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Today's Top News
Pakistan: Calls for Revenge After US Drones Kill 40
Tribal leaders in the Pakistani region of North Waziristan have vowed revenge against the US after drones killed more than 40 people near the Afghan border.
Pakistani oil refinery workers shout slogans during a protest in Rawalpindi against the US drone attacks and the release of US national Raymond Davis. (AFP/Farooq Naeem)
"We are a people who wait 100 years to exact revenge. We never forgive our enemy," the elders said in a statement.
Thursday's attack has caused fury - most of the dead were tribal elders and police attending an open-air meeting.
Observers say anger over the botched drone raid may help Pakistan delay an assault on the Taliban in Waziristan.
The Pakistani military has so far resisted US pressure for such an assault. It is already fighting militants in a number of other parts of the country's north-west.
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says Thursday's casualties will also add to pressure from Islamabad on the US to scale back drone strikes which regularly target Waziristan.
The area is an al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold and a launch pad for frequent attacks on US-led forces in Afghanistan.
But the strikes are hugely unpopular in Pakistan. The latest one comes at a time of rising tension after the CIA contractor Raymond Davis was acquitted of murdering two men in Lahore.
'Just a jirga'
Thursday's drone strike is thought to have killed more civilians than any other such attack since 2006.
Officials say two drones were involved. One missile was fired at a car carrying suspected militants. Three more missiles were then fired at the moving vehicle, hitting it and the nearby tribal meeting, or jirga.
At least four militants in the vehicles were killed, local officials said. Most of the rest who died were elders, local traders and members of the tribal police.
"The world should try and find out how many of the 40-odd people killed in the drone attack were members of al-Qaeda," the elders said in their statement following the attack near North Waziristan's regional capital, Miranshah.
"It was just a jirga being held under local customs in which the prominent elders of Datta Khel sub-division, and common people were participating to resolve a dispute.
"But the Americans did not spare our elders even.
One of the elders, Malik Faridullah Wazir Khan, said he reached the scene 30 minutes after the missiles hit - four of his relatives were killed.
"The area was completely covered in blood," he told the BBC.
"There were no bodies, only body parts - hands, legs and eyes scattered around. I could not recognise anyone. People carried away the body parts in shopping bags and clothing or with bits of wood, whatever they could find."
He said 44 people died at the scene, including 13 children - one as young as seven.
On Thursday, Pakistan's army chief condemned the raid by US unmanned drones in unusually strong terms, calling it "intolerable... and in complete violation of human rights".
The Pakistani military often makes statements regretting the loss of life in such incidents, but rarely criticises the attacks themselves.
Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, however, said such "acts of violence" make it harder to fight terrorism.
US missions closed
Drone strikes have stoked anti-US feeling in Pakistan.
The US embassy in Islamabad and consulates in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar were all closed on Friday for security reasons following Thursday's attack and the release of Mr Davis.
The US does not routinely confirm that it has launched drone operations, but analysts say only American forces have the capacity to deploy such aircraft in the region.
The Pakistani authorities deny secretly supporting drone attacks. Many militants, some of them senior, have been killed in the raids, but hundreds of civilians have also died.
Pakistan has troops stationed in North Waziristan but has resisted US calls for a wider operation there. The region is a stronghold of militants fighting US-led forces in Afghanistan.
Many analysts believe at some point Pakistan's military will have to move in - if not for America's sake, then for Pakistan's. Militants attacking targets inside Pakistan also find sanctuary in North Waziristan.
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32 Comments so far
Show AllI think I am losing my mind when I read account after account exactly like the one above. What right-- what right-- what do they think they are doing when they destroy elders and children by remote control?
The moral depravity is simply too much. And never punished.
Here are some words from someone from across the border of Pakistan. I am carrying Malalai Joya's "A Woman Among Warlords" on my way to work and reading it on the bus and trains.
Excerpted:
-------------------------
You may be shocked to hear this, because the truth about Afghanistan has been hidden behind a smoke screen of words and images carefully crafted by the United States and its NATO allies and repeated without question by the Western media.
You may have been led to believe that once the Taliban was driven from power, justice returned to my country. Afghan women like me, voting and running for office, have been held up as proof that the U.S. military has brought democracy and women's rights to Afghanistan.
But it is all a lie, dust in the eyes of the world.
....
For both men and women in Afghanistan, our lives are short and often wracked by violence, loss, and anguish... We live in desperate poverty... And it is estimated that more than half of Afghan men and 80 percent of women are illiterate. In the past few years, hundreds of women have committed self-immolation--literally burned themselves to death-- to escape their miseries...
....
... The truth is that Afghans are brave and freedom-loving people with a rich culture and a proud history. We are capable of defending our independence, governing ourselves, and determining our own future.
But Afghanistan has long been used as a deadly playground in the "Great Game"... They have tried to rule Afghanistan by dividing it. They have given money and power to thugs and fundamentalists and warlords who have driven our people into terrible misery. We do not want to be misused and misrepresented to the world. We need security and a helping hand from friends around the world, but not this endless U.S.-led "war on terror," which is in fact a war against the Afghan people... Today the soil of Afghanistan is full of land mines, bullets, and bombs-- when what we really need is an invasion of hospitals, clinics, and schools for boys and girls.
