Title: Drone attacks
Description: secret US bombing
Description: secret US bombing
justthefacts - February 4, 2008 02:06 AM (GMT)
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Top Al Qaeda commander killed AFP/Getty Images Abu Laith al Libi had taken on an increased role as a liaison with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Libyan was militant network's key operational figure in Pakistan and Afghanistan. By Josh Meyer, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer February 1, 2008 WASHINGTON -- A top Al Qaeda commander who trained and led foreign militants assisting the Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan has been killed in neighboring Pakistan, officials said Thursday in what appeared to be a significant victory for U.S.-led forces hunting members of the terrorist network. The death of Libyan-born Abu Laith al Libi was reported on militant websites, which praised him as a martyr who died helping lead a "holy war" against the West. While Al Libi's death had not yet been confirmed by forensic evidence, a Western counter-terrorism official said intelligence agencies believed the postings were authentic, and that the militant had been killed within the last few days.  Abu Laith al-Libi Some other senior Al Qaeda leaders may have died along with him, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss classified intelligence. "They have lost their senior paramilitary commander for Afghanistan," the official said. "It doesn't mean he couldn't be replaced. But it does mean that Al Qaeda has lost a very seasoned commander with a great deal of experience." Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Brian Maka said Al Libi was killed in Pakistan, but he provided no details and referred calls to the Pakistani government. Officials would not comment on whether Al Libi's death was related to a suspected CIA airstrike this week on an alleged Al Qaeda compound in the Waziristan region of northwest Pakistan. Less than 48 hours before the report of Al Libi's death emerged, residents had reported a missile strike on the small compound just outside the town of Mir Ali, which is considered a militant stronghold. Local officials had said about 12 people were killed in the strike late Monday or early Tuesday, most of them "foreigners" -- Arabs and Central Asians, which fits the profile of Al Qaeda fighters present in the tribal areas. Witnesses said they heard what they believed were Predator drones flying in the area shortly before the compound was hit. But on Wednesday and Thursday, Pakistani officials, including Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema and army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, denied any knowledge of the strike, or of Al Qaeda deaths in it. Airstrikes by the United States on Al Qaeda targets in Pakistan have occurred in the past, but they are extremely sensitive, given the Islamabad government's stated policy of not allowing U.S. military actions within its borders, American intelligence officials said. The strike in North Waziristan came just three weeks before highly contentious elections in Pakistan, and as an influential group of U.S. diplomatic and military experts warned that the international effort to stabilize Afghanistan was faltering. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is under international pressure to restore democratic freedoms and ensure that the Feb. 18 balloting will be fair. While the war against Islamic militants is unpopular in Pakistan, Musharraf's government has often been known to move against militants at times of pressure from the Bush administration to do more to fight Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The experts warned that the Taliban, regarded as largely defeated just two years ago, has been able to infiltrate and control sizable parts of southern and southeastern Afghanistan. Two suicide bombings Thursday killed seven people, including the deputy governor of Helmand province. A coordinated attack Jan. 14 by Taliban militants on a hotel in Kabul, the Afghan capital, frequented by foreigners killed seven staff members and visitors. Al Libi had taken on increasing prominence within Al Qaeda in recent years as a liaison to the Taliban, a battlefield commander and trainer of fighters in Afghanistan who regularly engaged U.S. and allied forces, according to the Western official. The Libyan oversaw networks "that trained, prepared and deployed fighters from different groups and different countries" in Afghanistan and across the border in the tribal areas of Pakistan, where Al Qaeda's leadership is believed to be hiding, the official said. He was particularly close to fighters from Central Asia who have become some of the most feared by American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, the Western official said. "You could place this guy in the top half-dozen figures in Al Qaeda," the Western official said. "He was a senior operational figure." M. Akram Shaheedi, Pakistan's press attache in Washington, said his government believed that several Al Qaeda operatives were killed in this week's attack, but that authorities had not yet identified them. "Surely there are some foreigners who have been killed. Now we are trying to establish the identity of those people," Shaheedi said, adding that authorities were on the lookout for evidence confirming that Al Libi was among the victims. Shaheedi declined to discuss how the men were killed. But news of Al Libi's death spread rapidly through websites that are monitored by Western counter-terrorism authorities and organizations such as the SITE Intelligence Group in Washington. "We congratulate the Islamic nation for the martyrdom of the sheik, the lion, Abu Laith al Libi," said a large banner on portions of the Al Ekhlaas website that are reserved for Al Qaeda-affiliated militant groups and not open to public posting, SITE reported. A second statement by the Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Fajr Media Center was issued later in the day, according to SITE and its director, Rita Katz. Al Fajr stated that Al Libi's "martyrdom with a group of his brothers" occurred "in the land of Muslim Pakistan." "How much he trained his brothers who joined