An ABC News blog is reporting that Dubya’s administration is quietly backing a Pakistani terrorist group with Al Qaeda ties. ABC is using anonymous sources here, but if true, the policy would be in line with American realpolitik dating back to well before the Nicaraguan contras.

It’s ok with Dick Cheney because this week they’re beheading Iranians. When they start blowing up Indians in Kashmir, the administration will turn a blind eye. And when they bite the hand that feeds and attack Americans, we’ll re-cast them as terrorists rather than freedom fighters and lean ineffectually on whoever’s in power in Pakistan.

A Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News.

The group, called Jundullah, is made up of members of the Baluchi tribe and operates out of the Baluchistan province in Pakistan, just across the border from Iran… Tribal sources tell ABC News that money for Jundullah is funneled… through Iranian exiles who have connections with European and Gulf states… “Regi is essentially commanding a force of several hundred guerrilla fighters that stage attacks across the border into Iran on Iranian military officers, Iranian intelligence officers, kidnapping them, executing them on camera…” [Link via TPM - liberal blog]

Seymour Hersh recently dug into the new policy of allying with Sunni terrorists:

To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East… The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda…

The clandestine operations have been kept secret, in some cases, by leaving the execution or the funding to the Saudis, or by finding other ways to work around the normal congressional appropriations process… former and current officials said that the clandestine side has been guided by Cheney…

Flynt Leverett, a former Bush Administration National Security Council official, told me that… “The Administration is trying to make a case that Iran is more dangerous and more provocative than the Sunni insurgents to American interests in Iraq, when–if you look at the actual casualty numbers–the punishment inflicted on America by the Sunnis is greater by an order of smagnitude… at some point the Iranians will respond and then the Administration will have an open door to strike at them…”

“The last time Iran was a threat, the Saudis were able to mobilize the worst kinds of Islamic radicals. Once you get them out of the box, you can’t put them back.” [New Yorker]

More on Jundullah’s objectives:

Jundullah (Army of God)… is a militant Islamic organization that is based in Waziristan, Pakistan and affiliated with Al-Qaeda. It is a part of the Baloch insurgency in Pakistan and in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan Province. The goal of the group is to form an independent and united Baluchistan under a hardline Sunni Islamist government similar to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan… The militant Sunni group operates inside Iran’s southeastern border. [Link]

Members of the group have even been convicted for planning an attack on the U.S. consulate in Karachi:

Nine activists of the newly formed Jundullah militant group, detained in connection with the attack on Karachi Corps Commander last month, have disclosed that they had planned to attack the US Consulate-general in Karachi besides targetting vehicles carrying US military cargo at the Karachi Port… [Link]

At some point you’ve got to take a step back and ask, what kind of treason is this administration committing? They are not only ignoring the criminals behind 9/11, they’re providing aid and comfort to bin Laden’s friends and the people blowing up American soldiers in Iraq. All because they’re hell-bent on invading another nation, since the first time turned out so well.

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. [U.S. Constitution, Article III, Section 3]

The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. [U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 4]

This kind of brainwave is, needless to say, what led to 9/11 in the first place.

A young Cheney after his last electoral defeat:

Related posts: Nuke-Mart