Suspected US missile strike kills 10 in Pakistan

[tuvor]

Source: CBC

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Security officials say missiles fired from a suspected U.S. spy plane has killed 10 people in Pakistan just east of the Afghan border.

At least five of the dead were identified as foreign militants. The strike was the first on Pakistani territory since the inauguration of President Barack Obama, but the latest in a barrage of more than 30 since the middle of last year.

Pakistan's pro-U.S. leaders had expressed hope Obama would halt the attacks, which have reportedly killed several top al-Qaida operatives but triggered anger at the government by nationalist and Muslim critics.

Islamabad routinely protests the strikes as a violation of the country's sovereignty, but most observers speculate it has an unwritten agreement allowing them to take place.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/090123/w012347A.html

[sharp_stick]

1. The Pakistan Government

is unable and probably unwilling to go into these areas because of political concerns. I think it's pretty common knowledge that the protests are aimed solely at the home audience. It will be interesting to see if anything changes with the new Administration in strikes against the Taliban and other militants.

I really don't know what to expect there.

[HopeHoops]

2. I wonder the same. Obama said he would shift from Iraq to al Qaeda/Taliban targets.

I don't think anyone (who knows squat) doubts that al Qaeda and the Taliban are taking advantage of tribal areas of Pakistan. It wouldn't be a new policy for Obama to take unilateral action in sovereign territory. Although I do wonder if he had advanced knowledge of this strike or if it was just executed on standing orders. He has only been in office for 72 hours and I doubt he spent much time looking at security briefings on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see if this was one of the enormous number of things he couldn't possibly have addressed or if it is part of an intentional strategy.

[janx]

4. I'm guessing the latter, in view of what he feels about

our all but abandonment of the mission in Afghanistan.

[janx]

3. Here's part of an AP article:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Two suspected U.S missile attacks killed 18 people Friday in Pakistan just east of the Afghan border, security officials said, the first such strikes since the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

At least five victims were identified as foreign militants, an intelligence officer said.

The strikes, which hit two districts of the lawless region where al-Qaida militants are known to hide out, are the latest in a barrage of more than 30 since the middle of last year.

Pakistan's pro-U.S. leaders had expressed hope Obama would halt the attacks, which have reportedly killed several top al-Qaida operatives but triggered anger at the government by nationalist and Muslim critics.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090123/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

[emlev]

5. I would like President Obama to look at this photo daily

Pakistani Christian children hold portraits of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama during a prayers ceremony for global peace in Islamabad, Pakistan on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo) #38.

(From this link, posted elsewhere on DU.


(edited to add the word 'President' to the subject line)

[Sultana]

7. I would like the leaders of the Arab world to look at that photo everyday!

Pakistani Christians, cool, I never thought they existed.

Thanks for the link, the pics are just beautiful. :)

[ohio2007]

8. Pakistani Christian children hold portraits of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama ...

...while "adults" in other parts of Pakistan paint a different picture of Barack



http://www.dawn.com/2009/01/25/top6.htm

Xtian kids in Islamabad are only a 90 minute drive away from the 7th century.
Will the school bus drive time will be reduced to 20 minute this time next year ?



http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/01/taliban_rule_pakista.php

[struggle4progress]

6. U.S. missiles "don't help" Pakistan war effort (Reuters)

Sun Jan 25, 2009 3:18am EST
By Kamran Haider

ISLAMABAD - ... U.S. drones fired missiles into Pakistan late on Friday killing 17 people, intelligence officials and residents said, in the first such strike since Barack Obama became U.S. president ...

Zardari discussed the attacks with U.S. ambassador Anne Patterson at a lunch on Saturday, said the president's spokesman, Farhatullah Babar.

"The president said that these attacks do not help the war on terror," Babar said ...

Pakistani authorities said the drone attacks, which sometimes kill villagers, enrage Pashtun tribesmen and drive them into the arms of the militants when authorities were trying to isolate the militants by winning the tribes to the government side ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE50O0GX20090125?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

[EFerrari]

11. The Islamist party wasted no time in capitalizing from the attack:

Obama's Vietnam?

Friday's airstrikes are evidence Obama will take the hard line he promised in Pakistan and Afghanistan. But he should remember what happened to another president who inherited a war.

