http://www.spreeradio.de/mediaservice/spree/foto/guttenberg_maerchen_ub1.jpg
Während die Empörung über das Afghanistan-Interview unseres Bundespräsidenten langsam abebbt, soll an dieser Stelle eine andere, wenig beachtete, rhetorische Glanzleistung gewürdigt werden. Verteidigungsminister Dr. Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg war am 12. November 2009 zu seinem ersten Besuch in Afghanistan eingetroffen. Neben Gesprächen mit dem afghanischen Präsidenten Karzai und seinem Amtskollegen Wardak, fand der Minister klare Worte für die deutschen Soldaten:
"Ich weiß, wie herausfordernd und in vielerlei Hinsicht mit Entbehrungen und Belastungen gerade dieser Einsatz in Afghanistan ist. Es klingt vielleicht ein wenig anmaßend, wenn ich jetzt sage, ich weiß das, nachdem das tatsächlich mein erster Besuch in Afghanistan ist, und wo man sehr vorsichtig sein sollte, die Dinge vom Schreibtisch aus zu bewerten."
Anmaßend, genau. Krieg spielen ist eben nicht Krieg führen. Bei aller Vorsicht am Schreibtisch: Den COM ISAF-Bericht sollten Sie schon gelesen und verstanden haben, bevor Sie das Kunduz-Bombardement als militärisch angemessen bezeichnet haben.
"Gleichzeitig habe ich heute einen Tag erfahren dürfen, der mit dem Wort "munter", noch müde umschrieben ist. Er war gut geplant, er war straff geplant, und ich habe sehr viele Eindrücke, auch in Gesprächen erfahren dürfen."
Munter ! Gut geplant ! Straff geplant !
"Eindrücke, die deutlich gemacht haben, Soldatinnen und Soldaten, dass sich das Leben hier ein wenig anders darstellt, als es mancher zuhause gern dargestellt sehen würde, so darf man das auch mal sagen und ich deswegen sehr viel Wert darauf gelegt habe, in den ersten Tagen, die ich jetzt in diesem neuen Amt verbringen darf, auch eine Wortwahl zu suchen, die, wie ich glaube, Ihren Empfindungen sehr nahe kommt, weil ich viele Eindrücke von Ihnen auch erfahren dürfte, zuhause, von solchen, die zurückkehrten und mir geschildert haben, in den letzten Jahren, wie sie Afghanistan empfinden."
Afghanistan empfinden ! Ein wenig anders, als es mancher zuhause gern dargestellt sehen würde.
"Und dass es eben nicht nur damit zusammenhängt, dass man Brunnen baut, oder dass man dieses oder jenes macht, was möglicherweise doch sich sehr unterschiedlich zu den Realitäten vor Ort darstellt, und das war der Grund, weshalb ich gleich in den ersten Tagen davon gesprochen habe, dass ich persönlich auch das Gefühl habe, dass sich in Teilen Afghanistans kriegsähnliche Zustände finden und dass ich ein großes Verständnis dafür habe, wenn die Soldatinnen und Soldaten selbst vom Krieg in Afghanistan sprechen."
Brunnen bauen, dieses oder jenes machen oder einfach nur Afghanen töten. Wie wollen Sie Taliban (gemäßigt oder nicht) von Sympathisanten, Aufständischen, Zivilisten unterscheiden, wenn sie nicht einmal afghanische Soldaten identifizieren können ? Zumal nicht jeder Aufständische gleich die westliche Gemeinschaft bedroht und Afghanistan militärisch nicht zu gewinnen ist
"Und das Ganze hat eine, ja, sagen wir mal, hübsche Debatte in Deutschland ausgelöst. Das ist die mildeste Umschreibung, die ich dafür finden konnte."
Eine hübsche Debatte, sagen wir es ruhig mal milde. Haben Sie ein Problem damit, wenn die Menschen in Deutschland diskutieren, warum deutsche Soldaten im Ausland töten und sterben ?
"Dass es eben nicht nur darum geht, irgendwie kühl, dem Soldatentum als solches nachzugehen, sondern dass Emotionen hier mitspielen."
Dem Soldatentum als solchem, ist nur sehr eingeschränkt irgendwie warm nachzugehen. Die Emotionen der getöteten Aghanen und ihrer Familien scheint Sie eher kalt zu lassen.
