Secretary of State Clinton Calls On American Public To Help Pakistan Flood Victims

  The Pakistan floods will be the greatest test of global solidarity of our time, United Nation Secretary General Ban Ki Moon told the General Assembly during a donors conference for the embattled country today in New York. The Secretary General returned this week from a trip to Pakistan where he got a first hand look at of the scope of the destruction. 

 “The eyes see, the ears hear, yet somehow the mind struggles to grasp the full dimension of this catastrophe. Almost 20 million people need shelter , food and emergency care, more than the entire population hit by the Indian ocean tsunami” said Ban, who described the flood  as a  “slow motion tsunami”.

 Ban says at least 460 million dollars will be needed to address basic needs over the next 90 days, and although over half of the funds have already been met by pledges, Ban says there is no time to spare.

“All of these resources are needed and they are needed now. Your pledges today must be followed up by action, action that delivers change on the ground.”

 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also announced the US would pledge another 60 million dollars to Pakistan and revealed the creation of the Pakistani Relief Fund, a mechanism designed to facilitate public financial donations to flood victims. Americans will be able  contribute 10$ to the cause by text messaging “FLOOD” to 27722 or downloading a donation form on the State Department website in order mail their contribution.

 “The United States has and continues to take swift action to help. But governments cannot be alone in helping the people of Pakistan” Clinton said in a statement released earlier today. 

The past three weeks of rain and flooding have left nearly 20% of the country submerged, destroyed the country’s infrastructure and most of its crops and farm land.

With nearly 70% of its population employed in agriculture and over 1 billion dollars in crops destroyed,Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi says his country, the sixth most populated in the world, now faces serious food insecurity. Qureshi also fears Pakistan’s infrastructure  will not be able to sustain the large number of people forced to migrate from flood affected areas to larger cities and expects the situation to get worse as the rain and waves of flooding continue.

White House Gaggle

By Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton                                                                                                     Aboard Air Force One, En Route Miami, Florida

     MR. BURTON:  Okay.  Thank you all for coming.  Go ahead.

     Q    I have a question on Pakistan.  A State Department official, a deputy special representative for the regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, said that the flooding there and the crisis there is a long-term crisis that’s going to get worse.  How concerned is the administration about how this will affect —

     MR. BURTON:  Well, this catastrophe is one that’s on a human scale and widespread, and the United States is doing everything that it can to help the country of Pakistan.  We’ve given them tens of millions of dollars in aid.  U.S. helicopters and C130s are there delivering hundreds of thousands of pounds of food and medical supplies. 

     Tomorrow Secretary Clinton, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah will be up at the U.N., focused on this issue as well, where they’ll be talking more about the needs.  We’re responding to all the requests that come in from the Pakistani government.  We’re working with them and NGOs on the ground to ensure that we’re doing all that we can to help them out.

     Our relationship with Pakistan is one that’s more than just about fighting armed extremists and we’re hoping to help them where we can.

     Q    Just one follow-up to that.  There was an article last week about how many of the charity arms of some of these violent extremist groups have come in to fill the void, to get supplies much faster and relief much faster to the Pakistani people.  There’s concern that that could win over people to their cause.  What is the response of the administration? 

     MR. BURTON:  Well, I think that this is an ongoing humanitarian crisis.  We’re responding very quickly, as are our international partners.  I’m confident that we’re going to do what we can to help those folks out.

     Q    The U.N. said that aid to Pakistan is flowing a lot slower than it did for Haiti and other disasters.  Is the President thinking about going before the American people like he did with the Haiti case, to make an appeal for more aid?   

     MR. BURTON:  Obviously Secretary Clinton has done that, and we’re responding as quickly as we can to their requests as they come in so that we’re doing what’s possible to help the folks who are most in need.  Like I said, this is ongoing and we don’t even know the full scope of the disaster just yet.  But you can bet that the United States is going to continue to do its part to help those folks that have been so terribly affected.

     Q    Any chance that the President might add Pakistan to his Asia trip now?

     MR. BURTON:  I haven’t heard any discussion of that.

     Q    Bill, the President talked again today about how a lot of people are still hurting and there’s more work to go in the economy.  Does he have any concerns at all about at least the  perception of taking a 9, 10-day vacation in an affluent part of the country at a time when a lot of people are hurting?

     MR. BURTON:  Well, I don’t think there’s an American person who doesn’t know that the President is working hard to do everything possible to get this economy back on the right track, to move initiatives through Congress that are going to help businesses right away to create jobs and to make our economy even stronger.

