Trump's Secret Wars

[Zippyjuan]

Early in his presidency, Trump said they would no longer be announcing any casualty figures in Iraq and Afghanistan and Syria- particularly opposing force casualties. He turned drone attacks over to the CIA so no numbers of attacks or casualties from them would need to be made public and removed command and control of them from the US military. Now he has stopped even saying how many US troops are even over there. He does not want Americans to know what is going on over there. He would rather talk about Fake News, Mexicans, and tariffs.

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/03/62554...mbers-blackout

Pentagon Questioned Over Blackout On War Zone Troop Numbers

For more than a decade, if you wanted to know how many U.S. troops there were in war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan, you could readily find that information at a public Pentagon website that's updated every three months.

But since late last year, the Pentagon's stopped posting those numbers for Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

That public information blackout, along with the recent suspension of Pentagon reports on airstrikes and collateral damage in Afghanistan, has some lawmakers on Capitol Hill raising red flags.

"What's your view on the detail of the information that should be released?," Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed asked Lt. Gen. Scott Miller at his June 19 confirmation hearing to be the next U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

Miller assured Reed, the Senate Armed Services Committee's top Democrat, that if confirmed, he would be "very transparent" about what's going on in Afghanistan during appearances before Reed's oversight panel.

"As for details that are being on hold," Miller continued, "I would need to go forward and understand why we're holding back that information."

Miller's apparent uncertainty about that policy is understandable: the genesis of the clampdown on information about the nation's longest-fought war has indeed been one of conflicting messages.

First, there was Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' assurance last August that the Pentagon would be more transparent about reporting troop levels in Afghanistan.

"Frankly, I had to change the accounting process because we couldn't figure out how many troops we had there," Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon. "So believe me, I understand the problem. But once we know how many there are, hopefully we've told you what — about what there is."

One week later, President Trump sent a conflicting policy signal on how well the public would be informed about how many U.S. forces were deployed in Afghanistan.

"We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities," Trump declared while announcing plans for stepping up U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. "America's enemies must never know our plans, or believe they can wait us out."

In May, five House Democrats wrote Secretary Mattis demanding he rescind the new policy of redacting U.S. troop levels for nations "with ongoing operations."

"In the past there's at least been transparency. Now there isn't," says Vermont's Peter Welch, who co-signed the letter to Mattis. "And whether the number's going up or down, whether there's success or failure, it's completely unknown."

More at link.

[Aratus]

Nothing is said about any new role he's given Blackwater...

[Firestarter]

Nothing is said about any new role he's given Blackwater...

Nothing about Yemen either, but I don’t think that US troops suffered many casualties in supporting that blatant example of genocide…


Erik Prince’s Xe Services a.k.a. Reflex Responses (the new name for Blackwater), these days makes hundreds of millions of dollars by training mercenaries for the UAE.
Mr. Prince made the deal worth $529 million with Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and de facto ruler of the UAE: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...=1#post6643446


Erik Prince is of course the brother of Betsy DeVos (Trump’s Education Secretary).
Spectrum Health of the DeVos family was caught communicating with the Russian Alfa Bank through a server of the Trump Organization during the presidential election in 2016: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...=1#post6620071


A couple of months before the July 2016 coup was staged to increase the powers of Erdogan, chairman and founder of the Blackwater mercenary firm, Erik Prince, visited Turkey under media silence.
After Erdogan’s AKP Party had made a “secret” deal with Israel, Blackwater was hired to create “terrorist groups” in Turkey: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...=1#post6573193

[Firestarter]

It sometimes happens that soon after I post about some topic, shortly after “news” is plastered all over the internet with similar “key words”...

The billionaire Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater, from the Kingdom of Spain (advising King Felipe a couple of weeks after George Soros held a secret meeting with PM Pedro Sanchez?) has made public statements against increasing troops in Afghanistan by the US and its allies:

It will be reinforcing a strategy which is a failure – something which has not worked, will not work and needlessly cost lives.
What Mr Trump really should be saying to NATO is that there is no point in sending more troops: they should be sending money instead.
The US administration is spending $76bn a year in Afghanistan – that is much more, I think, than Her Majesty’s Government in the UK is spending on its entire defence budget.
What I am proposing will cost a fraction of that. It will also save lives of armed forces personnel: American, British, Afghans and other allies.

At present there are 15,000 US troops and some 5,000 from other countries and also almost 30,000 private contractors in Afghanistan.

Early in his presidency, Trump said they would no longer be announcing any casualty figures in Iraq and Afghanistan and Syria- particularly opposing force casualties. He turned drone attacks over to the CIA so no numbers of attacks or casualties from them would need to be made public and removed command and control of them from the US military.

Erik Prince’s plan is summarised in short as privatising the war effort in Afghanistan. Private mercenary firms have even less scruples than “normal” armies, won't report on their crimes against humanity, while he could make millions (or should I say billions?) at the same time.

Erik Prince once discussed his strategy at the White House, where it was backed by Steve Bannon and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Then national security advisor McMaster and secretary of state Rex Tillerson opposed the plan. With these opponents out of the way, Prince thinks that his plans will get a more favourable response from current secretary of state Mike Pompeo and national security advisor John Bolton.
Prince spoke to Pompeo when he was still CIA-director. Prince points out that the CIA brought down the Taliban regime in 2001, with the same kind of warfare he is proposing.

Erik Prince supposed in a great example of democracy to install a viceroy figure, like it was under the British Raj, who would command policy and report directly to President Donald.
Prince to the great example of the mentoring system of the drug trafficking East India Company that created its own empire in India and ruled for 200-plus years: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-a8440781.html


This plan sounds like another prime example of Make England Great Again (MEGA)...

[Aratus]

You know who wants to place HIS mega-corporation where the federal level of our gov't once was...
DJT is the figurehead who has let this unasked for expansion happen. Follow the money trail, indeed.