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TechnoratiBigger Role For US CIA Drones in Pakistan
Twenty people were killed last night in a missile strike by CIA Predator drone aircraft inside Pakistan amid reports that Washington is intensifying its aerial bombardment of the country after being forced to back away from plans to send in ground forces.
![[Department of Defense (DOD) file photo shows an unmanned Predator surveillance plane. Sources close to the jirga said the latest Predator strike, and reports that Washington was intensifying its aerial bombardment, were likely to reinforce sentiment in favour of the militants and make it even more difficult to achieve peace. . (AFP/DoD-HO/File/Jeffrey S. Viano)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/drone1027.jpg "drone1027.jpg")
The attack -
the 18th in the past few weeks - targeted what was described as a
"militant compound" close to Wana, the main town of the South
Waziristan tribal agency that is the fiefdom of top jihadi commander
Baitullah Mehsud - a man closely linked to al-Qa'ida and the Taliban.
The latest strike and others carried out by the CIA were described last night by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani as "disastrous".
"Such actions are proving counter-productive to (the Government's) efforts to isolate the extremists and militants from the tribal population which is involved in the formation of tribal lashkars (armies)," Mr Gilani said.
In Islamabad yesterday, the first serious moves at peace talks with the Taliban in both Pakistan and Afghanistan began when a tribal jirga (assembly) convened at the instigation of both governments.
The jirga brings together more than 50 tribal elders from both sides of the Durand Line that notionally divides the two countries, and is seen as a modest first attempt to begin negotiations with the militants.
Participants said the viability of peace talks was likely to form the basis of the discussions, with strong opposition certain to emerge against US policy, including the Predator drone strikes, as well as the presence ofUS and other coalition forces in Afghanistan.
A leading participant, former Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan Rustam Shah Mohmand, said it would be impossible to deal with the Taliban as long as Western forces remained in Afghanistan.
Sources close to the jirga said the latest Predator strike, and reports that Washington was intensifying its aerial bombardment, were likely to reinforce sentiment in favour of the militants and make it even more difficult to achieve peace.
Washington appears to take a different view. The New York Times reported yesterday that the CIA had intensified Predator strikes in the region after objections from Islamabad forced it to retreat from its plan to send ground forces in.
According to the paper, Washington is said to believe that Pakistan regards the Predator strikes as "less objectionable" in terms of violating the country's sovereignty than ground attacks.
A Bush administration official told the Times: "There's a balance between respecting full Pakistani sovereignty, even in places where they're not capable of exercising that sovereignty, and the need for our force protection."
As with most of the previous attacks, yesterday's strike appeared to have failed to hit high value targets, initial reports said. Just one of the 18 attacks carried out in recent weeks is said to have killed a major al-Qa'ida figure. The rest claimed mostly civilian lives, provoking greater hostility towards Washington.
12 Comments so far
Show AllBTW several weeks ago there an article by a Pentagon spokesmen. He was describing how "drones of the Future" could be operated by teenagers.
Currently the persons who remotely pilot these things and drops bombs on targets thousands of miles away tend to be older persons with flying experience.
They will soon become so easy to operate a child can use them.
Yes sir folks...a 9 year old...can fly one of these things and blow up houses in Pakistan.
But some Abdul drives a truck load of explosives into an American Military checkpoint and he a "terrorist" and a "coward".
And the best part...you do not have to deal with any of that Post traumatic stress. No Images of peoples children to haunt these brave soldiers of the future. You do not have to even send your loved one off to war anymore. Have him go into his bedroom...blow up a few sand niggers. Hang a yellow ribbon on his door so he is not to be disturbed.
The kids can wait till s/he comes out and say "daddy/mommy I am so proud!!"
And why not high scores!! Achieve various kill levels and get promoted, or a nice shiny medal so you can go down to the local Veterans hall and swap war stories.
And when one of the family members of one of the poor slobs whose family was blown to bits by one of these heroes with a UAV comes over to the USA and blows up some restaurant, you can debate what a savage and cowardly beast he is and how he hates America because Americans are free.
PK
The entire administration of Bu$h the inferior is a bunch of predator drones. Drones do nothing useful except bang the queen, then they need to be thrown out before screw anything else.
These drones screwed up enough in the first Reagan administration. That was when they should have been tossed out.
Soon these will be the Drones of Audacity with missile strikes of Hope.
Who in the heck is next? This is a war crime for sure. Where is the U.N. (remember them?). "Oer the Laaand of the freeeeeeeeee...and the home of the ???
&YYY&
Pakistan is being forced into a position where it must go to war against the US and NATO to recover its sense of identity. Pakistan would be better off joining with the Taliban to kick out the foreign occupants of Afghanistan. The Vampire States forces are trapped into trying to hold out in the Kabul hell hole, and make an inviting target. Cut off supply and they will have to run. Such a war would help bring about Pakistan national unity by popular opposition to the Vampire States criminal leadership, and allow Pakistan to gain some traction on Oil pipeline routes. The Vampire States is betting that the current criminal elite trying to hold Pakistan together will remain in power, and will not do anything because of learned helplessness.
Corporate Drones making CIA Drones to Murder Women and Children in Pakistan.
A Nuclear Response is Certainly Justified.
Are We 'Safer' Now?
Third world war started in 2003 with the attack of Iraq
When will it end only God knows
When did we declare war on Pakistan? Oh...we didn't...
THe U. S. is a Predator.....The cowardly assassination of people from a silent killer in the sky is nothing less than a war crime.
The US is stepping up its policy of militarily attacking whoever or whatever it currently dislikes in other countries. Last year Somalia, earlier this year Ecuador (though under Colombian cover), lots of recent attacks in Pakistan, yesterday in Syria, to name just the few big ones that seep through in the official press. If they are not completely stupid then it can only be a deliberate plan to whip up anti-US resentment around the world and so justify ever larger deficit military spending in the vain hope of holding off economic disaster.
Grown men with the mentality of adolescents who love to play video games and kill innocent human beings shouldn't be in charge of the world's superpower. How cowardly is that. Isn't it strange that the U.S. invests so much money in weapons of war but nothing to help with the country's financial difficulties. The rich war profiteers get richer while more tent cities for the homeless appear in America.
Somebody in a US city gets up and goes to work like everyone else. When they get to work they sit down at a computer screen with some controls just like a game console and they get to direct the image of an unmanned aircraft and like the game it is they launch missiles without emotion. When finished this person goes home to barbeques and baseball games and their spouse and children. Thousands of miles away innocent people won't be going home to their families as they have just been blown to pieces -because those missiles were real and they killed innocent people.
When war becomes this disconnected and de-sensitised humanity has a problem.