The President — any presidential vacation — whenever you talk about a presidential vacation you ought to put the word “vacation” in quotes because you can bet that there will still be work that he’s doing every day.  He’ll continue to get his daily intelligence brief from John Brennan who will be there.  He’ll be getting constant updates on what’s happening in the economy and other issues.

     But I do think that just like a lot of American people, the President is taking a little time with his family to recharge his batteries.  As you know, he’s really into batteries.  We spend a lot of time at battery plants.  (Laughter.)  And he’ll be spending a lot of time doing that this weekend.

     Q    Is he staying at the same place he did last year?

     MR. BURTON:  We’re not going to announce where he’s staying until he gets there for security reasons.  But he’s renting a house. 

     Q    It will be announced when he gets there?

     MR. BURTON:  Yes.  Of course, you’ll all be there.

     Q    Would you say he really needs a vacation?

     MR. BURTON:  I would say that — you guys have seen him out on the trail this week.  I got a lot of questions this week on whether or not the President enjoys being out on the campaign trail.  I think that seeing him at some of these fundraisers, you know the answer to the question.  He’s clearly having a good time talking directly with the American people about the choice that’s before them this November when it comes to the midterm elections. And he’s got a lot of hard work to do this year, but he does look forward to the time that he’s going to be able to spend with his family.

     Q    Brennan is going with him tomorrow?

     MR. BURTON:  Yes.

     Q    Will there be more campaign trips like this one after his vacation?

     MR. BURTON:  Yes.  (Laughter.)

Q    Anything locked in yet?

MR. BURTON:  Nothing locked in that I know of.  I know they’re still putting together the schedule.

     Q    I heard you say earlier nothing tomorrow morning before leaving?

     MR. BURTON:  Yes, there’s no events tomorrow before leaving.

     Q    In Florida, is the President going to sort of put to rest any of the questions about whether or not the White House is fully behind Kendrick Meek at this event?  What kind of things are we going to hear from him there?

     MR. BURTON:  I can’t control whether or not people ask questions about the President’s strong and unwavering support for Kendrick Meak.  He’s said that he is his candidate.  Florida Democrats know that he is his candidate.  He’s been down there. He’s raised money for the Florida Democratic Party.  He’s introduced Meek at events as the next United States senator from the state.  So given all that, I don’t know that people will stop asking questions regardless of what he does.

     But Kendrick Meek will be involved in the event today and you will hear from him.

     Q    Do you guys envision this as the President’s, like, full embrace of Kendrick Meek?  I mean, he hasn’t done something like this for him before.

     MR. BURTON:  I think that the President has fully embraced Kendrick Meek.  We envision this as going down and helping out Florida Democrats.

     Q    Can you say anything about the parent company to Fox News donating to the Republican Governors Association?  I mean, the President is raising money for governors on this trip.  You guys have obviously had back-and-forth with Fox News.  And their reasoning for donating is — insinuates that Democrats are anti-business, which is something that the President has been talking about.

     MR. BURTON:  Well, I’m sure it creates a lot of questions.  I’ve seen the report, but I don’t have any particular comment on it.

     Q    Do you have anything on the fundraiser tonight?  Is it all going to Sink, or is it being split —

     MR. BURTON:  I think it’s being split by — but you should check that with the contact I gave you for Florida.

     Q    And there will be nothing on Cuba?

     MR. BURTON:  No. 

All right?

     Q    Do you have a reading list for us?

     MR. BURTON:  He has not decided yet what he’s going to be reading.

     Q    Seriously?

     MR. BURTON:  Seriously.

     Q    You could make some recommendations?

     MR. BURTON:  I sure could.  Why?  Have you written a book?  (Laughter.)

     Okay, everybody take a seat and buckle in.

                                    END              2:37 P.M. EDT

——-

Leaked Documents Do Not Reveal New Intel, Says Commander-In-Chief

President Barack Obama told reporters Tuesday that although he is concerned that the recent disclosure of sensitive information from Afghanistan’s battlefield may jeopardize operations, the leak of information does not reveal any new information.

“The fact is these documents don’t reveal any issues that haven’t already informed our public debate on Afghanistan,” Obama said. “Indeed, they point to the same challenges that led me to conduct an extensive review of our policy last fall.”

The President said that his change in policy is being reflected in the way the United States has continued its operations in Afghanistan. 