....
During his election campaign, the new president of the United States, Barack Obama, spoke of sending tens of thousands more foreign troops fo Afghanistan, but he did not speak out against the twin plagues of corruption and warlordism that are destroying my country....But for Afghans, Obama's military buildup will only bring more suffering and death to innocent civilians, while it may not even weaken the Taliban and al-Qaeda...
In Afghanistan, democratic-minded people have been struggling for human and women's rights for decades. Our history proves that these values cannot be imposed by foreign troops. As I never tire of telling my audiences, no nation can donate liberation to another nation. These values must be fought for and won by the people themselves. They can only grow and flourish when they are planted by the people in their own soil and watered by their own blood and tears.
--------------------------
It's a book worth checking out. I found it in my local library. Why don't you look it up?
On March 17, 2011 the Afghan Women's Mission announced that the United States had denied Joya a travel visa to speak at the Left Forum at Pace University in Manhattan from March 18-20.
--http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/derrick/2011/03/us-government-denies-entry-visa-afghan-women’s-rights-activist-and-au
Thanks for this timely link, Steve. From your link:
--------------------------
Colleagues of Ms. Joya's report that when she presented herself as scheduled at the U.S. embassy, she was told she was being denied because she was "unemployed" and "lives underground." Then 27, Joya was the youngest woman elected to Afghanistan's parliament in 2005. Because of her harsh criticism of warlords and fundamentalists in Afghanistan, she has been the target of at least five assassination attempts. "The reason Joya lives underground is because she faces the constant threat of death for having had the courage to speak up for women's rights -- it's obscene that the U.S. government would deny her entry," said Sonali Kolhatkar of the Afghan Women's Mission...
Joya has also become an internationally known critic of the U.S.-NATO war in Afghanistan. Organizers argue that the denial of Joya's visa appears to be a case of what the American Civil Liberties Union describes as "Ideological Exclusion," which they say violates Americans' First Amendment right to hear constitutionally protected speech by denying foreign scholars, artists, politicians and others entry to the United States.
Events featuring Malalai Joya are planned, from March 20 until April 10, in New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C., Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and California. Organizers of her speaking tour are encouraging people to contact the Department of State to ask them to fulfill the promise from the Obama Administration of "promoting the global marketplace of ideas" and grant Joya's visa immediately.
Yes, these are our "brave" troops who sit in a lounge back in the US, push a button, and ...oops! Another friendly fire incident and more civilians killed. The US military is a shameful collection of ignorant war criminals.
I think I am losing my mind when I read this BBC account, then the accounts in the US corporate media and corporte NPR if they are reporting on it at all, where, as of 3:35 PM Eastern US daylight Time, they victims are all still being called "terrorists".
Yes--and we're supposed to feel bad that NPR is having its funds cut. They sold out long ago, now let them go to their corporate friends for funding.
Paradoxically, cutting off the government funding might liberate CPB, but only if the difference isn't made up by big corporate sponsors.
It's interesting to know the Taliban were called Freedom Fighters by Reagan/Bush--on the CIA's payroll and supplied weapons . Terrorists are only the ones no longer needed, and dictators are overlooked as long as needed by the US, then are eliminated,- if possible. Democracy in the Middle East means American dictatorship.
These occupations/wars are immoral. Shame on the US.
With a moron in the White House, a warmongering Secy. of Defense, a pompous ass Petraeus leading the charge, and a brain-dead Left who won't oppose the Democratic fools' parade known as Congress, the only hope we have is for the Empire to strike back. And we will deserve it.
Indeed.
The Democrats make excuses for the same shit pulled by Bush and Co.
Obama is just like Bush and many refuse to see that fact.
on the same day these same us / nato leaders are firing up the jets for the new no fly zone in Libya.
I feel sorry for the Libyan people already.
Only US / NATO allowed to kill from the skies!!
Does Barry, Hillary and the rest of the criminals in the AmeriKKKan government have no shame?
This drone attack was deliberate, it's the US delighting in the release of one of its contract killers, Davis.
That's Obama saying "how DARE you keep one of our spies incarcerated for so long? Take this, scum."
Rev. Wright must be quoted yet once again, "It's not God bless America, God DAMN America."
I've always wondered about the interesting American way of winning hearts and minds. Somehow I feel from reading this article that it isn't working. Maybe a different approach would be more effective. However don't forget that the Afghans are going to be seeking revenge against America for the next hundred years for this minor error (as the Pentagon would say). I suspect that Bush's so called war on terror has managed to make terrorism a growth industry, one that will be with us for decades to come.
That's the point: create "terrorists." You can't make money waging war if nobody is fighting back. What would be the excuse of these occupations otherwise?
If more than 40 people had been killed in the United States it would have been rightfully called murder and there would have been a demand by politicians, prosecuting attorneys, the media and the talking heads to bring those killers to justice. But because this happens in a foreign country under the guise of "fighting terrorism" then these acts of carnage are allowed to occur. But this pre-supposes that the corporate media find it within themselves to even focus on this issue in the first place since so many of them are quite loath to consider The Other as being anywhere near equal to those who live and work in the United States.
