EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: A US Military Outpost In Islamabad?

This is a secret training center 40 kilometers from Islamabad [see the video], set up by a private US security firm.  It is camouflaged by a billboard that reads, 'Automobile repair workshop'.  US military and government are using this facility to recruit and train retired Pakistani military officers. They are used to create private militias and to spy on the Pakistani military.  In recent weeks, a large number of plainclothes armed Americans have spread terror on the streets of the federal Pakistani capital, allowed by the pro-US 'democratic' government to enter the country without the knowledge of the concerned security authorities.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Some thirty kilometers from the heart of the Pakistani capital is a creepy structure that stands in the middle of an industrial estate.  The billboard outside says it is an 'auto repair shop'.  But no workshop in the area – and there are plenty – is quite like this one: high walls that block the view to the inside, military-style barbed wires surrounding adorning the high walls, a security tower, the kind you find at the headquarters of a police service or an intelligence agency.

On the way to Rawat, ask people about such a place and mention the words 'Americans', 'private', and 'military training' and you will be surprised that most know about it but are quiet.

It is claimed that the structure had something to do with the US defense contractor DynCorp.  The US ambassador sought a special permission from the Interior Ministry to allow this company to provide 'security services' anywhere in Pakistan.  The owner of a Pakistani security firm, retired Capt. Ali Zaidi, who is a partner of DynCorp, was arrested this week after a huge cache of illegal weapons were found stashed in his offices in the heart of the high-security zone in the federal capital.  Mr. Zaidi and the American security firm were reportedly recruiting retired Pakistani military officers to work for the US military, in what is tantamount to creating an indirect US military presence inside Pakistan.

This eerie structure that I visited today along with a television crew to get a sense of the place is reportedly one of those places where military training was imparted to the Pakistani recruits.  But the place appeared pretty much in the hands of the people representing the American security firm, as the US diplomat arrogantly insisted in front of Pakistani reporters. This happens despite the arrest of Mr. Zaidi and the controversy over whether the Interior Ministry cancelled DynCorp's and its Pakistani partner's license [Ministry says it did and US diplomat Gerald Fierestein insisted in a press conference on Thursday that it did not].

When approaching the building, people in the area said we need to be careful because, according to this account, a group of TV journalists was harassed by persons coming out of the building a few days ago and that they tried to snatch the cameras and drag the journalists inside.  'It's good you told us before going there,' one of the people in the area said, as my team and I prepared to head for the creepy building.  'At least we'll know if you disappeared mysteriously.'

As I left after satisfying my curiosity, I felt sorry because here we are, in late 2009, witnessing the early signs of what appears to be a repeat of what I personally saw in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, and then in Afghanistan from 2004 and until now.  And despite all the warnings of scores of concerned Pakistanis, here we are watching the American mess, corruption and strategic failure rearing its head in the heart of Pakistan.