the road of jihad, and how much he supervised the training camps, and how much he instructed them, gave advice, planned, and hurt the enemy. He was an artist in what he did," SITE quoted the Al Fajr statement as saying. He was also the leader of an Al Qaeda affiliate known as the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which recently has tried with limited success to help Osama bin Laden's terrorist network spread its influence in North Africa. Al Libi had become an inspirational presence for Al Qaeda on the Internet, which the network has increasingly used in recent years to disseminate propaganda and training manuals, to look for recruits and to raise funds, according to Katz and several current and former intelligence officials. Last year, Al Libi appeared in at least three videos made by Al Qaeda's production arm, As Sahab Media, including one in November in which he announced that he was formally committing his Libyan group to the larger cause of Al Qaeda, according to SITE translations of the videos. A U.S. military spokesman said last year that Al Libi was probably behind the suicide bombing that killed 23 people outside the main U.S. base in Afghanistan during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney was far inside the perimeter of the large Bagram Air Base at the time of the Feb. 27 attack and wasn't hurt, but the bombing added to the impression that coalition forces and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai were vulnerable to assault by Al Qaeda militants and the resurgent Taliban. josh.meyer@latimes.com Times staff writers Laura King in Karachi, Pakistan, and Sebastian Rotella in Madrid contributed to this report. |
justthefacts - June 16, 2008 12:59 PM (GMT)
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| Since February, the U.S. military has been more aggressive in using air strikes across the border, particularly involving drone aircraft. Last week, 11 Pakistani soldiers were killed in Mohmand tribal region in an air strike by U.S. forces during an operation against militants on the border. The casualties were the worst suffered by Pakistani security forces for U.S. military action since their alliance was sealed. Source |
justthefacts - June 16, 2008 03:25 PM (GMT)
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| The Special Boat Service (SBS) and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment have been taking part in the US-led operations to capture Bin Laden in the wild frontier region of northern Pakistan. It is the first time they have operated across the Afghan border on a regular basis. The hunt was “completely sanctioned” by the Pakistani government, according to a UK special forces source. It involves the use of Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles fitted with Hellfire missiles that can be used to take out specific terrorist targets. One US intelligence source compared the “growing number of clandestine reconnaissance missions” inside Pakistan with those conducted in Laos and Cambodia at the height of the Vietnam war. America rarely acknowledges the use of Predator and Reaper drones, but the most recent known strike was on a suspected Al-Qaeda safe house in the Pakistani province of North Waziristan earlier in June. Villagers said the house was empty. Times version |
Some discrepancy there, it seems.
amirrortotheenemy - June 26, 2009 03:54 PM (GMT)
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| Deadliest US missile strikes in Pakistan By The Associated Press, 06.24.09, 01:37 PM EDT Unmanned U.S. drone aircraft have fired missiles at suspected militant targets in Pakistan's tribal region dozens of times in the past two years. Here are details of some of the deadliest attacks, based on information from Pakistani officials: _June 24, 2009: Four suspected U.S. missiles strike a funeral procession at Makeen in South Waziristan for a militant killed in a strike earlier the same day. At least 80 people are killed. _May 16, 2009: Several missiles hit a religious school and a vehicle near Mir Ali in North Waziristan, killing 29 people. _Feb. 16, 2009: Suspected U.S. missiles strike a house used by a suspected extremist commander in Baggan village in Kurram, killing 30 people. _Feb 14, 2009: Suspected U.S. missiles strike a compound used by Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in Shrawangai Nazarkhel village in South Waziristan, killing 27 people. _Jan. 23, 2009: Dual strikes on at target in Zharki village in North Waziristan and a house in South Waziristan kill a total of 22 people, including foreign fighters. Read All Comments _ Oct. 31, 2008: Suspected U.S. missile strikes on two villages in North Waziristan kill 29 people, including several foreign fighters. Oct 27, 2008: Suspected U.S. missiles hit the house of a Taliban commander in Mandata Raghazi village, South Waziristan, killing 20. Oct 3, 2008: A suspected U.S. missile strike near Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, kills at least 19 people, including some foreigners. March 16, 2008: A suspected U.S. missile strikes the home of a suspected militant leader in South Waziristan, killing at least 20 people. June 19, 2007: A suspected U.S. missile attack hits a suspected al-Qaida hideout in Mami Rogha village in North Waziristan, killing about 30 militants, including foreigners. Jan 13, 2006: A suspected U.S. missile strike on a militant hideout in Damadola village in the Bajur region kills 22 people, including four purported al-Qaida operative and 18 civilians. Compiled by AP News Researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York. Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed Source |
