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Despite Warnings, Military's Use of Drones on the Rise in Afghanistan
DELARAM, Afghanistan -- Using a pilotless Predator drone, the U.S. military this week fired a Hellfire missile into a crowd of suspected insurgents in Helmand province, killing 13 people and wounding three others, military officials said Tuesday. It was one of two such drone attacks on the same day.
A US Predator unmanned drone armed with a missile sets off from its hangar at Bagram air base in 2009. (AFP/File/Bonny Schoonakker) Since taking over as the top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal has cautioned his troops against relying on aircraft to bomb targets unless there is a clear insurgent threat, as such bombings have previously killed civilians and inflamed anti-American sentiment among Afghans. Still, the use of Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles to fire missiles, while not as frequent as in Pakistan, is increasingly common in Afghanistan, according to U.S. military officials.
"Not unusual at all," said Maj. Dale Highberger, the second in command of the Marine infantry battalion that has just opened a major operation in the Bar Now Zad area of Helmand province. "We use those more and more all the time as they become available."
The attack that targeted a crowd of insurgents took place about 4 a.m. Monday, a couple hours after two Marine companies dropped in by helicopter in Bar Now Zad, a Taliban-controlled area to the northwest of Now Zad, where about 1,000 Marines entered last month to try to wrest the town from insurgents. The Marine arrival early Monday -- intended to capture or kill Taliban leaders operating there, and those who fled to the area from the earlier operation -- came as a surprise, according to Highberger.
"We caught them sleeping," he said. "We caught them with their pants down."
But the Taliban responded, in groups of up to 50 people, using hit-and-run attacks with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades, eventually prompting reinforcements to be flown in from the battalion headquarters in Delaram. Sporadic fighting continued Tuesday, but Marines said they have taken about three-quarters of the area they set out to control.
When military surveillance spotted a group of Afghans carrying guns outside of what was believed to be a Taliban safe house, they called in the Hellfire missile. Highberger said that 11 of the 13 people killed were confirmed Taliban members, and the other two were known associates. During the operation, the Marines have killed about 20 or fewer suspected insurgents, one Marine officer said.
The other Hellfire missile strike occurred Monday in the Nad Ali district of Helmand, killing three suspected insurgents carrying weapons, according to a U.S. military statement.
The CIA has made heavy use of pilotless aircraft to pursue Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in the tribal areas of Pakistan, where American ground troops are not allowed to operate. The bombings have angered Pakistani politicians and residents, who consider the attacks a violation of sovereignty, but U.S. officials defend their effectiveness. In August, a drone strike killed the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud. His death, in turn, was cited as the motivation for the recent suicide bombing at a CIA base in Afghanistan by a Jordanian double agent.
In Afghanistan, military officials said the drones are regularly used during big operations when the aircraft are available.
"It has pinpoint precision and it limits collateral damage," said a Marine officer about the use of drones. "The other good thing is you can't see it or hear it."
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29 Comments so far
Show All"We use those (Predator drones) more and more all the time as they become available."
Well, there you have it. It isn't General McChyrstal's plea for caution in their use, or the perceived blowback effect on Afghan civilian opinion when they produce collateral damage. It's their "availability" that determines their use. And why not? When did soldiers, given access to weapons that they think can help them survive, disdain to use them just because some remote General or bleeding heart liberal back in the states say they should exercise moderation? If you got em, smoke em. And that's precisely the problem, that the U.S. military gets weapons made available to it because the defense industry pulls strings in Congress and the White House to be sure that a super-abundance of weapons is made "available" to the soldiers who will smoke em if they got em. Atrocities of the battlefield begin with atrocities in the halls of political power, with our "representatives" in these halls; and we who vote for them as our representatives are ultimately responsible for the human damage, intended or collateral, in their use.
removing duplicate post.
In the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, a man is not considered dressed without a weapon. Hence by our definition that any armed person is an "insurgent," we can kill at will.
Were the situation reversed and an enormously powerful government took the United States, put its puppets in charge, and told us that we would live according to their codes and laws, I think the majority of Americans would quickly be named insurgents or terrorists by the occupiers, for we would fight back with all the means at our disposal. We might consider ourselves as "patriots" or "freedom fighters." As our friends, neighbors, families, were being killed or tortured, our towns destroyed by predator drones because of "insurgent activity," neighbors disappeared, tortured or killed. We would fight all the harder to get our nation back from the occupiers.
Unfortunately, in the Obamanation as in the Bushwhacking years, anybody who objects to our occupation, our killing of indigenous populace, is automatically a terrorist or insurgent. Apparently there is no such thing as a foreign "patriot" or "freedom fighter" unless he is a local mercenary, fighting and killing his own people at our order.
And ten years later, the Dutch will tell us the whole thing was illegal.
Exactly so, minitrue.
ddg716, we already know it's illegal ... and immoral.
.
Excellent observation!
I think top brass is beginning to realise the ease of producing RAVs and using them in counter ,counter ,insurgency retaliatory strikes.When the occupiers spend billions on the development and deployment of sophisticated weapons the freedom fighters only need one crashed drone to send to a friendly regime to be cloned.
The then cloned drone with hacked codes and a transmitter can then be operated from a lap top by civil defense forces to protect the populace.
