I don't write the headlines, I just read them.
Uh . . . the last time I looked, we are not at war with Pakistan. One wonders then why
The Obama administration is using mercenaries with the firm formerly known as Blackwater to kidnap and assassinate high value targets in Pakistan, . . . The program, operated out of the US Joint Special Operations Command, "is so 'compartmentalized' that senior figures within the Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence.
Shades of Dick Cheney and his alleged assassination squads
I don't know about you Kossacks, but I am no more comfortable with this report than I am with the idea tht Cheney was targeting folks for assassination.
The previously unreported program. . . is distinct from the CIA assassination program that the agency's director, Leon Panetta, announced he had canceled in June 2009. 'This is a parallel operation to the CIA,' said the source. 'They are two separate beasts.'"
And given Blackwater's actions, does anyone think they give a shit if the people they kill are the ones targeted?
As for Blackwater, they just say what assassinations?
A Blackwater spokesman told The Nation that none of its forces are operating in Pakistan. However, a "former senior executive at Blackwater" told Scahill that Xe's mercs are indeed working in Pakistan, sometimes employed by the country's government to operate alongside soldiers.