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| US Missiles Turn Pakistan Funeral to Grave IslamOnline.net June 24, 2009 MIRAMSHAH – Wrapped in white bandages and lying on a bed in the dust-bowed district hospital in Miramshah, the capital of North Waziristan, Fazl-e-Rabbi is one of who lucky enough to survive a US deadly missile strike at a funeral ceremony in neighboring South Waziristan a day earlier. "We had just finished the funeral prayers and I was wearing my shoes when I felt that the sun had exploded on my head," Fazl-e-Rabbi, who received injuries in his arms, legs and lower abdomen, told IslamOnline.net on Wednesday, June 24. "What I remember is that I was hit by something in my lower abdomen and then in no time I fell on the ground. I tried to control my senses but I could not." Some 83 people, mostly civilians were reportedly killed and over 50 injured in three consecutive drone attacks in Lataka, an area located 50 kilometers north of Wana, the capital of South Waziristan, within 12 hours. The first strike killed several suspected Taliban militants in Shubi Khel, about 65 kilometers north of Wana. Intelligence officials say senior Afghan Taliban commander Khoj Wali, who was heading a meeting of local Taliban, was killed in the attack along with five others. As mourners gathered for their funeral prayers later in the day in a nearby area, another drone fired three missiles into the crowd. "The last feeling I had at that time was that I am going to die as people soaked in their own blood were running from here to there to take shelter," recalled Fazl-e-Rabbi, a father of three, fighting back his tears. Since August 2008, about 43 US drone strikes have killed at least 410 people. The US does not, as a rule, confirm drone attacks, but its troops in neighboring Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy unmanned drones in the region. Publicly, the Pakistani government opposes attacks by pilotless US aircraft as a violation of its territorial sovereignty. Innocents Fazl-e-Rabbi, a farmer by profession, insisted that most of the victims were innocent civilians. "Most of the deceased were civilians. I know almost all of them. They were from my area," he insisted. The victims included two of his cousins. "One of my cousins was standing next to me during the funeral prayers. I heard his deafening scream before falling on the ground," he remembered. "I don’t remember what happened after that but his last scream has settled down in my mind." Fazl-e-Rabbi was later informed that both his cousins breathed their last. According to local sources, the deceased were buried in a mass grave. "We have nothing to do with Taliban or Al-Qaeda," he fumed. "It is a local tradition that whoever dies in your neighborhood, then it is a must for us to attend his funeral and burry him. We did the same." His contention is backed by local journalists and a parliamentarian elected from the area. "Around 50 civilians who had nothing to do with Taliban have been killed in the strikes," Irfan Khan, a local journalist, told IOL. He refuted reports that Afghan or foreign Taliban were killed in the drone attacks. "Most of them [victims] were civilians, while some local Taliban have also been killed." Senator Saleh Shah, who belongs to South Waziristan, agrees. "As far as my information is concerned, most of the deceased were ordinary tribesmen who gathered to offer funeral prayers of some suspected local Taliban," he told IOL. "Taliban are not as doofus as gathering under open sky and become an easy target for US drones." Radicalizing Fazl-e-Rabbi, the wounded civilian, is furious at the treatment melted out to him and his fellow residents by the government and the media. "We are stuck between Taliban and US attacks and when we are killed, not only no one cries for us, but also we are dubbed as militants," he fumed. He laments that no official has visited them to check on their condition, or even verify whether they are Taliban or not. "They won’t come because they know we are innocent. It seems as if we are aliens in our own country." Fazl-e-Rabbi is equally critical of both Taliban and the Americans. "If Taliban are bombing the mosques, then America is bombing the funerals. What is difference between them?" Senator Shah warns that such attacks would further fan anti-government, anti-American sentiments in the already restive tribal area. "If this kind of practice continues, then mark my words, this so-called war on terror can never be won. "Taliban don’t need anything to coax the people. US drone attacks are enough to do that." Fazl-e-Rabbi agrees. "We don’t demand anything. We just want to be treated equally. Don’t force us to become Taliban, which we don’t want to." Source |
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| At Least 65 Killed as US Drones Attack South Waziristan Funeral Procession Mourners From Early Strike Killed in Second Attack Jason Ditz June 23, 2009 On Thursday, US drones launched an attack on a compound in South Waziristan, and when locals rushed to the scene to rescue survivors, they launched more missiles at them, leaving a total of 13 dead. The timing and target of the attack were controversial, as was the tactic of luring locals in with a first strike to maximize the kill count. Today, locals were involved in a funeral procession when the US struck again. Drones attacked what they suspected was a "militant hideout" early today, killing at least 17. When mourners gathered to offer prayers for those slain in the first attack, the drones struck again, attacking the procession it self and bringing the overall toll to at least 65, according to witnesses. The recent attacks show a level of aggression and a willingness to target gatherings likely to contain many innocent people unseen in previous US strikes in the area. Generally speaking, most of the dozens of attacks against South Waziristan have been isolated strikes against buildings, and were not followed up with supplementary attacks on the gathering crowds. The attacks come as the Pakistani government begins to ratchet up its own military offensive in the area. It is possible that the Pakistani military’s history of indiscriminate shelling of civilian targets and eagerness for massive kill counts is eliminating the diplomatic obstacles which have kept the deaths from the Americans’ own attacks comparatively low. :: Article nr. 55425 sent on 24-jun-2009 02:47 ECT urknet.info |