"Ich bin sehr dankbar, dass ich heute die Möglichkeit hatte, Herr General, mit Ihnen auch den Ehrenhain hier in Mazar-e Sharif besuchen zu dürfen und dort spüren zu dürfen, was Emotionen auch in diesem Sinn bedeuten können und bedeuten müssen, dass wir auch diese Emotionen zuzulassen haben, um zu wissen, welche Folgen dieser Dienst auch mit sich bringen kann und wir gleichzeitig uns in der politischen Verantwortung immer wieder zu verdeutlichen haben, dass wir alles zu tun haben, um für Ihre Sicherheit und Ihren Schutz zu sorgen, das man eben auch dahingehen auch eine große Verantwortung trägt."
Emotionen zulassen ! Schämt euch nicht der Tränen oder begebt euch in therapeutische Behandlung, wenn ihr Probleme mit dem Töten/Fallen habt !
"Darf ich vielleicht eine ganz kurze Fußnote nur berichten: Ich hatte gerade von hier, eine Liveschaltung zum – keine Liveschaltung, sondern es war aufgezeichnet – eine Schaltung zum „Heute-Journal“ nach Deutschland, und ich darf von Marietta Slomka ausrichten – ja jetzt lachen einige – darf Ihnen ausrichten, dass Sie und Sie meinte Deutschland, an Sie denkt. Meine Damen und Herren, das ist nicht die schlechteste Nachricht, wenn man geschaltet wird aus Afghanistan, dass so etwas gleichzeitig so auch vermittelt wird, auch gegenüber jenen, die in Deutschland das zu beurteilen haben, was Sie hier machen und was wir gemeinsam hier auch als Zielsetzung haben. Afghanistan wird uns noch mit Sicherheit eine Weile fordern."
Ja, da lachen nicht nur die Soldaten. Eine Liveschaltung würden wir gerne mal sehen, aber Interviews werden ja sicherheitshalber immer aufgezeichnet. Frau Slomka ist Deutschland ? Und sie denkt an die Soldaten in Kunduz ? Im Slomka Interview mit Guttenberg ist davon nichts zu hören, Herr Minister.
Kommentare 34
Während Köhler versucht, den Dummen August zu mimen, vergeht sich Guttenberg an Shakespeares Richard 3. Und die eigentlichen Verbrecher, die diesen Schmierenkomödianten den verlogenen Auftritt ermöglichen, sitzen in den Redaktionsstuben. Widerlich.
Charlitheo is ja gar nicht so schlecht, der benimmt sich als Wanderprediger für den besseren Weltgeist so toll das selbst einer seiner parteiinternen Amtsvorgänger vor Neid im Grab umdrehen. Schliesslich hilft er den richtungslosen Jugendlichen eine passende Berufswahl zu treffen. Wenn sich erst mal alle Möchtegern-Helden in Merkelstan die Birne glatt rasieren, weil sie keinen anderen Job finden als irgendwo auf der Welt irgendwie herum zu ballern, können sie sich ihre riesige Potenz zwischen den Ohren auch bei Friedensmissionen gerade rücken lassen. Das Opfer muss schon erlaubt sein. An Kunduz und diesen ganzen Friedensmissionen verdienen manche (Systemträger) soviel. Ob die dann auch ihre Profite versteuern ist natürlich zu bezweifeln, gewöhnlich treiben sie Länder wie Griechenland mit dem Ankauft von Mordwerkzeug in den Ruin.
Afghanistan emfinden/Emotionen zulassen:
"Der Tod der sechs afghanischen Soldaten durch Bundeswehrsoldaten nahe Kunduz am 2. April hätte verhindert werden können. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt nach SPIEGEL-Informationen der geheime Untersuchungsbericht der Nato. Die Deutschen hätten demnach taktische Informationen nicht ordnungsgemäß verarbeitet."
www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,697503,00.html
Afghanistan empfinden/Emotionen zulassen:
The Taleban and other anti-government groups stepped up attacks against civilians, including attacks on schools and health clinics, across the country. Allegations of electoral fraud during the 2009 presidential elections reflected wider concerns about poor governance and endemic corruption within the government. Afghans faced lawlessness associated with a burgeoning illegal narcotics trade, a weak and inept justice system and a systematic lack of respect for the rule of law. Impunity persisted, with the government failing to investigate and prosecute top government officials widely believed to be involved in human rights violations as well as illegal activities.(...) The Afghan government and its international supporters failed to institute proper human rights protection mechanisms ahead of the August elections. The elections were marred by violence and allegations of widespread electoral fraud, including ballot box stuffing, premature closure of polling stations, opening unauthorized polling stations and multiple voting.
