jon huntsman blogger: Pakistan

Showing posts with label Pakistan. Show all posts

$20 million of our borrowed money to remake Sesame Street for Pakistan

BBC: In a new effort to win hearts and minds in Pakistan, USAID - the development arm of the US government - is donating $20m (£12m) to the country to create a local Urdu version of the show.

The project aims to boost education in Pakistan, where many children have no access to regular schooling.

The show is to be filmed in Lahore and aired later in the year.[...]

The show will be set in a village in Pakistan - rather than the streets of New York - with roadside tea shop and residents sitting on their verandas.

The remake will star a puppet called Rani, the six-year-old daughter of a peasant farmer, with pigtails and a school uniform, according to Britain's Guardian newspaper.

Targeting five to nine year olds, the series will run on Pakistan national TV and regional language channels. [MORE]

Holy crap! What a waste of money we don't have! When Boehner, Obama and Reid were squabbling over the puny "historic" cut they made and talking about hard decisions, I wonder how such an incredible waste of money go unnoticed?

When I think about all the money that must have been made on Tickle Me Elmo dolls, I have to ask why in the world can't this project be privately funded? Do we really need to waste the money we are borrowing to fund stuff like this?

It seems like the prevailing attitude in Washington is so long as money is flowing in, they will continue to spend regardless of where the money comes from. This is exactly why Washington has a spending problem and not a revenue problem.

The best thing that could happen for America in 2012 would be to elect the cheapest tightwad we can find for President. Someone who would be outraged over $50 for bathroom tissue and veto every wasteful project in sight. Oh Lord, where is that man or woman?

Via: Memeorandum
Via: BBC

Mullah Omar Captured?

Brad Thor at Big Government is reporting that Taliban leader Mullah Omar has been captured:

Big Government: Through key intelligence sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan, I have just learned that reclusive Taliban leader and top Osama bin Laden ally, Mullah Omar has been taken into custody.

According to the State Department’s Rewards for Justice Program there is a bounty of up to $10 million on Omar for sheltering Osama bin-Laden and his al-Qaeda network in the years prior to the September 11 attacks as well as the period during and immediately thereafter.

They know all right and so do we, at least when it comes to Mullah Omar. We have known since the end of March and we had it confirmed ten days ago by the Pakistanis. So why didn’t the State Department and the CIA know?

While this is certainly great news, there seems to be some doubt. Namely, no one else is confirming the story. Allahpundit see even more doubt.

Any reasons not to believe? Yeah — namely, how come this hasn’t leaked? Nothing against Brad Thor, but this is so tippy top secret that he knows about it when the NYT, WaPo, and even Hillary Clinton don’t? Five weeks seems an awfully long time to keep something like this quiet. Also, why wouldn’t the White House or Pakistan or even the Taliban itself have announced the capture? [ …]

For now, take this story with a grain of salt and let’s all hope it turns out to be true.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Big Government

Via: Hot Air

Eric Holder: Pakistani Taliban Behind Times Sq. Plot

Today on This Week, Attorney General Eric Holder admits that the Pakistani Taliban is behind Faisal Shahzad’s failed Times Square car bomb attack.

The New York Times: […]“We’ve now developed evidence that shows the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack,” Attorney GeneralEric Holder said in an interview on ABC television’s news program “This Week.”

Later, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he said theTaliban in Pakistan “directed this plot” and may have also financed it. The Pakistani Taliban, he said, was “intimately involved” in the attempt on May 1 by Faisal Shahzad, an American citizen of Pakistani descent, to blow up gasoline and propane tanks secreted inside a Nissan Pathfinder parked on West 45th Street just yards from the heart of Times Square.

It seems pretty obvious that Faisal Shahzad would have had some Pakistani Taliban connections. The video put up on YouTube the day after the failed attack was clue number one. Why authorities so quickly dismissed it is a mystery to me. Shahzad’s cash flow should have been another clue. He was not able to pay his mortgage, yet he had the money to pay for the Pathfinder with cash and buy a one-way ticket to Dubai. Someone must have been helping him then.

Just given these two facts, why is it so many officials were so quick to assert that Faisal Shahzad was a “lone wolf”. It seems like “lone wolf” is the automatic default position whenever these jihadists strike.

When it comes to fighting terror, it is almost like this administration wants to will their political beliefs to life. They want to believe that there is no war on terror and simply take actions like that were true. However, reality keeps asserting itself and then they are forced to deal with the obvious … Al Qaeda and the Taliban are still at war with us.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The New York Times

Via: Gateway Pundit

Time Square car bomb suspect has ties to Pakistan

The latest in the failed Time Square car bombing is that the suspect appears to have ties to Pakistan. So much for the left’s angry white teabagger theories.

ABC News: Federal authorities are closing in on the man they say is a person of interest in the Times Square car bomb attempt this weekend, who is described as a naturalized American citizen who hails from Pakistan and just returned after spending five months there.

There is growing evidence the bomber did not act alone and had ties to radical elements overseas, with one senior official telling ABC News there are several individuals believed to be connected with the bombing and that at least one of them is a Pakistani-American.[…]

Officials declined to provide the specifics that led them to believe there were overseas links to a larger plot.

