Heading to Michigan today to spend the holidays with my future in-laws. Looking forward to my backscatter scanning or groping. No bloggery here today.
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My Name Is Mullah Akhtar Muhammed Mansour, And I Would Like Some Money |
| By: Spencer Ackerman Monday November 22, 2010 10:34 pm |
I mean, really: Ohhhhh shit.
For months, the secret talks unfolding between Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the war appeared to be showing promise, if only because of the repeated appearance of a certain insurgent leader at one end of the table: Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement.
But now, it turns out, Mr. Mansour was apparently not Mr. Mansour at all. In an episode that could have been lifted from a spy novel, United States and Afghan officials now say the Afghan man was an impostor, and high-level discussions conducted with the assistance of NATO appear to have achieved little.
“It’s not him,” said a Western diplomat in Kabul intimately involved in the discussions. “And we gave him a lot of money.”
The intelligence budget of the United States is $80.1 billion annually. Just felt like interjecting that.
A man who had known Mr. Mansour years ago told Afghan officials that the man at the table did not resemble him. “He said he didn’t recognize him,” said an Afghan leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. … Last month, White House officials asked The New York Times to withhold Mr. Mansour’s name from an article about the peace talks, expressing concern that the talks would be jeopardized — and Mr. Mansour’s life put at risk — if his involvement were publicized.
Yeah, OK, this war is fucked.
When There’s Nothing On The Horizon, You’ve Got Nothing Left To Prove |
| By: Spencer Ackerman Monday November 22, 2010 9:14 pm |
IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1084-10
November 22, 2010
DOD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. David S. Robinson, 25, of Fort Smith, Ark., died Nov. 20 in Qalat, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered in a non-combat related accident. He was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany.
For more information, media should contact U.S. Army Europe Public Affairs at ocpa.pi@eur.army.mil or at 011-49-6221-57-3369.
All The Beating Drums, The Celebration Guns |
| By: Spencer Ackerman Monday November 22, 2010 3:34 pm |
A combat death by any other name. RIP IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1083-10 November 22, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation New Dawn. Sgt. David J. Luff Jr., 29, of Hamilton, Ohio, died Nov. 21 in Tikrit, Iraq, of wounds suffered when [...]
All The Beating Drums, The Celebration Guns |
| By: Spencer Ackerman Monday November 22, 2010 2:57 pm |
IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1082-10 November 22, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation New Dawn. Staff Sgt. Loleni W. Gandy, 36, of Pago Pago, American Samoa, died Nov. 19 in Balad, Iraq, in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the [...]
When There’s Nothing On The Horizon, You’ve Got Nothing Left To Prove |
| By: Spencer Ackerman Monday November 22, 2010 12:34 pm |
IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1081-10 November 22, 2010 DOD Identifies Marine Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Sgt. Jason T. Smith, 28, of Colorado Springs, Colo., died Nov. 19 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the Explosive Ordnance [...]
One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other |
| By: Spencer Ackerman Saturday November 20, 2010 6:47 pm |
Check out Gregory “al-Waq-a Flocka Flame” Johnsen’s op-ed on Anwar Awlaki’s place in al-Qaeda. If, as the publicly-available evidence supports, the guy is a propagandist of an exceptionally vile sort, why should he be treated differently than another American citizen, Adam Gadahn, previously al-Qaeda’s chief English-language propagandist? I can see the argument that Awlaki’s clerical [...]
Dreaming of Global Cooperation |
| By: Spencer Ackerman Saturday November 20, 2010 11:00 am |
Quote of the day, courtesy of a Pakistani intelligence official: “I wish [our] countries understood each other the way the CIA and ISI understand each other.” Two peoples, united by missiles fired from unmanned airframes. Won’t you teach us your ways?
Shaffer Select: Live At Five |
| By: Spencer Ackerman Saturday November 20, 2010 9:53 am |
Come by Book Salon at 5 p.m. EST, yeah? I’ll be hosting Tony “Able Danger” Shaffer as we talk about his new, heavily-censored Operation Dark Heart. Come for the 9/11 conspiracies and the secrecy overkill, stay for the Afghanistan war’s decline!
But This Time, We Call It “Awe And Shock!” |
| By: Spencer Ackerman Friday November 19, 2010 10:43 am |
The Afghanistan war has reentered the conventional phase. HIMARS rockets, drones surveilling, massive amounts of air strikes, and now Marines in Abrams tanks. “The tanks bring awe, shock and firepower,” the officer said. “It’s pretty significant.” Because if you’ve been besieged by war for 30 years, you are going to be awed and shocked by [...]
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