Despite a public outcry, President Karzai's post re-election cabinet included several figures facing credible and public allegations of war crimes and serious human rights violations committed during Afghanistan's civil war, as well as after the fall of the Taleban.(...)
International forces revised their rules of engagement to minimize civilian casualties, but civilian deaths as a result of operations by international and Afghan security forces increased in the first half of the year. NATO and US forces lacked a coherent and consistent mechanism for investigating civilian casualties and providing accountability and compensation to victims.(...) Women and girls continued to face widespread discrimination, domestic violence, and abduction and rape by armed individuals. They continued to be trafficked, traded in settlement of disputes and debts, and forced into marriages, including under-age marriages. In some instances women and girls were specifically targeted for attack by the Taleban and other armed groups. Women human rights defenders continued to suffer from violence, harassment, discrimination and intimidation by government figures as well as the Taleban and other armed groups.
www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4c03a845c.html
Afghanistan empfinden/Emotionen zulassen:
The counterinsurgency strategy to win the hearts and minds of Afghans is failing -- a Pentagon report last month revealed that only 29 of 121 critical Afghan districts could be classified as "sympathetic to the government," compared with 48 "supportive of or sympathetic to" the Taliban. The number of Afghans who rated U.S. and NATO troops "good" or "very good" dropped from 38 percent in December to 29 percent in March -- perhaps as a result of the civilian casualties that are on the rise.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/25/AR2010052502255.html
Warum Töten Soldaten Spaß macht:
Der Widerwille normaler Männer gegen das Töten kann überwunden werden durch intensives Training, direkte Befehle von Offizieren, weitreichende Waffen und Propaganda, die die Sache des Soldaten glorifiziert und den Feind enthumanisiert. „Mit der entsprechenden Konditionierung und unter den entsprechenden Umständen sieht es so aus, dass fast jeder töten kann und töten wird,” schreibt Grossman. Viele Soldaten, die Feinde in der Schlacht töten, freuen sich anfänglich, sagt Grossman, aber später fühlen sie oft tiefgehenden Ekel und Reue, was sich in posttraumatisches Stressleiden und andere Krankheiten umwandeln kann. Grossman glaubt, dass in Wirklichkeit die Probleme vieler Kriegsveteranen der Beweis sind für einen „starken angeborenen Widerstand des Menschen gegen das Töten seiner eigenen Art.”
www.antikrieg.com/aktuell/2010_04_28_warumtoeten.htm
Beim großen Friedenstreffen will Afghanistans Präsident Karzai über eine Waffenruhe mit den Taliban verhandeln. Doch eine Aussöhnung ist unmöglich, meint Pakistans Ex-Geheimdienst-Chef Hamid Gul. Mit SPIEGEL ONLINE spricht er über die Rückkehr der Gotteskrieger - und die Rache der Islamisten.
Gul: Die Amerikaner sind doch nicht nach Afghanistan gekommen, um die Frauen zu befreien und die Demokratie zu bringen. Sie haben militärische und ökonomische Interessen und darüber täuschten sie auch ihre Alliierten. Deshalb werden jetzt auch die Deutschen angegriffen, weil sie Teil der Nato sind, obwohl sie eigentlich traditionell Freunde der Afghanen sind und dort gar keine eigenen Interessen verfolgen.
www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,698073,00.html
Let Cameron hasten the end of our absurd Afghan war
Rather than send British troops to Kandahar, the cabinet should admit the obvious and start to plan how best to leave.
9/11 emanated from Germany, but we did not bomb the Rhine. Anyway, it is hopeless to think Nato can police this entire region. It is like emptying a sea with a spoon. Britain's homeland security depends not on the army in Helmand but on the police and intelligence services at home.
There has never been a shred of evidence that the Taliban wants to conquer Britain, any more than did Saddam Hussein. Such Islamist fanatics as do pose a terrorist threat are from al-Qaida, and they can operate from anywhere in the Muslim world. Nato's bombing of Pashtun villages and assassinating Taliban leaders has been no more or less effective in curbing terrorism than has placing British riflemen as target practice for Taliban fighters in the fields of Helmand.
