan. “They’re operating as individual companies here in Pakistan,” Gates said, according to a DoD transcript of the interview. “There are rules concerning the contracting companies. If they’re contracting with us or with the State Department here in Pakistan, then there are very clear rules set forth by the State Department and by ourselves.”

This appears to be a contradiction of previous statements made by the Defense Department, by Blackwater, by the Pakistani government and by the US embassy in Islamabad, all of whom claimed Blackwater was not in the country. In September, the US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, denied Blackwater’s presence in the country, stating bluntly, “Blackwater is not operating in Pakistan.” In December in The Nation magazine, I reported on Blackwater’s work for JSOC in Pakistan and on a subcontract with a private Pakistani security company. The Pentagon did not issue any clear public denials, and instead tried to pass the buck to the State Department, which in turn passed it to the US embassy, which in turn issued an unsigned statement saying the story was false.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said on numerous occasions that he would resign if it is proven that Blackwater is operating inside Pakistan.

<snip>

Asked about Seymour Hersh’s recent report in The New Yorker that US special forces were inside Pakistan helping to secure the country’s nuclear weapons, Gates said, “Well, you know, we sometimes have journalistic reports in the United States that aren’t terribly accurate either. You can’t respond to all of them. I think that one was not true.”

Read more: http://rebelreports.com/post/346763455/defense-secretary-robert-gates-confirms-blackwater-in

[OhioChick]

1. No shit....After all the denials. n/t

[tekisui]

2. I am shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

Who needs a draft? We can buy our guns.

[gateley]

3. Jesus! They're like Tribbles!

[IndianaGreen]

7. except that they are not cute and cuddly

Mercenaries suck!

[defendandprotect]

4. Remember, GATES played a primary role in the "October Surprise" which put Reagan ...

in White House --

[msongs]

5. more change u can believe in - another piece of the fraud nt

[Solly Mack]

6. Since everyone knows it anyway might as well cop to it kind of thing

Snort

[Arctic Dave]

8. So how long until we find out they helped kill Bhutto?

[ShockediSay]

14. And what about the Kennedy assassination?

Them or some group like them.

[Wilms]

9. We need yellow ribbons that say "Support Our Contractors". n/t

[stlsaxman]

17. Here you go...

I tried to incorporate (pun intended) the corporate flag but don't have the software... have a try, somebody?

[Wilms]

18. Nice!

Thanks! (from our sponsors)

[pauldp]

10. The Homicidal Cowboys expand their territory.

And what exactly are they doing in Pakistan besides pissing off the locals?

[im1013]

11. I'll bet they're in Haiti, too...

probably were there BEFORE the food & medical supplies.


:puke:

[Flaneur]

12. Good. Now let's make 'em stay there.

[Vidar]

13. If we're lucky, Pakistan will round them up & execute the lot.

[Bragi]

15. Gates, a Bush guy, right? /nt

[SpiralHawk]

16. But on the Bright Side...

Profits are WAY UP for republicon 'christian' mercenary corporations.

And of course now, thanks to the supremos, they can pump billions of their War Bucks into elections, get more goons into Congress, and then get bigger more lucrative contracts.

Profitable War is peace.
'christian' Hate is love.
Fox-Rushlican lies are truth.

[Smashcut]

19. This would be the same DynCorp involved in sex slavery? We're still doing business w/ them?

Gotcha.

Excuse me while I :puke: