U.S. Drones Have Al Qaeda On The Run

[Kadie]

Jul 10, 2009 8:17 pm US/Pacific
U.S. Drones Have Al Qaeda On The Run

NEW YORK (CBS) ― It's not often the enemy tells you something you're doing -- strikes by CIA drones against al Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan -- is working.

But in this document posted on the Web, a top al Qaeda commander writes: "The harm is alarming. The matter is very grave."

Both senior government officials and outside experts say it is an extraordinary confession, reports CBS News correspondent David Martin.

"It exposes for the first time a level of paranoia and a level of self-consciousness and a lack of confidence in al Qaeda's leadership in their propaganda that we just haven't seen up until now," said Nicholas Schmidle, the author of "To Live or to Perish Forever: Two Tumultuous Years in Pakistan."

snip...
"The accuracy of these drone strikes has been so remarkable that there's been no -- there's not even been an attempt to al Qaeda or the Taliban to offer a counter narrative to say that no there were actually women and children that were killed. There's been nothing but silence," said Schmidle.

The predator strikes do cause civilian casualties, but one senior official claimed more innocent people have been executed by al Qaeda as suspected spies than killed by CIA drones.


more...
http://cbs13.com/national/us.drones.pakistan.2.1081414.html

[Itchinjim]

1. Well done President Obama.

No text needed.

[alarimer]

26. You would have been howling had Bush done this.

And he did, of course.

So fuck all this war-mongering shit.

[geek tragedy]

2. Which is why the pro-Taluban crowd here is

so adamant that drone strikes be stopped. They don't want the US to succeed against their noble anti-imperialist freedom fighters.

[Cali_Democrat]

5. I don't think people here are "pro-Taliban"

They are simply against extrajudicial killings.

A lot of innocent civilians have died because of these drone strikes and nobody gave us the power to be judge, jury and executioner.

[Fumesucker]

6. There are no such things as "innocent civilians" in Afghanistan..

Well, at least as long as it is US forces doing the killing.

The proper and approved newspea.. err.. terminology is "collateral damage"..

And the delivery system for a bomb makes all the difference in whether it is a "good" bomb or a "bad" bomb.. Bomb delivered by truck, vest or car = bad. Bomb delivered by airplane or drone = good.

Please reflect upon and absorb these points before further posting of needlessly inflammatory rhetoric.

[Selatius]

3. Unless somebody sells shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to these guys, there won't be relief.

They will be bombed incessantly, sort of like how the Soviet Air Force continuously bombed and hunted Mujahadeen fighters in the 1980s in Afghanistan prior to the stinger missiles being sold to them.

[IDFbunny]

4. Drones are stealthy, quiet, and usually invisible. nt

Stinger-like missiles are ineffective.

[KharmaTrain]

7. Drones Are Far More Potent...

These are pilot-less craft that can stay airborne for 12-24 hours at a time...and very manueverable in those mountainous areas. The Russians used helicopter gun ships with a crew of 3 or 4 or MIGs...either way having one shot down not only cost the plane but the crew as well. Drones can be relentless following their prey in places other craft can't go and for far longer than a manned craft that is heavier and needs to return to base.

Stingers mean little as the drones are smaller and stealthy...you can barely see or hear them which makes aiming a missle difficult and if they shoot one down...they just go and launch another one. High tech war...and maybe we're getting to the age of push button wars where our machine fight theirs...like a big video game with few human involved.

[Fumesucker]

9. This is high tech machines aginst goat herders.. not other high tech machines..

And we don't understand the goat herders' culture for shit, a prime situation for killing lots of inno.. err.. collateral damage.

Sorry, I almost said innocent civilians and we all know there aren't any in Afghanistan, only collateral damage.

As long as we continue to cause a lot of collateral damage the resistance will have a great recruiting tool.

[KharmaTrain]

11. Some Innocent...Some Not So Much...

I've posted here on how little we know of the mess our military is now wound up in. The term "Taliban" is thrown around with disregard to the many tribes that inhabit the area...yes, some are goat herders, but others are drug traffickers along with paramilitary and religious groups that have long made that region so volitile and impossible to govern. Our lack of truly understanding this region (like many other western powers from the British to the Alexander the Great) results on "collateral damage" to all sides as there is now "win" in this region, just holding position.

Yes, there are innocents who get caught in the crossfire...Sherman said it best...war is hell. But to discount the drug traffickers, foreigners (such as bin Laden and other Al Quieda leaders who are being harbored from justice in this area) and others looking to agitate tribal tensions for their own personal gains is to dismiss the true threat this region posses...not necessarily to the US but definitely to stability in that region.

There's "collatoral damage" on all sides here. Point being that Drones are far more accurate than say the clusterbombings we did in Europe, Korea & Vietnam that killed thousands of civilians and has proven to be an effective tool in tracking down and eliminating some of the greatest threats in the region.

Cheers...

[coalition_unwilling]

27. Aren't you forgetting that the

terrorists there have been disguising themselves as children????

:)

[galileoreloaded]

21. Will the Chinese be their Charlie Wilson????? n/t

[HCE SuiGeneris]

8. I had to stop reading after "reports CBS News..."

[Mari333]

18. yes, lets never ever forget who owns CBS news

WESTINGHOUSE / CBS INC.
Westinghouse Electric Company, part of the Nuclear Utilities Business Group of British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL)
whos #1 on the Board of Directors? None other than:
Frank Carlucci (of the Carlyle Group)
















http://la.indymedia.org/news/2003/04/47530.php

[charlie]

10. "Al Qaeda On The Run"

is the most hackneyed phrase this side of "turning the corner in Iraq." The report sounds credible, it'll be a small miracle if we weren't being played again.

[Cali_Democrat]

14. We're gonna have "Al-Qaeda on the run" for the next 100 years.

Spending trillion upon trillions of dollars trying to kill a few guys in a cave.

[mmonk]

12. The Russians have decided they have to root out terrorism wherever

it is. Recently, Russian officials confirmed terrorists directed by the US threaten them. The Russian President has sent drones to the United States to hit them where they are. Sure, they blow up buildings where occasionally there are civilians but the drones are quite effective in killing terrorists. The people should understand the necessity of this and are probably glad the drones are going through their neighborhoods ridding them of terrorists amongst them. Everybody, even at the UN concurs, Russia is justified in this operation.

[EFerrari]

13. Anybody shopping for a bridge?

[Mari333]

15. +100

hah!

Bush and Cheney thank all the supporters of the occupation of Afghanistan for their continued support of their policies.


"Khmer Rouge is on the run!"

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19970620&id=DYgNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mm8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4983,1742296

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

16. Hallelujah!! It's the light at the end of the tunnel.....again.

Any day now the Afghans will be throwing roses and candy as they march into Saigon...er..Baghdad..maybe Islamabad?

[BlooInBloo]

17. Sounds good, but hard to believe anything the military says.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

19. I love me

some propaganda.

[slackmaster]

20. The problem is they have just about everyone on the run

:hide:

[denem]

22. "The harm is alarming. The matter is very grave." is not necessarily about or limited to Al Qaeda

I can imagine the same comment being made about civilian deaths. Strangely for ' adocument posted on the Web', there's mo record of it in Google, only 'Al Qaeda On The Run' stories.

[Cali_Democrat]

23. No kidding

Just where is this document that they speak of? What website was it posted on? These are questions that need to be asked and answered.

After the Iraq debacle, there's no way I can trust a story like this from the Bush-enabling corporate media.

[MisterP]

24. (or not)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6040535
steganography: if a guy with medals says it, we rebroadcast it

[alarimer]

25. The slaughter continues.

It's much easier when you are sitting in Nevada and pushing a button to kill people than if your are seeing them face to face.
War-mongering pieces of shit, that's all we are.

[rcrush]

28. Al Qaeda is blogging about how the bombs suck!

OMG it must be working!