I just got this New York Times e-mail alert, and it isn’t pretty:

A six-year archive of classified military documents to be made public on Sunday offers an unvarnished, ground-level picture of the war in Afghanistan that is in many respects more grim than the official portrayal.

The secret documents, to be released by an organization called WikiLeaks, are a daily diary of an American-led force often starved for resources and attention as it struggled against an insurgency that grew larger, better coordinated and more deadly each year.

Americans are increasingly impatient with this war, and more and more of us would like to see the troops withdraw. Nobody seems to be clear about what exactly it is we’re fighting for, why our family members are dying, and what possible solution there can be considering this has been an unwinnable situation for not just the U.S. but other nations, too.

The article itself goes on to say:

Much of the information — raw intelligence and threat assessments gathered from the field in Afghanistan— cannot be verified and likely comes from sources aligned with Afghan intelligence, which considers Pakistan an enemy, and paid informants. Some describe plots for attacks that do not appear to have taken place.

But many of the reports rely on sources that the military rated as reliable.

While current and former American officials interviewed could not corroborate individual reports, they said that the portrait of the spy agency’s collaboration with the Afghan insurgency was broadly consistent with other classified intelligence.

The Pakistani army, the piece says, is acting as an enemy/ally. Unacceptable.

Please go here for more.

If you’re going to aim, aim big.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - An American armed with a pistol and a 40-inch (102-centimeter) sword was detained in northern Pakistan and told investigators he was on a solo mission to kill Osama bin Laden, a police officer said Tuesday.

The man, identified as 52-year-old Californian construction worker Gary Brooks Faulkner, said he wanted to cross over into the nearby Afghan province of Nuristan because he had “heard bin Laden was living there”, according to officer Mumtaz Ahmad Khan.

(snip)

“We initially laughed when he told us that he wanted to kill Osama bin Laden,” said Khan. But he said when officers seized the pistol, the sword, a dagger and night-vision equipment, “our suspicion grew.”

He was questioned Tuesday by intelligence officials in Peshawar, the main northwestern city.

Faulkner told police he visited Pakistan seven times, and this was his third trip to Chitral, which is a mountainous region that attracts adventurous Western tourists and hikers. Unlike much of northwestern Pakistan, it is considered relatively safe for foreigners.

Chitral and Nuristan are among several rumored hiding places for the al-Qaida leader, who has evaded a massive U.S. effort to capture him since 2001. The focus of that hunt has been along the Afghan-Pakistan border.

Michael D. Furlong, the supervisor who set up the contractor network, is now under investigation.

Because contractors have worked out so well in the past ::coughBlackwatercough:: we continue to pay them millions:

Top military officials have continued to rely on a secret network of private spies who have produced hundreds of reports from deep inside Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to American officials and businessmen, despite concerns among some in the military about the legality of the operation.

Legality schmegality.

It has already been reported that the military sent some former CIA officers and retired Special Ops troops over. And we also heard that they tracked down and killed suspected militants. This can’t end well, what with killing “suspects” and all.

“Hey, you over there! You look kinda suspicious.” Bang.

Supposedly, the operation was shut down. Not so much:

Not only are the networks still operating, their detailed reports on subjects like the workings of the Taliban leadership in Pakistan and the movements of enemy fighters in southern Afghanistan are also submitted almost daily to top commanders and have become an important source of intelligence.

The American military is largely prohibited from operating inside Pakistan. And under Pentagon rules, the army is not allowed to hire contractors for spying.

Pentagon officials said that the supervisor who “set up the contractor network, Michael D. Furlong, was now under investigation.”

By GottaLaff

Via a New York Times e-mail alert:

American officials said Wednesday that it was very likely that a radical group once thought unable to attack the United States had played a role in Saturday’s bombing attempt in Times Square, elevating concerns about whether other militant groups could deliver at least a glancing blow on American soil.

That is a tad disconcerting…

What, you mean working with your allies as opposed to trying to run roughshod on them actually works? Who knew?

KARACHI, Pakistan – Pakistani intelligence agents have arrested Adam Gadahn, the American-born spokesman for al-Qaida, in an operation in the southern city of Karachi, two officers and a government official said Sunday.

The arrest of Gadahn is a major victory in the U.S.-led battle against al-Qaida and will be taken as a sign that Pakistan is cooperating more fully with Washington. It follows the recent detentions of several Afghan Taliban commanders in Karachi.

Gadahn was arrested in the sprawling southern metropolis in recent days, two officers who took part in the operation said. A senior government official also confirmed the arrest.

When do you think the kudos for the Obama administration terrorism strategies will start?

By GottaLaff

A Pakistani helicopter gunship attacked, and most likely killed, a pretty big fish, Maulvi Faqir Mohammed, an al-Qaeda-linked commander of the Pakistani Taliban:

Pakistani officials said Saturday that a top Taliban leader was probably killed in an airstrike in the northwest, dealing another blow to a militant group that fighters say has been leaderless since January. [...]

Analysts said that Mohammed’s death, coming amid stepped-up military operations and U.S. drone strikes, would help reduce the Pakistani Taliban to something more like the patchwork of local insurgencies that it was before it grew into a lethal umbrella group. Mohammed had been considered a candidate to lead the national organization.

“They’re shellshocked,” Aftab Sherpao, a former Pakistani interior minister, said of the Taliban. “Pakistan is on the front foot right now.”

Good. Can we leave now?

By GottaLaff

Another one bites the dust:

Pakistani intelligence officials say a Taliban commander wanted in connection with the 2006 bombing of the U.S. consulate in Karachi has been killed in a suspected CIA missile strike.

Two intelligence officials said Mohammed Qari Zafar was among 13 people killed in the missile attack Wednesday in the Dargah Mandi area of North Waziristan region near the border with Afghanistan.

By GottaLaff

Once again, President Obama proves what a hindrance he is to national security:

Mulvi Kabir, the former Taliban governor in Afghanistan’s Nangahar Province, and a key figure in the Taliban regime was recently captured in Pakistan, two senior US officials tell Fox News. Kabir, considered to be among the top ten most wanted Taliban leaders, was apprehended in the Naw Shera district of Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province by Pakistani police forces.

And once again, one has to ponder BushCo’s inability to accomplish in eight years what this administration has in one year.,

By GottaLaff

President Obama has accomplished more in a year than BushCo did in eight:

KABUL — Pakistani authorities, aided by U.S. intelligence, said Thursday they have apprehended more militant chiefs following the capture of the Afghan Taliban’s No. 2 figure — arrests that together represent the biggest blow to the militant organization since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

The Rushpublics can ignore, twist, and distort our president’s track record all they want, but it won’t change the facts.

By GottaLaff

Here’s the online extended version of President Obama’s “60 Minutes” interview:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

By GottaLaff

This interview was just excellent. Imagine two people having an intelligent, calm conversation on the Tee Vee Machine! How novel:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy