Wednesday - June 01, 2011

connect the dots

Al-Qaeda had warned of Pakistan strike
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

[May 22] ISLAMABAD - Al-Qaeda carried out the brazen attack on PNS Mehran naval air station in Karachi on May 22 after talks failed between the navy and al-Qaeda over the release of naval officials arrested on suspicion of al-Qaeda links, an Asia Times Online investigation reveals.

Pakistani security forces battled for 15 hours to clear the naval base after it had been stormed by a handful of well-armed militants.

At least 10 people were killed and two United States-made P3-C Orion surveillance and anti-submarine aircraft worth US$36 million each were destroyed before some of the attackers escaped through a cordon of thousands of armed forces.

An official statement placed the number of militants at six, with four killed and two escaping. Unofficial sources, though, claim there were 10 militants with six getting free. Asia Times Online contacts confirm that the attackers were from Ilyas Kashmiri’s 313 Brigade, the operational arm of al-Qaeda.

Several weeks ago, naval intelligence traced an al-Qaeda cell operating inside several navy bases in Karachi, the country’s largest city and key port.

“Islamic sentiments are common in the armed forces,” a senior navy official told Asia Times Online on the condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media.
...
Pakistan came into existence on the two-nation theory that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations and therefore no one can separate Islam and Islamic sentiment from the armed forces of Pakistan,” the official said.

“Nonetheless, we observed an uneasy grouping on different naval bases in Karachi. While nobody can obstruct armed forces personnel for rendering religious rituals or studying Islam, the grouping [we observed] was against the discipline of the armed forces. That was the beginning of an intelligence operation in the navy to check for unscrupulous activities.”

The official explained the grouping was against the leadership of the armed forces and opposed to its nexus with the United States against Islamic militancy. When some messages were intercepted hinting at attacks on visiting American officials, intelligence had good reason to take action and after careful evaluation at least 10 people - mostly from the lower cadre - were arrested in a series of operations.
...
before proper interrogation could begin, the in-charge of the investigation received direct threats from militants who made it clear they knew where the men were being detained.

The detainees were promptly moved to a safer location, but the threats continued. Officials involved in the case believe the militants feared interrogation would lead to the arrest of more of their loyalists in the navy. The militants therefore made it clear that if those detained were not released, naval installations would be attacked.

It was clear the militants were receiving good inside information as they always knew where the suspects were being detained, indicating sizeable al-Qaeda infiltration within the navy’s ranks.

After Bin Laden was killed by American Navy Seals in Abbottabad, 60 kilometers north of Islamabad, militants decided the time was ripe for major action. Within a week, insiders at PNS Mehran provided maps, pictures of different exit and entry routes taken in daylight and at night, the location of hangers and details of likely reaction from external security forces.

As a result, the militants were able to enter the heavily guarded facility where one group targeted the aircraft, a second group took on the first strike force and a third finally escaped with the others providing covering fire.

Pretty damning article. Read the whole thing here at Asia Times Online.

Shahzad wrote that this was the first in a two part series; part 2 would cover how militants were recruited and trained, inside the Pakistani Navy. But before that article could be written, he disappeared. And a couple days later he broken and tortured body turned up. Somebody somewhere sure didn’t like what he was saying.

[yesterday] A Pakistani journalist who went missing two days ago from the capital Islamabad was found dead in eastern Pakistan, police said on Tuesday.
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Police said there were signs of torture on the body of the reporter, Saleem Shahzad,
...
Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan representative for Human Rights Watch, said Shahzad had told him that he was under threat by Pakistan’s military intelligence agency.

Several Pakistani journalists have been found dead in similar circumstances, triggering protests by reporters and media organisations.

Journalists have also been killed by suspected militants in the tribal areas of the northwest, the epicentre of militancy in Pakistan.

So, he has been silenced. What if he was correct? What if their Navy is a hotbed of radical islamists and AQ subversives? What happens when, with the minor help of some crew transfers, one of Pakistan’s major military ships gets a crew that is nearly all AQ?

