Elite US troops ready to combat Pakistani nuclear hijacks

[karan.1970]

This isn't about understanding how the US is fighting this war, but pointing out that the global environment has changed since the US invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and there is very little appetite in the global community, and even amongst the British public, to engage in military adventurism to fulfill US strategic interests, which is how the US invasion of Iraq is perceived now.

That shift in global perceptions is what I am pointing out, and why that shift makes things different from 2001 when the US was out for blood and dragging the international community with it. Invading Pakistan and destroying it militarily is simply not an option any more - Pakistan will impose a huge cost upon the world and the West (albeit indirectly) if that route is taken.

You need to read my most more carefully - my hypothetical scenario applies only in the case of US military adventurism against Pakistan. I am not advocating war and the destruction of India, Israel and the oil production and transport infrastructure just for the heck of it. What I am pointing out are the costs that Pakistan can impose upon the globe if the US is not kept on its leash. This has nothing to do with not developing Pakistan and resolving its problems, since that is what Pakistan is doing currently and will continue doing provided 'red lines' are not crossed.

If those red lines are crossed, Pakistan can make the US and the world pay a terrible price for Pakistan's destruction, and my post was an attempt to merely point out that potential price and why the US would find little support from the world for such military adventurism given that price.

Looks like our posts went on a tangent to each other. I dont think US will ever attack Pakistan directly. The denuking piece also seems to be a flight of fancy by some one, somewhere..

What will keep happening though is the continuous war of attrition with the taliban/extremist elements in Pakistan and the US will keep using the Pakistani establishment to do this work. They have learnt their lesson in Vietnam well. Just compare the loss of life US military forces have incurred in the WOT in last 8 years vs what 8 years in Vietnam cost them..

Irrespective of what every one says, US is still the big boy in the world and the talks of china replacing it for atleast next 3-4 decades are just other flights of fancy. Pakistan needs US to come out of the mess WOT has put it in and US will keep using the same dependence to extract all it wants from Pakistan (and I do not mean Pakistan's nukes)

 

[Choppers]

I already stop watching funny movies because if anytime i want to see some funny stuff i just goto the forums or open newspaper and read INDIAN and INDIAN CHIEF and US Official statements against Pakistan...

Laughing is good for health.Have have more laugh

'Jihadis at gates of Pak nuclear bases'

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's strategic assets are as safe as those of any other nuclear weapon's state and are fully safeguarded and secure under a well-established command and control system, the foreign office said on Sunday.

But Shaun Gregory, director of the Pakistan security research unit at Bradford University, says, "There have been attacks on army bases which stored nuclear weapons and there have been breaches and infiltrations by terrorists into military facilities. The terrorists are at the gates.

In a counterterrorism journal, published by America's West Point military academy, Gregory documented three attacks on nuclear facilities since 2007 — the attack in November 2007 at Sargodha in Punjab where nuclear-capable F-16 jets are thought to be stationed; the suicide bombing at nuclear airbase at Kamra in Attock district in December and the suicide attack at the Wah cantonment in Punjab, believed to be one of Pakistan's nuclear warhead assembly plants. The attack left 63 people dead.

Pakistan denies that the Kamra base still has a nuclear role. Fears that militants could penetrate a nuclear facility intensified after a brazen attack on army headquarters in Rawalpindi in October when 10 gunmen wearing army uniforms got inside and laid siege for 22 hours. Last month, there was an attack on the naval command centre in Islamabad.

Pakistani police said five Americans from Washington who were arrested in Pakistan last month after trying to join the Taliban were carrying a map of Chashma Barrage, a complex in Punjab that includes a nuclear power facility. The al-Qaida leadership has made no secret of its desire to gain weapons for a "nuclear 9/11".

Nuclear experts and US officials say the biggest fear is of an inside job amid growing anti-American feeling in Pakistan. Concerns about hostility inside the army to the US first surfaced in 2007, the report said. At a meeting of commanders at Kurram, on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, a Pakistani major drew his pistol and shot an American, the report said.

"You have 8,000-12,000 people in Pakistan with some type of role in nuclear missiles — whether as part of an assembly team or security," said Gregory. "It's a very large number and there is a real possibility that among those people are sympathisers of terrorist or jihadist groups who may facilitate some kind of attack."

