By Eric Margolis
"Revelations the US Central Intelligence Agency is operating a secret, 3,000-man Afghan mercenary force whose mission is assassinating Taliban and al-Qaida fighters has caused a major stir in the United States. This dramatic report comes in an authoritative new book, “Obama’s Wars,” by investigative reporter of Watergate fame, Bob Woodward. He has long enjoyed privileged access to the White House.
The US armed, paid and directed hunter-killer force was set up to operate inside Pakistan, where US troops are officially not allowed to go. The mercenaries are mostly Afghan Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazara – all traditional enemies of the majority Pashtun – as well as renegades, common criminals, and mercenaries. Their raids into Afghanistan’s tribal territory are sometimes coordinated with CIA’s intensifying drone attacks on Pakistani tribesmen that are causing heavy civilian casualties.....
No one should be surprised by the news that US-led mercenaries are crossing into Pakistan and killing Pakistani Pashtun tribesmen as well as Taliban and even an occasional al-Qaida member. This writer has received reports of the hunter-killer force for years. It’s an open secret in Islamabad and Kabul....
In fact, the US has a long record of using mercenaries in its wars.
During the Vietnam War, CIA created mercenary forces of Hmong and Meo mountain tribesmen( Operation Hotfoot) and ethnic Chinese Nungs to hunt and kill Vietcong cadres. They formed part of CIA’s notorious Phoenix Operation that reportedly assassinated some 26,000 Communist cadres and sympathizers.
CIA mercenaries were also used during the 1980’s in Nicaragua and El Salvador’s brutal conflict between rightists and Marxist rebels. El Salvador’s ruthless death squads were highly effective in liquidating leftists, as I saw while covering these conflicts
The model of El Salvador’s death squads was transposed to Iraq, where mercenaries, criminals and renegades were used to liquidate Sunni resistance groups....."
"Revelations the US Central Intelligence Agency is operating a secret, 3,000-man Afghan mercenary force whose mission is assassinating Taliban and al-Qaida fighters has caused a major stir in the United States. This dramatic report comes in an authoritative new book, “Obama’s Wars,” by investigative reporter of Watergate fame, Bob Woodward. He has long enjoyed privileged access to the White House.
The US armed, paid and directed hunter-killer force was set up to operate inside Pakistan, where US troops are officially not allowed to go. The mercenaries are mostly Afghan Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazara – all traditional enemies of the majority Pashtun – as well as renegades, common criminals, and mercenaries. Their raids into Afghanistan’s tribal territory are sometimes coordinated with CIA’s intensifying drone attacks on Pakistani tribesmen that are causing heavy civilian casualties.....
No one should be surprised by the news that US-led mercenaries are crossing into Pakistan and killing Pakistani Pashtun tribesmen as well as Taliban and even an occasional al-Qaida member. This writer has received reports of the hunter-killer force for years. It’s an open secret in Islamabad and Kabul....
In fact, the US has a long record of using mercenaries in its wars.
During the Vietnam War, CIA created mercenary forces of Hmong and Meo mountain tribesmen( Operation Hotfoot) and ethnic Chinese Nungs to hunt and kill Vietcong cadres. They formed part of CIA’s notorious Phoenix Operation that reportedly assassinated some 26,000 Communist cadres and sympathizers.
CIA mercenaries were also used during the 1980’s in Nicaragua and El Salvador’s brutal conflict between rightists and Marxist rebels. El Salvador’s ruthless death squads were highly effective in liquidating leftists, as I saw while covering these conflicts
The model of El Salvador’s death squads was transposed to Iraq, where mercenaries, criminals and renegades were used to liquidate Sunni resistance groups....."
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