By Juan Cole

Jan. 26, 2009 | On Friday, President Barack Obama ordered an Air Force drone to bomb two separate Pakistani villages, killing what Pakistani officials said were 22 individuals, including between four and seven foreign fighters. Many of Obama's initiatives in his first few days in office -- preparing to depart Iraq, ending torture and closing Guantánamo -- were aimed at signaling a sharp turn away from Bush administration policies. In contrast, the headline about the strike in Waziristan could as easily have appeared in December with "President Bush" substituted for "President Obama." Pundits are already worrying that Obama may be falling into the Lyndon Johnson Vietnam trap, of escalating a predecessor's halfhearted war into a major quagmire. What does Obama's first military operation tell us about his administration's priorities?

Obama's first meeting with his team on national security issues focused on Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the course of which the new president is reported to have endorsed the drone attacks. Friday's were the first major U.S. airstrikes on Pakistani territory since Jan. 1, because the Pakistan Taliban Movement in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) had launched a campaign to discover local informants for the Central Intelligence Agency, killing 40 of them. The two cells the U.S. hit are accused of raiding over the border into Afghanistan, lending support to the Taliban there.

The tribal notable Khalil Dawar, who lived near the village of Mir Ali in Pakistan's North Waziristan Agency, hosted a party of five alleged al-Qaida operatives in the guesthouse on his property. An American drone hit the site with three Hellfire missiles. According to the Pakistani press, the strike not only killed the four Arab fighters and a Punjabi militant, but also the Pashtun host and some of his family members. A few hours later, missiles slammed into another residence near the village of Wana in a nearby tribal agency, South Waziristan, killing 10. Pakistani sources disagreed over whether there had been any foreign fighters at all at the second target, with locals claiming that 10 family members, including women and children, were the only victims. Villagers in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt sometimes rent to the Arab fighters because they are sympathetic to their struggle, but sometimes they just need the money.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/01/26/obama/index.html

[ohio2007]

13. They have also called to trial Pakistani political figures

Islamabad is losing the civil war to the confederate rogue nation if they let this stand

Monday, January 26, 2009

Swat Taliban summon politicians to sharia court

* Fazlullah says 43 ‘wanted’ people, including ministers and MPs, will be killed or arrested
* Announces amnesty for those who have stopped opposing Taliban

By Daud Khattak

PESHAWAR: Swat Taliban have released a list of 43 people – including former and incumbent ministers – who they have declared ‘wanted’ and liable to punishment under the Taliban sharia.

The ‘wanted’ men also include former and current members of the national and provincial assemblies, district and local nazims, officials of political parties, local elders and other influential residents of the restive valley.

The announcement that the leaders were liable to punishment and must appear in Taliban courts was made by rebel cleric Mullah Fazlullah on his FM radio channel on Sunday morning, locals said.

The 43 people on the list were the Taliban’s enemies, he said, and would be arrested or killed by his men.

snip
Three days ago, NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, Information Minister Mian Iftikhar and Senior Minister Bashir Bilour had made separate claims the people of Swat would hear ‘good news’ in 15 days. The leaders did not elaborate.

snip
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C01%5C26%5Cstory_26-1-2009_pg1_1

Feb 10th

What in the world could be so important about that day to them ?

Birth date of the new republic of shariastan ? ;)

[ohio2007]

12. U.S. funding of the Pak military machine doesn't help either. Barack cuts funding

the old regime is gone, the new Pak govt has to choose wisely and is on notice;

US cuts payment to Pakistan for fighting Taliban-al-Qaeda

snip
The new US government, led by President Barack Obama, has vowed to focus more on Pakistan in its policy to defeat Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. In its efforts, the new administration would link Pakistan's aid with the security in the border region in Afghanistan, the White House said in a policy statement last week.

snip
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/252533,us-cuts-payment-to-pakistan-for-fighting-taliban-al-qaeda.html

Barack sees a better hope and change on the sub Continent elsewhere;

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3707066

[unkachuck]

9. we're not going to win the war on terrorism....

....by creating more terrorists....

"At least five of the dead were identified as foreign militants."

....then at least five were not foreign militants and probably innocent victims....innocent victims with family members itching for revenge....

....we need to get out of Iraq....we need to get out of Afghanistan....we need to quit provoking Pakistan....we need to treat the people of the world with respect and fairplay....we need to end our century long addiction to intervention and overthrow for corporate gain....

....the one thing I know for sure, if we're in Afghanistan or fuckin' with Pakistan, there must be some greater corporate interest being served....

[ShortnFiery]

10. "greater corporate interest being served...."

Bingo! They're trying to stir up more unrest with MORE WAR or at least increasing the number of Air Strikes.

Those bombs are not going to blow themselves up! Hugs and Daisy-Cutter Kisses, USA's Military Industrial Complex