Dr Bashir Mahmood, former head of Pakistan's plutonium reactor, formed an Islamic charity in March 2000 after resigning from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. He was arrested in Islamabad in 2001 for alleged links to Osama bin Laden.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Do you really think they care.. ?? and do you really think they will withdraw so soon.. Its just Obama pacifying the war detractors in his country.

Thanks for the enlightenment .... !

By end 2011, election season will be in full swing with Republicans going after obama on his policy of withdrawl.. By the time elections get over, it will either be a hardliner republican in the oval office who will probably double the presence in the region or Obama will be set for another 4 years and will continue with his push in to the NWFP

why would he do that ... to owe more money or lend time to the Chinese ....!

Frankly i don't want the US to go . I want them to stay in Afghanistan for the next 10 years and spent billions for the every soldier they have on ground ...

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Looks like our posts went on a tangent to each other. I dont think US will ever attack Pakistan directly. The denuking piece also seems to be a flight of fancy by some one, somewhere..

What will keep happening though is the continuous war of attrition with the taliban/extremist elements in Pakistan and the US will keep using the Pakistani establishment to do this work. They have learnt their lesson in Vietnam well. Just compare the loss of life US military forces have incurred in the WOT in last 8 years vs what 8 years in Vietnam cost them..

Irrespective of what every one says, US is still the big boy in the world and the talks of china replacing it for atleast next 3-4 decades are just other flights of fancy. Pakistan needs US to come out of the mess WOT has put it in and US will keep using the same dependence to extract all it wants from Pakistan (and I do not mean Pakistan's nukes)

Agree that we are on tangential wavelengths here.

I think your line of thought is more on what US interests and goals in Afghanistan are and how much the goals themselves and the means to achieve them coincide with Pakistan's view of the situation.

I would argue the overall US goals have far more commonality with Pakistan's goals than is generally thought, though there is definitely more friction between the two on how to get there.

 

[koolio]

I think this is the most ridiculous story I have ever read concerning about the safety of Pakistans nuke, The US cant even take care of Afghanistan and the Taliban are grabbing more territory as the days goes by, The security in Iraq is absolutely shambles as the Iraqi authorities are in no control whats so ever.

The threat to Pakistans nuclear weapons facilities should not be ruled out as some foreigners will try to get to it on a kamakaze mission but he will soon be walking into a death trap.

 

[karan.1970]

Thanks for the enlightenment .... !





why would he do that ... to owe more money or lend time to the Chinese ....!

Frankly i don't want the US to go . I want them to stay in Afghanistan for the next 10 years and spent billions for the every soldier they have on ground ...

Where do you think these billions go..?? back into the US Arms industry. Do you think its the money spent on the soldier's well being.

In simple terms, US sells it dollar treasury bills (which are simple IOUs) to Japan and China to get credit which goes into the military industry of US to manufacture arms and ammunition to keep the grunts on the ground supplied.

US is still the biggest economy on earth. If they keep this habbit of borrowing, their currency will devalue and who do you think will get impacted the most apart from the US?? the countries exporting to the US and the countries holding the US IOUs in dollars.. Meaning China... The business of owing money between countries dont work the same way as it works for individuals..

So economic considerations are the last things that will move US away from Afghanistan.

 

[Barrett]

US Army to 'protect' Pakistan's nuclear sites

US Army to 'protect' Pakistan's nuclear sites
Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:13:48 GMT

In face of a growing anti-Americanism among the Pakistan military, the US army moves to train a 'crack unit' to thwart possible attacks on the country's nuclear facilities.

The unit would be responsible to take back Pakistani nuclear weapons in the event the militants gain access to the strategic devices and materials, the Pakistani daily The Nation reported Sunday.

The measure is taken as the US military fears the possibility of an attack "from inside the country's security apparatus," added the report.

The daily notes that the rising anti-Americanism among the Pakistani military personnel, as well as a series of attacks on sensitive installations over the past two years, has prompted the US officials to take the action.

“There have been attacks on (Pakistani) army bases which stored nuclear weapons and there have been breaches and infiltrations by terrorists into military facilities," Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, a former CIA officer who used to run the US energy department's intelligence unit, was quoted as saying.