"You can't say civilizations don't advance...for in every war they kill you in a new way."-Will Rogers [1879-1935], American humorist and social commentator
"The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it."-Joseph Chamberlain [1836-1914], British politician
"The Dead Know Only One Thing: It is Better to be Alive."-Elroy James Flecker [1884-1915], English poet and novelist
Obama supports this action along with Hillary
IF the death of this physical body is the end of life then the whole episode of so short a time is a big shitty joke, that is not funny, for so many on this planet called earth and there is no justice EVER,, against those that make life but an existance for so many and try and do kill so many others, and for what? GREED!: Let me count the ways that death and wished for death may be shown to a body which can be done! If there is no humanity, compassion, empathy for ALL life; what is left? Exactly what we have There is more than this life and I know it but any and all will find their own way and justice must be. That is evolution ever. Tony
I am Disgusted - Totally Disgusted. The ongoing Criminal Enterprise called the U.S.of A. must, must be Stopped. Problem is, now they have all the sophisticated weapons and technological apparatus to completly Squash any Rebellion here. We are F#$%ed !
Obama, with his beloved drones and rent-a-Rambo diplomats, is driving Pakistan into the arms of the Islamists. Whether the cause is stupidity, as I believe, or a furtive fundamentalist Muslim faith, as many on the right believe, the results will be catastrophic: a nuclear-armed, radical-controlled Pakistan facing a radical Hindu-controlled India (as is likely after the next election).
.......
Sitting here, thousands of miles away; reading about 40 dead and hundreds of wounded and maimed Pakistani tribesmen/ and women doesn't seem real. Their relatives and tribal elders promising 100 years of revenge. Blood oaths and threats against American,,,,,,,,,,,hey, we are the "good guys". President Bush declared that we are delivering "FREEEEDOM and DAMOCRACEEEE".
I might get a little rattled if those ungrateful savages start blowing up churches full of good christians; or shooting up our local college campus.
They're down right ungrateful !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
//
The US government is a rabid dog loose and roaming free. The greatest purveyor of violence as Dr. Martin Luther King said. But there seems to be a corresponding stupidity in Obama/Clinton & Company to go along with the wanton and mindless violence.
The Pakistanis just released the CIA-killer on the ground Raymond Davis, inflaming the nations people and not three days later the killers in Colorado with the joysticks rain down anonymous fire and death on elderly and children in the same country. The rabid dog's day is coming but it can't come soon enough.
40 people killed in Yemen is called a massacre. Gadaffi is called a mad dog for killing civilians. Yet the mad dogs in the US continue to commit genocide and no one calls for no-fly sanctions against the US, which kills far more than any of these other despotic mass murderers.
I am finding it difficult to live in the bowels of the evil empire, and to be aware of the horrors it inflicts on the people of the world (including in the US itself), and the constant droning of the lies they tell, deadly to the spirit. How much longer will this be tolerated?
Even more interesting: The Saudis buy freedom for Raymond Davis and stop the investigations and trials, and Obama turns a blind eye to their butchery of Shias in Bahrain. Obama has a lot to lose if the truth about Davis's activities comes to light.
Their is no business like the war business. Phony endless enemies; for phony endless wars; for endless profits. Brought to you by the United Corporate States of America! American foreign policy and its war business is a lot like Dracula, it cannot survive with out blood!
Pakistan is a nuclear armed nation.
How many US cities has the CIA just sacrificed for their oily war?
Along with its other impressive evils, this is a tremendously unstable brand of folly.
These people who rule from the marginal impression that they have some legitimacy, that they deliver some security, some prosperity, some morality somewhere insist on denying this to all sides, even when they have no appreciable motive to do so.
Even plagues evolve to stop killing their hosts.
It is clear that the UN needs a no fly zone enforced over pakistan as Obama the Hun keeps butchering civilians just like that evil man kadafi! Oh? Does that make Obama evil? Yes it DOES!!
Sadly there is no justice in this F'n world--especially for the poor.
It is "our" oil in Central Asia. And if those pestkey little militants get in our way, well too bad for them.
From a loyal Merkin.
Ain't empire grand?
There are absolutely no words in the English, or any other language, that would remotely describe the carnage reaped in north eastern Pakistan this past week. And obama speaks out against the deaths of innocent Libyans in their revolt against their dictatorship and says nothing about the innocents we are killing by the hundreds in Afghanistan!! What a bloody blot on our nations history and an omen for the future. The governments actions really display the correct diplomacy in winning hearts and minds. Suspected "terrorists",even women, young children and the elderly are murdered by the hundreds to "protect" us from an imagined threat. How much of a threat can a seven year old pose? The bloody rampage, across the middle East, perpetrated by the US and its sanctimonious allies, do nothing to stop it. It draws less attention than a sand storm in the Sahara or a flood in China. But the people that are affected by all the murder are constantly aware of it. And they dont easily forget. And the beat goes on....................