The report raises very serious questions, like how deep the penetration actually goes when it is clear that Al Qaeda has already broadly infiltrated the Pakistani Navy including apparently at high enough ranks of the Pakistani Navy to be aware of very sensitive, secret information like where specific highly sensitive prisoners are being held.

Is it possible that Al Qaeda could take control of a warship, like PNS Alamgir (ex-USS McInerney (FFG-8)) or other warships that frequently operate near warships of other navies? Keep in mind that even the old Perry’s being sold are armed well enough to cause considerable damage. The Pakistani Navy has consistently been a serious partner supporting various missions in the region like anti-piracy off Somalia, and Pakistan Navy ships can approach highly sensitive sea infrastructure throughout the Middle East much easier and without the same scrutiny of other vessels.

“Armed well enough”? Indeed:

The Pakistani warship, the PNS Alamgir, officially departed from Naval Station Mayport after several months of refurbishment and the training of its personnel on 21 March.  It is scheduled to arrive at its home port in Karachi, Pakistan 53 days from now.

The PNS Alamgir started its life as the USS McInerney (FFG-8), an Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate.  Pakistan acquired it from the U.S. under the Department of Defense Excess Defense Articles program because the U.S. Navy planned to decommission it after 31 years of service.
...
The frigate underwent dry docking and pier-side refurbishment at BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards from September 2010 to March 2011 using $58.7 million of Foreign Military Financing funds. The frigate is equipped with anti-ship missiles, a 76-mm naval gun, and torpedo launchers. It can also carry two SH-60 Seahawk multi-purpose helicopters.  There was an additional $6.5 million spent on specialized training on the ship�s engineering, navigation and combat systems for the crew of 240 Pakistani sailors during the overhaul.

So that’s your tax dollars at work again. Giving our wobbly allies a first class US frigate, fully refurbished and fully armed. And fully repaired. And capable of doing a great job finding and suppressing coastal narcotics smuggling; more than half the heroin that gets out of Afghanistan comes through Pakistan. Come to think of it, those expensive P3 Orion aircraft that got destroyed a couple weeks ago are also superb workers against smuggling. And hardly more than a dozen AQ ragheads were able to attack and take over an entire naval air station for 15 hours and destroy those aircraft. It’s all connected.

Remember when Bush said that the War On Terror was hand in glove with the War On Drugs, and how narco dollars fed the terrorists? And how the left and the media sneered at such moronic naivete?

I think the best thing our forces in Afghanistan could do would be to burn all the poppy fields and poison the ground. And maybe shoot the opium farmers. At least burn those fields and seize the seeds. Which would be so ironic, seeing as that’s exactly what the Taliban was doing before we invaded. Mostly. Back then. Now they (or their AQ cousins) seem to support it, haram or not. It’s a helluva money maker.

h/t to Information Dissemination where some comments also point out the China connection

Instant Update - now that Shazad has totally outed them, the Pakis are admitting that their naval base was overrun due to “security failure”.

they admitted there was a security lapse that led to loss of many precious lives and damages to the navy in the form of devastation of two Orion aircraft.

The committee was also informed that the delay in clearing the base was caused due to the transportation of many other aircraft and helicopters to safer places.

Navy officials also told the committee that at the time of the attack, there were eleven Chinese and six Americans at the base, but the terrorists did not make any attempt to take them hostage.

Oh sure, the Pakis had other aircraft at that base worth far more than the P3s. Save the helicopters and crop dusters first, then save the zillion dollar bits of super secret high tech. That never made sense to me; if the base was being attacked - by hardly more than a dozen splodeydopes - WTH didn’t someone just start the planes up and fly them away? Oh please, you know they were on active standby, ready to fly the next mission at a moment’s notice. Gassed up and ready to go, with pilots nearby.  What’s up with that?

Posted by Drew458     on 06/01/2011 at 10:09 AM   
Filed Under: • War On Terror •  
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