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| US strikes kill dozens in Taliban heartland: Pakistan army By S.H. Khan – 1 day ago PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — US missile strikes killed dozens of people in a Pakistani tribal area controlled by Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, where the army is preparing an assault, officials said Wednesday. Drone aircraft, which are only deployed by US forces in the region, hit Taliban positions on Tuesday then struck again as hundreds of people gathered for a funeral in Mehsud's northwest tribal stronghold of South Waziristan. But with the mountainous area on the Afghan border out of reach of government forces, security officials and Taliban militants have been giving widely differing death tolls, with some saying up to 65 people were killed. "We have initial reports that are not confirmed but the casualties are somewhere between 20 to 30," military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP in Islamabad. A senior government official in the northwest city of Peshawar said that some important Taliban commanders may be among the dead. "Reports we received from the area said that 50 to 60 people, mostly militants, were killed in the drone attack," he said. Pakistan's security forces are readying for a full-scale onslaught against Mehsud in the northwest tribal belt, where Washington alleges Al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels are holed up, plotting attacks on Western targets. Reacting to the latest drone attacks, Pakistan's foreign office said in a statement on Wednesday: "We are in regular contact with the US and our serious concerns on the recent strikes have been put across strongly. "It has been Pakistan's consistent position that drone attacks are in violation of its sovereignty and must be stopped." On Tuesday, the military was dealt a blow when a potential ally in the region -- rising tribal leader and Mehsud rival Qari Zainuddin -- was assassinated in a killing claimed by Mehsud's network. Pakistani fighter jets have been pounding South Waziristan ahead of an offensive in the rugged area, then on Tuesday one of the most deadly in a string of US missile attacks hit the region. The first strike by an unmanned drone killed six militants in Shubi Khel, a remote area under the control of Mehsud's Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan about 65 kilometres (40 miles) north of the main district town of Wana. As mourners gathered for funeral prayers, another drone unloaded three more missiles into the crowd, officials and residents said. "After the prayers ended people were asking each other to leave the area as drones were hovering," Mohammad Saeed Khan, 35, who lost his right leg in the attack, told AFP from Miranshah hospital in North Waziristan. "First two drones fired two missiles, it created a havoc, there was smoke and dust everywhere. Injured people were crying and asking for help... they fired the third missile after a minute, and I fell on the ground." Wali Ur Rehman, a deputy of Mehsud, called an AFP reporter in Peshawar and claimed that 65 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the strikes. "One of our commanders Billal was also martyred. We buried them all in three different graves as some of the bodies were badly mutilated," he said. "Our leadership is safe," he said from an unknown location. Rehman also claimed responsibility for the killing of Zainuddin, saying the group assassinated him "on the orders of Baitullah." "Anyone who works against us will face the same fate," he added. Analysts had said that the military would likely try to fan rivalries among the Mehsud tribe to gain allies before any assault in the tribal belt. They were reportedly trying to woo Zainuddin, who opposed Mehsud's use of suicide bombings that targeted civilians. Troops in nuclear-armed Pakistan are wrapping up a nearly two-month battle to dislodge Taliban insurgents from three northwest districts, and have not yet set a timescale for the full operation in the tribal region. A senior US defence official said earlier this month that any operation in South Waziristan would work best with "pressure on both sides of the border." The United States military does not, as a rule, confirm drone attacks, but its armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy drones in the region. Since August 2008, about 43 such strikes have killed at least 410 people. Source |
amirrortotheenemy - July 7, 2009 01:59 PM (GMT)
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| UPDATED ON: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 14:18 Mecca time, 11:18 GMT Deaths in Pakistan missile strike  Tuesday's missile attack was the fourth against the Pakistani Taliban leader Mehsud in two weeks At least 12 people have been killed in a suspected US missile strike on a training camp run by Baitullah Mehsud, the Pakistani Taliban leader, in South Waziristan, close to the Afghan border, intelligence officials say. Five foreigners were among the dead in the attack on Tuesday, which were believed to be carried by unmanned US aircraft, the officials said. Top Arab leaders of the al-Qaeda network are believed to be hiding in the region, as well as scores of fighters from nearby countries, especially Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Two missiles hit the camp in Jangara, a village close to Makeen, the hometown of Mehsud, four officials told The Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to media. One official said communication intercepts indicated that fighters were now telling one another to move to safe places because there were more drones in the sky and there could be more attacks. The US is thought to have launched more than 40 missiles against targets in the border area since last August, according to a count by The Associated Press. Washington does not directly acknowledge being responsible for launching the missiles, which kill civilians as well as armed groups and contribute to anti-US sentiment in Pakistan. Tuesday's attack was the fourth in two weeks against Mehsud and his followers in his stronghold of South Waziristan. One attack on the funeral of a dead fighter killed up to 80 people. Pakistan's army is deploying troops in South Waziristan and launching regular air strikes of its own to try and kill or capture Mehsud, who is blamed for organising many of the suicide attacks in Pakistan over the last few years. Source |
amirrortotheenemy - July 7, 2009 03:30 PM (GMT)
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| Unmanned drones could be banned, says senior judge Unmanned drones could be banned from use in conflicts, Lord Bingham, one of Britain's most senior judges has suggested. By Murray Wardrop Published: 8:41AM BST 06 Jul 2009 Lord Bingham, who retired last year as a senior law lord, said the aircraft could follow other weapons considered "so cruel as to be beyond the pale of human tolerance" in being consigned to the history books. He likened drones, which have killed hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Gaza, to cluster bombs and landmines. Lord Bingham made the comments to the British Institute of International and Comparative Law in an interview which addressed the issue of the state being bound by the rule of law. "Are there, for example, and this goes to conflict, not post-conflict situations, weapons that ought to be outlawed?" he said. "From time to time in the history of international law various weapons have been thought to be so cruel as to be beyond the pale of human tolerance. I think cluster bombs and landmines are the most recent examples. "It may be – I'm not expressing a view – that unmanned drones that fall on a house full of civilians is a weapon the international community should decide should not be used." His comments are likely to lead to further calls for new international rules to protect civilians from attacks by the pilotless aircraft. Drones have become an important tool in combating the Taliban in remote regions of Afghanistan, which are difficult to access by land and leave soldiers vulnerable to attack. They have proved successful in eliminating several high-profile leaders of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, including Mohammed Atef, reputedly al-Qaeda's chief of military operations. However, they have been known to make errors and kill civilians. Israel was accused last week of using missile-firing drones to unlawfully kill at least 29 Palestinian civilians during the Gaza Strip war. The US admitted to 26 civilian deaths in a series of drone attacks that took place in May. Britain, which currently deploys drones to gather battlefield intelligence, has indicated that it plans to use them as weapons in the future. It was disclosed earlier this year that the Home Office has suggested using drones to help police gather evidence and track criminals to avoid putting officers at risk. Last year, Lord Bingham said he believed that Britain violated "international law and the rule of law" by supporting the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Source |
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| MIDDLE EAST: Silence Please, Death Is In The Making BY FAREED MAHDY (IDN Middle East Special Correspondent) – 'Death in the Making' is the title of famed war photo-reporter Robert Capa’s heart-rending first picture documented work. It was printed in 1938 but it is acquiring new relevance as the big Western democracies are engaging with modern forms of death-making: the remote-controlled unmanned predator drones killing civilians everywhere in the ‘Greater Middle East’. Here some examples. PAKISTAN LIKE AFGHANISTAN Following the model intensively used in Afghanistan, which caused the death of hundreds of civilians during social and family gatherings, wedding parties and funerals, the U.S. Army and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have been conducting unmanned drone strikes in the north-western tribal region of Pakistan. The objective is to ‘clean-up’ the area from every ‘suspect’ Taliban or Al Qaeda militant. The strikes are harvesting dozens of civilian victims. The Lahore-based newspaper, The News, reported in April that, according to Pakistani official sources, 687 civilians had been killed along with 14 al Qaeda leaders in some 60 drone strikes since January 2008 -- just over 50 civilians killed for every al Qaeda leader. 122 Dollars per Killing Gareth Porter, known historian and investigative journalist specialising in U.S. national security policy, wrote on June 12 for Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency about press reports that the CIA is paying Pakistani agents for identifying al Qaeda targets by placing electronic chips at farmhouses supposedly inhabited by al Qaeda officials, so they can be bombed by predator planes. Porter reports that the initial story on the CIA payments for placing the chips by Carol Grisanti and Mushtaq Yusufzai of NBC News April 17 was based on a confession by a 19-year-old in North Waziristan on a video released by the Taliban. “In his confession, the young man says, 'I was given 122 dollars to drop chips wrapped in a cigarette paper at al Qaeda and Taliban houses. If I was successful, I was told, I would be given thousands of dollars'," Porter adds. “He goes on to say, 'I thought this was a very easy job. The money was so good so I started throwing the chips all over. I knew people were dying because of what I was doing, but I needed the money'," the Washington-based historian writes. “The video shows the man being shot as a spy for the United States.” U.S. Denial, Des-authorized “A U.S. official told NBC news that the video was "extremist propaganda," but a story in The Guardian May 31 said residents of Waziristan, including one student identified as Taj Muhammad Wazir, had confirmed that tribesman have been paid to lay the electronic devices to target drone strikes”, writes Porter, whose latest book 'Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam', was published in 2006. On June 26, The BBC reported: “At least 43 people have died in missile strikes by a U.S. drone aircraft in a militant stronghold of Pakistan, a Taliban spokesman has told the BBC.” It added: “The people killed in South Waziristan had been attending the funeral of a militant commander who had been killed in an earlier strike.” The day before, that is, on June 25, Tom Eley wrote for the World Socialist Web Site, published by the International Committee of the Fourth International, “On Tuesday, an unmanned U.S. Predator drone fired missiles into a funeral procession in the Pakistani region of South Waziristan, killing as many as 80 people and maiming dozens more.” Eley reports, “It was the deadliest US attack within Pakistan to date. The mourners had gathered for the funeral of seven victims of another US drone attack that had taken place earlier the same day.” “Stop the drone attacks,” Pakistani Prime Minister, But… On June 25, AFP reported from Islamabad: “Pakistan's prime minister Thursday (June 23) told Washington's visiting top security adviser that the United States must halt drone attacks on its soil, after they killed dozens of people in the northwest.” “James Jones held talks with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani as part of a short regional tour that has already taken in neighbouring Afghanistan to assess the United States' new strategy in the region”, the French news agency added. But the killing of civilians did not stop. On July 3, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported from Islamabad “Missiles fired from U.S. Predator drones killed at least 15 people at a militant training facility in the South Waziristan tribal region, a stronghold of Baitullah Mehsud, the chief of the Pakistan Taliban.” The report no did provide any evidence that the area bombed was in fact “a militant training facility.” WSJ added: “Three missiles hit the camp in Mochikel village in an area that has been the scene of recent fighting between Pakistani security forces and Taliban militants. Another missile hit a suspected militant hideout in the same area. A security official said at least 20 people also were wounded in the two strikes.” ISRAEL Repeatedly self-proclaimed, and widely heralded by the West, as the sole true democracy in the Middle East, Israel also used drones strikes during its wars on Palestinians, in particular the December 2008-January 2009 three-week bombing of Gaza strip, which caused over 7,000 victims, out of which 1,500 deaths. The Washington-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), one of the major human rights watchdogs, released on June 30, a 39-page report titled 'Precisely Wrong: Gaza Civilians Killed by Israeli Drone-Launched Missiles'. It says that Israeli attacks with guided missiles fired from aerial drones killed civilians during the recent Gaza fighting in violation of the laws of war. “The attacks with one of the most precise weapons in Israel's arsenal killed civilians who were not taking part in hostilities and were far from any fighting” HRW reports. Human Rights Watch found that Israeli forces failed to take all feasible precautions to verify that these targets were combatants, as required by the laws of war, or that they failed to distinguish between combatants and civilians. Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups have reported a total of 42 drone attacks that killed civilians, 87 in all, during the fighting in December 2008 and January 2009. The report details six incidents resulting in 29 civilian deaths, among them eight children. "Drone operators can clearly see their targets on the ground and also divert their missiles after launch," said Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. "Given these capabilities, Israel needs to explain why these civilian deaths took place." The report is based on field research in Gaza, where Human Rights Watch researchers interviewed victims and witnesses, examined attack sites, collected missile debris for testing, and reviewed medical records. The Israel Defence Forces turned down repeated Human Rights Watch requests for a meeting and did not respond to questions submitted in writing. ‘Israel Could Have Avoided the Killing of Civilians’ “Military experts have extolled armed drones, or Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles, and their precision-guided missiles as weapons that can minimize civilian casualties. Their use is rapidly expanding -- for example by the United States in Afghanistan and Pakistan.” "When used properly, drones and their precision missiles can help a military minimize civilian casualties," Garlasco said. "But drones are only as good at sparing civilians as the people who command and operate them." In the six cases documented in the report, Human Rights Watch found no evidence that Palestinian fighters were present in the immediate area of the attack at the time. “None of the civilians who were killed were moving quickly or fleeing the area, so the drone operators would have had time to determine whether they were observing civilians or combatants, and to hold fire if they were unable to tell the difference,” the report says. “In three of the cases, drones fired missiles at children playing on rooftops in residential neighbourhoods, far from any ground fighting at the time”, asserts the human rights watchdog. Human Rights Watch found no evidence to suggest that the children were acting as spotters, relaying Israeli troop locations, or trying to launch a rocket from the roof. “On December 27, 2008, the first day of the Israeli offensive called 'Operation Cast Lead', a drone-launched missile hit a group of university students as they waited for a bus on a crowded residential street in central Gaza City, killing 12 civilians,” HRW reports. The Israeli military has failed to explain why it targeted the group on a crowded downtown street with no known military activity in the area at the time, the Human Rights Watch adds. On December 29, it says, the Israeli military struck a truck that it said was transporting Grad rockets, killing nine civilians. “The (Israeli) military released video footage of the attack to support its case, but the video raises serious doubts that the target constituted a military objective -- doubts that should have guided the drone operator to hold fire. The alleged rockets, the military later admitted, proved to be oxygen canisters,” Human Rights Watch stressed ‘Egregious Violations’ The technological capabilities of drones and drone-launched missiles make these violations even more egregious, HRW said. “Drones carry an array of advanced sensors, often combining radars, electro-optical cameras, infrared cameras, and lasers. These sensors can provide a clear image in real time of individuals on the ground during day and night, with the ability to distinguish between children and adults.” The HWR report adds: “One Israeli drone operator who flew missions in Gaza during the recent fighting told an Israeli military journal that he was able to detect