Authorities said another clue in the investigation is a video posted online early Sunday morning by persons in Connecticut, who may have been involved in the bomb attempt and are being sought by law enforcement. The video, posted on a site registered one day before the attack, has the Taliban in Pakistan claiming responsibility for the attempted bombing.

Why was NYPD so quick to dismiss that Pakistan Al Qaeda YouTube video Sunday? Just because they have film of a white man changing shirts, doesn’t mean this isn’t related to Al Qaeda. Have authorities already forgotten about the two Jihad Janes earlier this year, if there could be two Jihad Janes, why not a Jihad Joe?

More signs are pointing towards Pakistan and an international connection.

Fox News: Sources say that evidence includes international phone calls made by the person of interest, who has not been identified publicly. The Associated Press identified the person as a man of Pakistani descent, citing unnamed law enforcement sources.

Police also have interviewed the registered owner of the bomb-laden sports-utility vehicle. They say he is not a suspect, but he recently sold the dark-colored 1993 Nissan Pathfinder on Craigslist to another individual, whom the Associated Press reports was the Pakistani-American.

Jammie Wearing Fool, has a theory that ties together, the white guy, Pakistani influence and the South Park connection. NYPD may want to think about this.

Jammie Wearing Fool: The media has been hyperventilating about the video of a bald white man seen on video Saturday evening in the aftermath of the attempted car-bombing in Times Square. Well, what do you know, a bald white man who belongs to the radical group that threatened the South Park creators recently just so happened to be in the immediate neighborhood.

Hmmm.

A Queens Islamic group that warned the creators of "South Park" of retaliation for lampooning the Prophet Muhammed denied involvement Sunday in the Times Square bomb plot.

Younus Abdullah Muhammed, who runs the Web site RevolutionMuslim.com, said he was in Times Square at the time the car bomb was discovered, but he insisted he was not involved in the botched bombing.

"What do you think, I commanded somebody to blow up a building in the middle of Times Square?" a testy Muhammed told the Daily News.

NYPD detectives are looking into whether the attempted bombing is linked to a warning issued last month by the Revolution Muslim group against the Comedy Central animators.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said detectives have not ruled out a connection between the Queens group and the Saturday terror scare outside the headquarters of Viacom, which owns Comedy Central.

"It had nothing to do with the 'South Park' controversy. It was not an attack targeting Viacom," Muhammed said.
He said he was on 42nd St. and Broadway in Times Square about 6:30 p.m. Saturday - just about the time a bomb-packed SUV was found on 45th St. and Broadway.
"I was down there with a loudspeaker and a speaking permit from the NYPD telling people that [President] Obama is a fascist. That's where I was, right down the street," said Muhammed, adding that authorities had not contacted him.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: ABC News

Via: Fox News

Via: Jammie Wearing Fool

UPDATED: American Al Qaeda terrorist Adam Gadahn captured in Pakistan

Here is a bit of good news for a Sunday afternoon. American born Al Qaeda terrorist Adam Gadhan has been captured in Pakistan.

MSNBC: KARACHI, Pakistan - Adam Yahiye Gadahn, a U.S.-born spokesman for al-Qaida, has been captured in Pakistan, government sources said Sunday.

Gadahn was arrested in recent days, two officers who took part in the operation told The Associated Press. A senior government official also confirmed the arrest. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

An intelligence source confirmed the report to NBC News, adding that Gadahn was detained in Sohrab Goth, a suburb of Karachi, and was later moved to the capital Islamabad.

Now that Pakistan has started taking the terrorist threat seriously, the big Al Qaeda names are falling like dominos. Of course the left is singing the praises of Obama on terror. You know what? Let them, like Will Jacobson points out at Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion when it comes to taking out these terrorist, we should all be on the same page.

I do have one question though, who is going to handle the interrogation and if it is the U.S. exactly what procedure will we follow? Gadahn is a U.S. citizen so in his case Constitutional rights actually apply. It will be worth keeping an eye on how his case is handled.

UPDATE: False Alarm, man in custody is Abu Yahya

From CBS News:

An "important Taliban militant" was arrested today in Pakistan. But that is where the confusion started.

Earlier it was reported by Pakistani media that intelligence agents had arrested Adam Gadahn, the American-born spokesman for al Qaeda, in an operation in the southern city of Karachi.

It was further reported by the Associated Press and Reuters that Gadahn had been arrested, sourcing security officials.

CBS News was told by sources in the Pakistan government that it was Gadahn, even after U.S. officials refused to confirm it was the California native for whom a $1 million reward has been posted.

Now, CBS News' Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad writes that earlier reports the detained individual was Gadahn proved false. According to a Pakistan security official who spoke with CBS News on condition of anonymity, the arrested individual is in fact "a Taliban militant leader who is known as Abu Yahya."

The official said evidence compiled from an interrogation of the suspect and information exchanged with U.S. officials verified the man's identify.

The reassessment only added to the confusion surrounding the arrest of a man earlier described by other unnamed Pakistani security officials as Gadahn.

"In the light of our latest information, I can say, this is not looking like Gadahn. But it is still the arrest of an important Taliban militant," said the Pakistani security official who spoke to CBS News late Sunday.