[Nuclear1]

Link

At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found.

...

Blackwater's founder Erik Prince contradicted this statement in a recent interview, telling Vanity Fair that Blackwater works with US Special Forces in identifying targets and planning missions, citing an operation in Syria.

...

A former senior executive at Blackwater confirmed the military intelligence source's claim that the company is working in Pakistan for the CIA and JSOC, the premier counterterrorism and covert operations force within the military.

Your American tax dollars at work:  funding illegal operations throughout the world!

[MR_T3D]

Link

-snip-

Your American tax dollars at work:  funding illegal operations throughout the world!

not mine!
not really sure what else to say

[Liberator]

Link

-snip-

Your American tax dollars at work:  funding illegal operations throughout the world!

not mine!
not really sure what else to say

The question becomes was this in place during Bush's term or is this something the current scumbag cooked up.

[Nuclear1]

The source said that the program is so "compartmentalized" that senior figures within the Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence.

[StarSlayer]

The source said that the program is so "compartmentalized" that senior figures within the Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence.

Not to strap on my tin foil hat to tightly but I would assume an Op like this would have a plausible deniability cut out built into it for the upper echelons.  Unless of course they've learned absolutely piss all from the previous times something like this has been uncovered.

[Ford Prefect]

I'm sort of at the point where I just assume this stuff is happening.

[Rian]

The question becomes was this in place during Bush's term or is this something the current scumbag cooked up.

The covert JSOC program with Blackwater in Pakistan dates back to at least 2007, according to the military intelligence source.

Well, that was easy.

[Turambar]

If there's one person they're going after and there's thirty-four people in the building, thirty-five people are going to die. That's the mentality." He added, "They're not accountable to anybody and they know that. It's an open secret, but what are you going to do, shut down JSOC?"

this is the part that I have a problem with.

[NGTM-1R]

The way this article refers to JSOC makes me cringe, but then, I actually know what an adminstrative organization is.

[Kosh]

Is anyone seriously surprised by this? I wonder how many other "secret wars" we're funding at the moment.......

[Dilmah G]

I'm sort of at the point where I just assume this stuff is happening.

Amen.

[NGTM-1R]

Is anyone seriously surprised by this? I wonder how many other "secret wars" we're funding at the moment.......

Two to six in South America, one in the Phillipines, three in southeast Asia, and probably a couple in Eastern Europe.

[Thaeris]

You're forgetting about U.S. public schools. If they don't take away those dangerous pencils and scissors, those children might hurt themselves or mill about on a murderous rampage. And God forbid they should draw or say anything offensive...

...Because if we don't stop them, the terrorists win...

 

[BloodEagle]

If there's one person they're going after and there's thirty-four people in the building, thirty-five people are going to die. That's the mentality." He added, "They're not accountable to anybody and they know that. It's an open secret, but what are you going to do, shut down JSOC?"

One plus one, plus two plus one....

I know what was meant (which isn't what was stated), but I still find the imagery hilarious.

[Polpolion]

I'm thoroughly unsurprised. 

[ShadowWolf_IH]

The only thing i will say to this is that it is an interesting feeling to know that if you die on this op, your body will never be identified.  That your parents will never know what happened.  That no one will know.  Yet distasteful as it is, we do it.  Because in the end, it probably saves lives on our side.  It's war, and i don't two give shakes of a rat's ass about legal and illegal, so long as the objective is achieved.  If this is what it takes to bring our boys home safely, then I am good with it.  I may not like the idea, but then again we've all done things that we don't like.  How many can say that while they may not have liked it, it saved lives.

Trust me, for every op like this that is uncovered, that are a hundred that aren't.

[Thaeris]

That's probably true in some regard, but it also brings up one of the classical moral dilemas often presented in the various modes of literature:

"How much sin must be committed to achive justice?"

Oh, and here's the kicker...

"And is my justice actually just?"

It really does make you think, how do we arrive at a state of mind that lets us justify defiling, maiming, and killing each other?

[General Battuta]

The problem with setups like this is that those 34 extra people who get killed to take out the 1 guy likely all have families, all of whom will now despise the US, some of whom will now turn to terrorism or become sympathetic to terrorist ideologies.

In the long run I'm not sure it saves lives. We face the threat we do today because of our own meddling in the past.

[Nuclear1]

The problem with setups like this is that those 34 extra people who get killed to take out the 1 guy likely all have families, all of whom will now despise the US, some of whom will now turn to terrorism or become sympathetic to terrorist ideologies.

* Nuclear1 has flashbacks to The Kingdom..."Don't worry my child, we will kill them all."

[Liberator]

We face the threat we do today because of our own meddling in the past.

I'm gonna call bull**** on this.  If this were true, Europe would be a crater and the rest of us would be speaking German.  Everyone has to take responsibility for they're own actions.  It's easy to say, "IT'S ALL THEY'RE FAULT!", when in fact the reason that most of these countries are **** holes is because the populace won't stand up and take responsibility for themselves.  And when we try to give them the opportunity, they hate us for it.

IMO, I don't care any more.  They want to rape, murder and kill each other over centuries old grieveances between to sultans who got drunk, fine.  Just leave me and mine out of it.