clothing colours, a large radio, and a weapon.” “The missile launched from a drone carries its own cameras that allow the operator to observe the target from the moment of firing to impact. If doubts arise about a target, the drone operator can redirect the weapon elsewhere,” the report goes on. “The drones deployed by the Israeli military -- the Israeli-produced Hermes and Heron drones -- have video-recording devices so that everything viewed by the operator is recorded. Every Israeli drone missile strike during Operation Cast Lead would therefore be registered on video,” it explains. ‘War Crimes’ “The Israeli government is obligated under international law to investigate serious violations of the laws of war. Israeli military or civilian personnel found responsible for committing or ordering unlawful drone attacks should be disciplined or prosecuted as appropriate,” Human Rights Watch said. “Individuals who have committed serious violations of the laws of war with criminal intent -- that is, intentionally or recklessly -- are responsible for war crimes.” A fact-finding team from the United Nations Human Rights Council headed by the respected international jurist Richard Goldstone is currently investigating alleged violations of the laws of war by both Israel and Hamas. Israel has said it will not cooperate with the investigation because the Human Rights Council is biased against Israel. Hamas has said it will cooperate. Human Rights Watch called on Israel and Hamas to cooperate fully with the Goldstone investigation. Regarding drone-launched missiles, Israel should provide the recorded video footage and other documentation of its attacks in which civilians were wounded or killed. Amnesty International: Israel Used White Phosphorus On Civilians During the Israeli war on Gaza, another major human rights organisation, Amnesty International (AI), denounced the Israeli bombing with phosphorous on civilian area in Gaza. On January 19, AI reported: “The Israeli army used white phosphorus, a weapon with a highly incendiary effect, in densely populated civilian residential areas of Gaza City, according to indisputable evidence found an Amnesty International fact-finding team which reached the area last Saturday (January 17). “When white phosphorus lands on skin it burns deeply through muscle and into the bone, continuing to burn until deprived of oxygen”, explains Amnesty. “Amnesty International’s delegates found still-burning white phosphorus wedges all around residential buildings on Sunday (January 18).” “These wedges were further endangering the residents and their property; streets and alleys are full of children playing, drawn to the detritus of war and often unaware of the danger,” it reports. The carrier shells which delivered the wedges were also still lying in and around houses and buildings. Some of these heavy steel 155mm shells have caused extensive damage to residential properties, informs Amnesty International. "Yesterday, we saw streets and alleyways littered with evidence of the use of white phosphorus, including still burning wedges and the remnants of the shells and canisters fired by the Israeli army," said Christopher Cobb-Smith, a weapons expert who is in Gaza as part of the four-person Amnesty International team. "White phosphorus is a weapon intended to provide a smokescreen for troop movements on the battlefield," said Cobb-Smith. "It is highly incendiary, air burst and its spread effect is such that it that should never be used on civilian areas.” Donatella Rovera, Amnesty’s researcher on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories said that such extensive use of this weapon in Gaza's densely populated residential neighbourhoods is inherently indiscriminate. "Its repeated use in this manner, despite evidence of its indiscriminate effects and its toll on civilians, is a war crime," she said Hitting Areas of the Size of a Football Pitch “When each 155mm artillery shell bursts, it deploys 116 wedges impregnated with white phosphorus which ignite on contact with oxygen and can scatter, depending on the height at which it is burst (and wind conditions), over an area at least the size of a football pitch.” In addition to the indiscriminate effect of air-bursting such a weapon, firing such shells as artillery exacerbates the likelihood that civilians will be affected”, she added. "Artillery is an area weapon; not good for pinpoint targeting. The fact that these munitions, which are usually used as ground burst, were fired as air bursts increases the likely size of the danger area,” said Chris Cobb-Smith. “Among the places worst affected by the use of white phosphorus was the UNRWA compound in Gaza City, at which Israeli forces fired three white phosphorus shells on 15 January. The white phosphorus landed next to some fuel trucks and caused a large fire which destroyed tons of humanitarian aid.” “Prior to this strike, the compound had already been hit an hour earlier and the Israeli authorities had been informed by UNRWA officials and had given assurance that no further strikes would be launched on the compound.” Amnesty International then informed that “In another incident on the same day a white phosphorus shell landed in the al-Quds hospital in Gaza City also causing a fire that forced hospital staff to evacuate the patients.” - 05.07.2009 ----- RELATED IDN ARTICLES: MIDDLE EAST: Key Player HAMAS Has A Say http://www.indepthnews.net/news/news.php?k...17:30:14&key2=1 MIDDLE EAST: Uninvited Guest Mubarak Has A Vision http://www.indepthnews.net/news/news.php?k...23:00:01&key2=1 MIDDLE EAST: Netanyahu's 'Diktat' For A Non-Solution http://www.indepthnews.net/news/news.php?k...08:03:27&key2=1 UNITED STATES: Obama, Muslims and the (Still Far Away) West http://www.indepthnews.net/news/news.php?k...09:24:17&key2=1 MIND THE GAP: Can Gruyere Be A Solution? http://www.indepthnews.net/news/news.php?k...02:15:49&key2=1 InDepthNews |
Bridget - September 9, 2009 04:35 PM (GMT)