Larssen claimed the nuclear Pakistan houses "the highest density of extremists in the world," declaring that the US has the right to be concerned over the issue.

Heated debate has been going on between the US and Pakistani officials over the security of its nuclear facilities over the past two weeks.

There have been reports that US officials' primary goal is to gain access to and disable or neutralize Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, which they consider as a possible threat to US and Israeli security.

Pakistani nuclear arms have also been referred to as an “Islamic Bomb” in the American and Israeli press and political circles, highlighting their mindset regarding the country's atomic weapons, which was meant to rival India's. India's nuclear arms, however, have never been raised as a concern in western circles.

In 2007, militants attacked military facilities at Sargodha, in Punjab, and at Kamra, in Attock district, which are thought to house nuclear weapons.

In August 2008, militants blew up the gates to the Wah weapons complex in Punjab. The attack left 63 people dead.

----



Where's Kaskirn, i need Kaskirn.

Ahhh...it always comes down to this!

Are these Gringos dreaming or what, "Crack Unit" the only crack they should be worried about is their own on their back side.

Anyhow, yes there is rising anti-Americanism among the Pakistani military personnel but what has that to do with the security of the Nuclear Arsenal there has been a lot of hate for India and Israel since day one so I fail to comprehend what has hate got to do with all this.

Threat to Israeli security, now that is the only honest word in the entire article.

Islamic Bomb

Attacks in Sargodha and Kamra were on Airforce installations and Wah was an ordinance factory and i'm sure the the terrorists were trying to get hold of the nuclear weapons by blowing up poor workers after their shift outside the main gate of the factory.

Epitome of Ignorance.

 

[FireFighter]

Articles like these prove to reaffirm that there are elements in the US and the UK think tanks and govn't that are hell bent on scaremongering and warmongering campaigns against Pakistan and behind their facades they are in fact ideologically opposed to muslims with inch length beards.

Though they realize that Pak has never posed a direct or indirect threat to them, thus it makes it much harder for them to accomplish their goal of seeing Pak being denuclearized.

 

[Barrett]

 

[karan.1970]

I would argue the overall US goals have far more commonality with Pakistan's goals than is generally thought, though there is definitely more friction between the two on how to get there.

I wouldnt argue with this at all. I think if the pieces fall right there can be a huge opportunity for the region if the goals of US and Pakistan do not diverge. If US manages to nudge pakistan in erradicating these terrorists in the border region, by association, the terrorists active towards india will automatically get more insecure since today its impossible to seggregate the ones active in Af and the ones active in Kashmir.

If that happens and the lull that is visible in the terrorist activities in the kashmir valley continues for some more time, there is a very strong liklihood of getting the peace talks back on the table. simply because India will have nothing to complain about and the hardliner faction in pakistan would have already been weakend due to the WOT activities of the govt.

May be I am being too optimistic, but hey, being optimistic doesnt cost anything. If at all it gives you a good night's sleep.. right?

 

[notorious_eagle]

Karan for the first time the entire nation has been serious about getting rid of these terrorist elements inside Pakistan once and for all. This is the first time the Army has sent in its regular infantry supported by the SSG and FC. Its not the US that is nudging us to get rid of these terrorist elements, its important for the survival of our nation. People of Pakistan have realized that TTP is nothing more than a bunch of thugs who are out there to destabilize our nation, that is why this operation is being supported by the masses.

If you look at the facts right now on the ground, its the Pakistan Army that is actually putting in the effort of getting rid of the TTP. I cant say the same about the US Army because their performance in WOT has been quite dissappointing, more than 50% of Afghanistan is still governed by the Taliban and War Lords. I hope that with the addition of more US troops this will change the whole scenario and the US will actually put in the effort in eliminating the Taliban like Pakistan has. TTP are getting desperate and that is why out of desperation they are attacking soft targets such as civilians. During the December Holidays, i talked in great detail about the WOT with a Major General serving in Pakistan Army. According to him the TTP will be wiped out in the next two years because they simply dont have the support of the people anymore. They are on the run and trying everything in their power for the Army to stop the operation. If you seriousally think the Army is not serious about getting rid of these terrorist elements, you seriousally need to look at facts on the ground.