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/01/cameron-withdaw-uk-troops-afghanistan
With U.S. Aid, Warlord Builds an Afghan Empire:
www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/world/asia/06warlords.html?hp
Söldner in Afghanistan/Schmarotzer des Krieges
Mit Söldnern lassen sich keine Staaten bauen – der Westen muss in Afghanistan auf private Sicherheitsfirmen verzichten:
"Vor allem in Afghanistan und im Irak agieren die Akteure mit vertauschten Rollen: Kommerzielle Anbieter beraten und trainieren die einheimischen staatlichen Sicherheitskräfte. Militär, Polizei und Werkschutz werden am Hindukusch und im Zweistromland unter Mithilfe von Unternehmen wie DynCorp, ArmorGroup und Erinys aufgebaut."
www.zeit.de/2010/23/P-oped-Gewalt-privatisiert
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), a leading opponent of the war, wondered, "Is the U.S. paying for attacks on U.S. troops?”
"Our troops are dying in Afghanistan, and now it turns out we may be funding their killers," Kucinich said in a statement e-mailed to Raw Story, renewing his longstanding call for a pullout. "Our continued presence in Afghanistan is detrimental to our security."
"The American people are paying to prop up a corrupt government that may be using our money to pay private companies to drum up business by paying the insurgents to attack our troops," he said.
rawstory.com/rs/2010/0608/kucinich-war-critics-rebuke-usfunded-bribes-afghan-militants/
www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/world/asia/07convoys.html
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), a leading opponent of the war, wondered, "Is the U.S. paying for attacks on U.S. troops?”
"Our troops are dying in Afghanistan, and now it turns out we may be funding their killers," Kucinich said in a statement e-mailed to Raw Story, renewing his longstanding call for a pullout. "Our continued presence in Afghanistan is detrimental to our security."
"The American people are paying to prop up a corrupt government that may be using our money to pay private companies to drum up business by paying the insurgents to attack our troops," he said.
rawstory.com/rs/2010/0608/kucinich-war-critics-rebuke-usfunded-bribes-afghan-militants/
www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/world/asia/07convoys.html
Deutschlands "Kampfeinsatz"
Jenseits des Rechts
Von Dieter Deiseroth:
www.fr-online.de/in_und_ausland/politik/doku_und_debatte/2105270_Deutschlands-Kampfeinsatz-Jenseits-des-Rechts.html
Alte Liebe rostet nicht/Unsere Terroristen:
Pakistani intelligence gives funding, training and sanctuary to the Afghan Taliban on a scale much larger than previously thought, a report says.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10302946.stm
Westliche Gelder fließen an die Glaubenskrieger, mindestens 15 Millionen Dollar. Pakistans Geheimdienst, bei der Entstehung und dem Erfolg der Taliban-Bewegung instrumental, erweist sich bei der Übergabe der "Hilfsmittel" als extrem nützlich.
www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-21086898.html
Continued US sponsorship of the al-Qaeda-Taliban nexus in Afghanistan was confirmed as late as 2000. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Sub-committee on South Asia, Dana Rohrabacher – former White House Special Assistant to President Reagan and now Senior Member of the House International Relations Committee – declared: ‘This administration has a covert policy that has empowered the Taliban and enabled this brutal movement to hold on to power.’ The assumption was that ‘the Taliban would bring stability to Afghanistan and permit the building of oil pipelines from Central Asia through Afghanistan to Pakistan’. US companies involved in the project included Unocal and Enron. As early as May 1996, Unocal had officially announced plans to build a pipeline to transport natural gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan through western Afghanistan. US officials held several meetings with the Taliban from 2000 to the summer of 2001, in an effort to get the Taliban to agree to a joint federal government with their local enemies, the Northern Alliance. In exchange, they promised the Taliban financial aid and international legitimacy. But eventually US policymakers concluded that the Taliban would never bring the stability needed for the pipeline project. According to Pakistani Foreign Minister Niaz Naik, who was present at the meetings, US officials threatened the Taliban with military action if they failed to comply with the federalization plan. Even a date for threatened military action – October 2001 – was proposed. The Taliban rejected the plan. So months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a war on Afghanistan was already on the table.
www.newint.org/features/2009/10/01/blowback/
"This year, the Pentagon will employ 27,000 people just for
recruitment, advertising and public relations — almost as many as the
total 30,000-person work force in theState Department."