“We’ve substantially increased our commitment, insisted upon greater accountability from our partners in Afghanistan and Pakistan, developed a new strategy that can work and put in place a team that can execute that plan,” Obama said. “Now we have to see that strategy through.”

Obama urged the House today to pass legislation that would extend funding to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, legislation that has already unanimously passed through the Senate.

Pentagon So Far Quiet On Afghanistan War Leaks

Hours after three major newspapers published front-page stories based on thousands of classified documents that were obtained by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, the Pentagon has yet to issue an official statement.

Multiple attempts by the Talk Radio News Service to obtain a comment from spokespersons at the Pentagon have been unsuccessful. An official at the Pentagon did tell Talk Radio News Service this morning that there were no plans to brief the media on DoD’s response to the leaks.

Today’s editions of The New York Times, Great Britain’s The Guardian and Germany’s Der Spiegel all featured extensive reports on the leaked documents. According to The Guardian, the over 90,00 mostly classified documents reveal “threat reports from intelligence agencies, plans and accounts of coalition operations, descriptions of enemy attacks and roadside bombs, [and] records of meetings with local politicians.”

In an effort to get out ahead of the story, the White House yesterday released a statement from National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones, who condemned the leaks, calling them “irresponsible.”

“The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organizations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security,” he said.

Former CIA Officer Jack Rice Analyzes Afghanistan Leaks

This Just In: The War In Afghanistan Is Going Poorly

WikiLeaks has released some 91,000 documents to the New York Times, Germany’s Der Spiegel and Great Britain’s The Guardian. What they highlight is an almost blow-by-blow look at the war in Afghanistan from the beginning of 2004 through the end of 2009. In my mind, there are basically three significant issues raised by these documents. Two of them have to do with what’s going on in Afghanistan, and the third is the interesting response they’ve garnered from the U.S. Government.

First, the issue of Afghanistan and what it means:

One of the major issues highlighted in these documents is the number of civilians that have been targeted, occasionally inadvertently, inside of Afghanistan. This is one of the big issues that since-resigned Gen. Stanley McChrystal tried to deal with. The problem is that dealing with an insurgency, particularly in a place like Afghanistan, is extremely challenging. What makes it far worse, and far more complicated, is that the more civilians you kill, the further you drive other civilians to side with and embrace the insurgency. Simply put, if success is defined by bodies killed, the more successful you are, the less successful you’ll be in the long-run.

These documents also highlight what comes next for U.S. and NATO troops. As the Taliban and what’s left of al-Qaeda continue to insert themselves inside of society in Afghanistan, the more our troops must leverage their way in and push those insurgents out. But to distinguish between an insurgent and a civilian is almost impossible at this point.

A second issue exposed within these documents, an issue which I think is far more troubling, and something that neither NATO nor U.S. troops have been willing to acknowledge, is the corruption and close association between the Taliban and the Pakistani ISI. According to these documents, the ISI is working almost hand-in-glove with the Taliban, not only targeting Afghan officials, but also aiding insurgents who are targeting U.S. troops. This is an extraordinary situation when you consider that the third greatest ally of ours in the war against terror, in terms of money, is Pakistan. Thus, our closest ally in the region is also the most sophisticated ally of the very same people that we’re fighting. This variable highlights almost the impossibility of success in Afghanistan.

Now, let me turn to the issue of the United States’ response to the leaked documents. Late last night, the White House released a statement from National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones condemning the release of these documents. Jones focused specifically on how the leaks pose grave threats to U.S. troops. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have since been echoing Jones’ sentiment. But here’s the interesting aspect; what Jones and others in Congress are doing is ignoring the content of all of the leaks themselves. It’s much easier to explain what happens when a leak actually finds its way to the press. Conversely, it’s much more complicated to explain what happens when your closest ally in the region is working with your enemies, or to explain the inability of your own troops to distinguish between the bad guys and unarmed civilians who are being killed by the hundreds across Afghanistan.

As we look back over the nine years that U.S. and NATO forces have spent in the region, the difficulty now is trying to figure out how to extricate oneself; that’s what the White House is hoping to accomplish at this point. But the problem that this administration also faces is how to do that without creating even more instability. In some ways, I think this issue is being pushed to the side; they’re far more interested in finding a political solution to Afghanistan. What these leaks are doing is making that political situation much more difficult to achieve. I, along with millions of other Americans, am hoping for the best. But sadly, it appears that the worst is coming.

Jack Rice is an International Correspondent for the Talk Radio News Service. He is also a former CIA officer, prosecutor and talk show host. He appears frequently on MSNBC and CNN.