The only reason why the Army is tolerating the drone strikes is because how effective they are, who do you think is feeding the intelligence to CIA? Right now the most important issue at hand for Army is to eliminate TTP, and well they are exactly doing that. This whole notion that elite US troops will take control of Pakistani nukes is nothing more than a fairy tell, anybody who has basic knowledge of Pakistani nukes know that its simply not possible.

 

[BATMAN]

As far i know Pakistan has offered to sign on NPT if india chooses to do so!
whaere is it so hard to convince indians to sign? all problems would be solved by it self!
What is indian perspective on this one? why they hesitate to sign NPT?

 

[FireFighter]

I wouldnt argue with this at all. I think if the pieces fall right there can be a huge opportunity for the region if the goals of US and Pakistan do not diverge. If US manages to nudge pakistan in erradicating these terrorists in the border region, by association, the terrorists active towards india will automatically get more insecure since today its impossible to seggregate the ones active in Af and the ones active in Kashmir.

If that happens and the lull that is visible in the terrorist activities in the kashmir valley continues for some more time, there is a very strong liklihood of getting the peace talks back on the table. simply because India will have nothing to complain about and the hardliner faction in pakistan would have already been weakend due to the WOT activities of the govt.

May be I am being too optimistic, but hey, being optimistic doesnt cost anything. If at all it gives you a good night's sleep.. right?

See your thinking is pretty much the same as the architects of WOT.
There are more than 30 groups out there fighting NATO in afghanistan. groups with distinguising different goals and objectives as well as differing strategies on how to achieve those goals. AQ affiliated groups are fewer in number than Taliban, Haqqani, etc. related.

Also mujahideen in Kashmir fighting India are completely different from those operating in Afg. They have never waged war on Pak but the indians here are reluctant to admit that and the differences in groups reveal their ignorance and arrogance the attrocities their troops are committing in kashmir.

Your definition of terrorist is the same as those of yoru masters: any muslim with an inch length beard carrying a weapon.

 

[ejaz007]

Pakistan rejects report
Monday, January 18, 2010


ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday strongly rejected a report of Christina Lamb in the Sunday Times titled “Elite US troops ready to combat Pakistani nuclear hijacks” and termed it rubbish and figment of the imagination of the reporter.

Talking to a private TV channel, Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit said the assertions and insinuations Spokesman Abdul Basit said the assertions and insinuations made in the story were baseless. The Pakistani government has devised and continues to implement a foolproof safety and security regime for nuclear-related materials, he said.

He said the Western media keeps repeating such self-serving baseless propaganda. “However, Pakistan is not bothered about it as at the official level no such assertions exist from the West,” he said while quoting a statement of US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton giving a clean chit to Pakistan in respect of nuclear materials safety. Complaining against the discriminatory behaviour of the Western media, the spokesman said Pakistan never wanted to make South Asia an atomic region and never took part in the arms race.

Pakistan only wants to fortify its defence, he said, adding Pakistan went nuclear in response to the Indian threats. “Pakistan cannot be blamed and any wrong use of the nuclear arsenal is simply out of the question.”

Admitting the Pak-America differences over the drone attacks, he said Pakistan was trying to convince the United States that persistent drone attacks could endanger the consensus in Pakistan to fight the terror war. “It is hoped that the policy of erstwhile Bush administration would be revisited as it is proving counterproductive,” he said.

Responding to a question, he said if the Pakistani media was critical of the US, the criticism was directly linked to the American policies. In response to the constructive criticism of the Pakistani media, the Western media retorts with baseless propaganda against the Pakistani nuclear-related material.

Pakistan rejects report

 

[karan.1970]

Its not the US that is nudging us to get rid of these terrorist elements, its important for the survival of our nation. People of Pakistan have realized that TTP is nothing more than a bunch of thugs who are out there to destabilize our nation, that is why this operation is being supported by the masses.

I did not mean nudging in any derogatory sense. The idea was that like all countries including india, Pakistan has its own share of hardliners which are against this war pakistan army is fighting with TTP. US is balancing them out by helping the establishment stay the course via military supplies, economic aid and sometimes political pressure as well..

This whole notion that elite US troops will take control of Pakistani nukes is nothing more than a fairy tell, anybody who has basic knowledge of Pakistani nukes know that its simply not possible.

I agree.. Thats what i wrote in my post above..