Obama, the Drone Murder King. How wonderful, and we thought that we were getting "change;" now it seems that we are getting more of the same. Obama is murdering Muslims in five countries now: Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Heck of an imperial pig, Barack.
These peasants in the third world are no threat to us, unless you count resistance to corrupt right-wing tyrants ruling at our behest. We have been imperializing the third world for one hundred and twelve years now; since 1898 in Manila, Philippines.
US out now...
We would also have accepted "Obama, the Ultimate Drone".
· Yr Obd't Servant
"We caught em napping boys" Lt. Col. George A. Custer said just a few minutes before he attacked that village on the Little Bighorn.
It's only a matter of time before we hear of of this government using these drones here in der homeland for $ecurity.
"It's only a matter of time before we hear of of this government using these drones here in der homeland for $ecurity."
Yup......And conservatives won't cry when liberals and Lefties are the targets.
"We attacked and believed to have killed the leader of the Lefty movement today when he was identified by his Bob Marley t-shirt. 26 people were killed in the drone attack, all believed to be known associates and liberals", officials said.
Jeevee
Horrible. And we call ourselves a "democracy"?
I figured this was a MSM piece before looking - sure enough, WaPo. Typically, such a piece will purportedly reveal something previously unknown, 'Using more drones now in Afghanistan', but fills out the word-count with self-serving quotes from those with a vested interest.
"We use those more and more all the time as they become available." As someone said above, the mil. will use whatever they get their hands on - they are long since desensitized to the effects of their weaponry. They just 'want to get the job done'.
"Marines said they have taken about three-quarters of the area they set out to control. ... 11 of the 13 people killed were confirmed Taliban members, and the other two were known associates. ... killing three suspected insurgents carrying weapons..." We only have their word for all this, and I for one no longer believe them or those reporting such data or the news source from which it came.
Good observations. Why does this writer submit to both the Post and Common Dreams?
If all else fails, there must be some tactical nukes out there in our weapon store house.
Let's face it: that amiable, intelligent-sounding dude some of us so happily voted for is: A REALLY BAD MAN, and assessing all that he has done so far, unless all he wants to do is finish out his term and retire, very rich, to an Hawaiian mansion, he is incredibly stupid.
Plus where his morality ought to be, there's just an empty White House waste basket that Richard Cheney once used.
By the day, what passes for our military and our president is truly DISGUSTING.
/cm
An utter disgrace and assault on the morality of our basic humanity! These are truly terrorist attacks and cowardly military action!! What manifest evil these drones are! I am ashamed to be part of the same species that utilizes these killing machines to butcher, mutilate and murder innocent women and children while using political spin to keep the comatose american public ignorant of just who are the predominant victims of these vicious attacks!!!!
As I am reading this article, my computer's iTunes (on shuffle) is playing "When The Children Cry" by White Lion.
Sadly appropriate.
It terrifies me to think people are still buying and listening to White Lion.
Ha ha! : )
Well, truth be told . . . I was young when they first came out, and they were one of my initial forays into "metal". I still appreciate them from a nostalgic point, and so I have their songs on my hard drive.
if we seek out and destroy their political leadership, as we did in operation phoenix in vietnam and as israel does today with hamas, then how can we complain when our enemies direct their next step against our civilian leadership? the cycle of violence is so often perpetuated that we forget who started it all in the first place. we think that we are insulated, but we are not. the drones are just making enemies of countless neutrals, and are providing the militants the pretext and support fotr committtng the atrocities that they planned to do all along, but now have more incentive and support to carry out. and, why aren't there negotiations in place to end this travesty? the taliban have made overtures that we continue to completely reject. why?
Why not negotiate with the Taliban???? Well, The Taliban were chosen to rule Afghanistan by the CIA and U.S. Government as they did with Saddam Hussein....Yes, Hussein was CIA from 1959! But then, the Taliban gave the OIL PIPELINE CONTRACT to Bridas Oil of Argentina...........UNOCAL, who had planned to do THE PIPELINE, was really upset and so the company went to the NEOCONS and asked for help....low and behold, "The Plan For A New American Century" was written and we waited for that wonderful "Pearl Harbor Type Attack" of 9/11 and thus began the Invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq..........
If the Taliban get back in power, they would control that OIL PIPELINE that is almost finished and well protected by our troops and mercenaries. The Taliban have become "THE ENEMY" yet they did nothing, zero, to the United States. The Taliban are fighting an Invasion Force that has illegally occupied their country for seven years.
By the way, that drone looks like the aircraft that went into The Pentagon on 9/11.
Watch "Core of Corruption" just google it and spend 2 hours and 27 minutes to learn more.
I see that O' Bomber wants another thirty-three billion dollars to carryout these targeted executions. How many of our poor children must forgo lifesaving operations to pay for this death and destruction?
Lots!
He should sell his Nobel Peace Prize to help pay for his war.
These generals with small penis's and raised on John Wayne movies might remember that the code of the west forbade 'bushwacking', i.e. shooting somebody from hiding, not face to face 'like a man'.
Growing up means different things to different people.
This is liberation American style, Kill all Afghans and the country is liberated from Taliban. Who are the American bringing the liberations to a country with no population.
many good comments, but johnny hempseed advises learning to take control of these things...that is wise, as we will be facing them, ourselves, before too long...
who, or what, will be controlling them then, I wonders?