That’s from an Associated Press investigation, "which found that
over the past five years, the money the military spends on winning
hearts and minds at home and abroad has grown by 63 percent, to at
least $4.7 billion this year."
Staff costs take up most of the money, more than $2 billion. Another
$1.6 billion goes into recruiting. About a half-billion goes towards
"psychological operations, which targets foreign audiences." And,
finally, "$547 million goes into public affairs, which reaches American
audiences."
www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/02/27000-work-in-p/
"Ahead of the visit of US President George Bush, India has decided to join the US-backed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline to import natural gas to meet the fuel needs of its growing economy, reports PTI.
New Delhi, earlier this month participated for the first time as an “observer” in the 9th meeting of the steering committee of the TAP project and has since decided to join the 3.5-billion dollar project."
www.independent-bangladesh.com/200803313829/business/india-to-join-turkmenistan-afghanistan-pakistan-gas-pipeline.html
Statement of Richard A. Boucher
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs before the House International Relations Committee Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia April 26, 2006 :
"Central Asia has an abundance of existing and potential oil, gas, and electricity sources that the growing economies of South Asia need. Together with other donors, we are exploring ways to export electricity from Central Asia to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. We support establishing multiple, commercially viable pipelines and other new energy
transportation routes, because the United States believes that diversification of energy transport routes to and from Central Asia increases stability and energy security, not just regionally but throughout the world."
webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3AXSG8buxPRmwJ%3Awww.internationalrelations.house.gov%2Farchives%2F109%2Fbou042606.pdf+Richard+Boucher+afghanistan+pipeline=de=de
In 1998 Dick Cheney commented that "I can't think of a time when we've had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_Sea
State’s Richard A. Boucher Briefs on Central Asia in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan:"But at the same time there are real opportunities with
Afghanistan – opportunities to develop irrigation and agriculture.One of the things we've talked about with other countries and I talked about here this time is how to connect electricity grids so there can be supply of electricity to Afghanistan. And then the bigger, I think, the longer-term opportunity, but one we're always working on is to try open up Afghanistan so that trade and ideas and energy can flow from the North to South, down to the sea."
www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2009/April/20090420165756eaifas0.9547998.html#ixzz0PDEJ7Qfn
Sybel Edmonds:"I have information about things that our government has lied to usabout. I know. For example, to say that since the fall of the Soviet
Union we ceased all of our intimate relationship with Bin Laden and the
Taliban - those things can be proven as lies, very easily, based on the
information they classified in my case, because we did carry very
intimate relationship with these people, and it involves Central Asia,
all the way up to September 11."
www.bradblog.com/?p=7332
"I’m not a fan of Washington’s blue-ribbon commissions, where political compromises can trump the truth. But the 9/11 investigation did illuminate how, a month after Bush received an intelligence brief titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.,” 3,000 Americans were slaughtered on his and Cheney’s watch. If the Obama administration really wants to move on from the dark Bush era, it will need a new commission, backed up by serious law enforcement, to shed light on where every body is buried."(FRANK RICH)
www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/opinion/17rich-5.html?_r=2=opinion
Hamid Karzai has been accused of trying to win votes in Afghanistan's presidential election by backing a law the UN says legalises rape within marriage and bans wives from stepping outside their homes without their husbands' permission.
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/31/hamid-karzai-afghanistan-law
Billions More in War Spending
How Many Democrats Will Stand Up Against Obama's Bloated Military Budget?
By JEREMY SCAHILL
www.counterpunch.org/scahill04092009.html
CIA admits to destroying more interrogation videos.
Bush scandal resuscitated as pressure builds for Obama to support an investigation into the CIA's detention practices:
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/02/torture-obama-administration
Ethics Commitments?
WASHINGTON - The US Senate voted overwhelmingly yesterday to confirm Raytheon executive William Lynn III for the number-two job at the Pentagon, in charge of day-to-day operations.
www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/02/12/raytheon_executive_faulted_confirmed/
Obama: Reopen the 9/11 Investigation
by Melissa Rossi
"Before we tuck the Bush administration into bed and hiss, "Nighty Night, you lying scoundrels," before we go on to lock the door on that heinous era of American history, we do indeed need to probe what happened under their watch. But the event that most concerns me is what happened on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Oh yeah, that's history, old news, the 9/11 Commission figured it all out, right? Except that members of the 9/11 Commission say it was "set up to fail" and that the investigation was severely hampered. So do assorted former members of the CIA, who demand a fresh look at the events of that day.
