Previously posted here, today reiterated

The following excerpt, which has already been noted here in the pages of Extraordinary Edition is from Feb. 4, 2010, "The Expanding US War in Pakistan" by Jeremy Scahill. It appeared in The Nation.

What appears below are the last two paragraphs. My apologies for repetition if you've already read them. This simply addresses what I have been asking myself and anyone who's read pieces on this site since the beginning of this year. Pakistan has been phased in under our noses. Officials from Pakistan's government have appeared on the Daily Show. Things have transitioned rather than being announced: why has this administration not been straight with its citizens about military escalation across the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is no different than the border between Vietnam and Cambodia as an invisible political line where the political circumstances change according to what side of that line your hundreds of millions of dollars worth of troops and equipment are amassed.


From Scahill's Nation article of Feb. 3 ...


The United States does not publicly acknowledge US military operations in Pakistan. On CENTCOM's website, they are described in vague terms. "We will of course continue to target, disrupt, and pursue the leadership, bases,and support networks of Al Qaeda and other transnational extremist groups operating in the region," declares CENTCOM's Pakistan page. "We will do this aggressively and relentlessly."

Since President Obama's inauguration, the administration has downplayed the role of US military forces in Pakistan. In July, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke said bluntly, "People think that the US has troops in Pakistan, well, we don't." On Wednesday, after the US soldiers' deaths, his tune changed dramatically: "There's nothing secret about their presence," he said. One thing is certain: as the situation in Pakistan becomes more volatile and the US military presence in the country expands, it will become increasingly difficult for the Obama administration to downplay or deny the reality that a US war in Pakistan is already underway.