So, President Obama - leader of a new era in the United State - serve your people: pull out that can opener and pry open that can of worms."
www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-rossi/obama-reopen-the-911-inve_b_165849.html
Reports Link Karzai’s Brother to Afghanistan Heroin Trade:
a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/world/asia/05afghan.html?_r=2=rssnyt=rss=slogin" target="_blank">www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/world/asia/05afghan.html?_r=2=rssnyt=rss=slogin
PBS: NSA could have prevented 9/11 hijackings
Author James Bamford looked into the performance of the NSA in his 2008 book, The Shadow Factory, and found that it had been closely monitoring the 9/11 hijackers as they moved freely around the United States and communicated with Osama bin Laden's operations center in Yemen. The NSA had even tapped bin Laden's satellite phone, starting in 1996."The NSA never alerted any other agency that the terrorists were in the United States and moving across the country towards Washington," Bamford told PBS.
rawstory.com/news/2008/PBS_NSA_tracked_911_hijackers_but_0127.html
Paul Krugman:Forgive and forget ?
"Speaking of Iraq, let's also not forget that country's failed reconstruction: the Bush administration handed billions of dollars in no-bid contracts to politically connected companies, companies that then failed to deliver. And why should they have bothered to do their jobs? Any government official who tried to enforce accountability on, say, Halliburton quickly found his or her career derailed.
There's much, much more. By my count, at least six important government agencies experienced major scandals over the past eight years - in most cases, scandals that were never properly investigated.
And then there was the biggest scandal of all: Does anyone seriously doubt that the Bush administration deliberately misled the nation into invading Iraq? Why, then, shouldn't we have an official inquiry into abuses during the Bush years?"
www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/opinion/16iht-edkrugman.1.19427087.html
Not playing around: Army to invest $50M in combat training games :
www.stripes.com/news/not-playing-around-army-to-invest-50m-in-combat-training-games-1.85595
www.peostri.army.mil/
Taleban tax: allied supply convoys pay their enemies for safe passage
The West is indirectly funding the insurgency in Afghanistan thanks to a system of payoffs to Taleban commanders who charge protection money to allow convoys of military supplies to reach Nato bases in the south of the country.Contracts to supply British bases and those of other Western forces with fuel, supplies and equipment are held by multinational companies.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5327683.ece
A number of witnesses who claim they saw Mohamed Atta living in Venice, Florida in early 2001 later allege that, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, they are intimidated by the FBI and told to keep quiet about what they knew. Amanda Keller, who claims to have lived with Atta during early 2001 (see (February-April 2001)), later says that, even after she moved away from Venice, FBI agents called her every other day for several months after the attacks. She tells investigative reporter Daniel Hopsicker about “intimidation by the FBI” that she suffered, adding, “They told me not to talk to anybody, to keep my mouth shut.” Stephanie Frederickson, who remembers Keller and Atta living next door to her in the Sandpiper Apartments in Venice, later recalls, “At first, right after the attack, [the FBI] told me I must have been mistaken in my identification. Or they would insinuate that I was lying. Finally they stopped trying to get me to change my story, and just stopped by once a week to make sure I hadn’t been talking to anyone. Who was I going to tell? Most everyone around here already knew.” Charles Grapentine, the manager of the Sandpiper Apartments, also confirms Atta having lived with Keller. He says that, after 9/11, the FBI “called me a liar, and told me to keep my mouth shut.”
www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091201fbiintimidates=0;a091201fbiintimidates
(CNN) -- Congressman Curt Weldon, R-Pennsylvania, says a military intelligence unit called Able Danger identified four September 11 hijackers in 2000, more than a year before those attacks.
edition.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/16/weldon.able.danger/index.html
Confidential NATO reports and US intelligence assessments circulated to White House officials have documented consistent cases of ISI sponsorship of Taliban insurgents since 2004. Indeed, in 2008 US intelligence intercepted a communication in which ISI chief Gen. Ashfaq Kiani described senior Taliban leader, Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, as a “strategic asset” – although Haqqani’s insurgent network has been a key target for US Predator drone strikes. Despite this, last year Obama persuaded Congress to sign-up for an unconditional $6 billion in military and economic assistance to Pakistan for five years.
nafeez.blogspot.com/2010/06/mcchrystal-falls-another-casualty-of.html