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| From The Times September 9, 2009 Nerve centre of search for bin Laden at Creech Air Force base outside Las Vegas The US military’s day-to-day hunt for Osama bin Laden goes well beyond the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan: 7,500 miles, in fact, to Creech Air Force Base, just outside Las Vegas. Every day 2,500 young servicemen and women make their way to this compound — located next to a trailer park on the dusty Route 96 freeway — to operate remote-controlled aircraft over the hostile, often impassable terrain where the al-Qaeda leader is thought to be in hiding. When bin Laden attacked the US on September 11, 2001, the prospect of America being able to hunt and kill targets using unmanned aircraft piloted from another continent was still largely a fantasy. Advances in technology and pilot training over the past eight years have been extraordinary. According to Captain Brooke Brander, a public affairs officer at Creech, there are now 36 lethally armed Predators or Reapers (the newer, more sophisticated generation of remote-controlled aircraft) on duty over the skies of Iraq and Afghanistan at any given time. They are so effective that senior commanders at the Pentagon are expected to buy 300 Reapers, at a cost of up to $6 billion, to complement an eventual fleet of 300 Predators. Unlike the Predator the Reaper was designed from day-one as the world’s most sophisticated assassination tool. Each one can cost as much as $20 million, including the price of its giant, electronic eyeball, which sends a live video feed from the battlefield to its pilots 7,500 miles away. Reapers can be loaded with Hellfire and Sidewinder missiles and laser-guided bombs, which can be highly accurate. Judging from footage of a Hellfire strike shown to The Times by officials at Creech, these 21st Century weapons can be extremely accurate, taking out a single room in an apartment block while leaving the rest of the building largely intact. As for the price—the US military hasn’t flinched, trillion-dollar deficit or no trillion-dollar deficit. In fact, senior commanders at the Pentagon have been so impressed with the Reaper’s performance, they’re expected to buy 300 in total, at a cost of up to $6 billion. That’s on top of the fleet of 300 Predators that they’re already close to completing. |
justthefacts - February 3, 2010 08:33 PM (GMT)
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| Three US soldiers killed in Pakistan bomb blast By Ben Farmer in Kabul Published: 7:16PM GMT 03 Feb 2010 A man carries an injured boy from the site of a bombing which hit near a school in Timergara Lower Dir district Pakistan: Pakistan blast kills eight including foreigners Photo: REUTERS Three American soldiers have been killed by a roadside bomb on a politically sensitive military training mission in Pakistan's turbulent border region. The soldiers, who are believed to have been special forces, died on Wednesday when their convoy was hit by a remote-controlled explosion as they drove to the opening ceremony of a girls' school newly renovated with American aid. Their deaths are the first known US military fatalities on Pakistani soil. The revelation of their presence in the country on a mission to train the country's paramilitary Frontier Corps threatens to increase resentment against the Pakistani government. Tensions over American Predator drone missile strikes against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants on Pakistani soil have already led to widespread anti-American protests. Pakistan's administration, which is a key ally in Washington's war against militants in the region, could now face further anti-American feeling as the deaths disclosed the extent of the US's unpopular military involvement. Such is the sensitivity about US activity in the country that the Frontier Corps initially claimed the soldiers were "foreign aid workers". The three men died alongside three schoolgirls and a Pakistani soldier when their five-vehicle convoy was hit by the explosion as it passed by a school in Lower Dir. Koto Girls High School was partly flattened and witnesses said pens and schoolbooks littered the scene after the late morning blasts. Up to 80 people, most of them children, were reported wounded in the explosion. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming the dead were American security contractors members of Blackwater, the US contractor group which has now changed its name to Xe. However the US embassy in Islamabad said the dead were "US military personnel in Pakistan to conduct training at the invitation of the Pakistan Frontier Corps". A statement said: "The United States condemns this vicious terrorist bombing. We express our condolences to the families of the deceased and our sympathy and support to the wounded. "The carnage at the school in Lower Dir clearly shows the terrorists' vision." A small contingent of US soldiers have been training the Corps since at least 2008, officials have admitted. But the decision to let them onto Pakistan's soil was so sensitive the mission was never formally announced. Officials said the training included classroom and field sessions and that the Americans are not carrying out operations. Pakistan's support is critical to US efforts to defeat the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan and root out al-Qaeda havens along the mountainous border, but US involvement on Pakistan's territory is deeply unpopular. Pakistan regularly complain missile strikes by US aircraft are a violation of its sovereignty. But Washington says it has a private agreement from Pakistan's authorities. Officially, Islamabad does not permit American military operations on its soil and soldiers from the two countries have reportedly clashed in the past along the Afghan border. Lower Dir and the nearby Swat valley have long been militant strongholds and saw heavy fighting last year when Pakistan's army launched an offensive to push them out. Isolated attacks have continued in the area. |
Bridget - February 8, 2010 10:36 AM (GMT)
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| From The Sunday Times February 7, 2010 School bombing exposes Obama’s secret war inside Pakistan  A Pakistani police officer looks at remains of a vehicle destroyed by a bomb explosion in Lower Dir, Pakistan Christina Lamb THE discovery of three American soldiers among the dead in a suicide bombing at the opening of a girls’ school in the northwestern Pakistan town of Dir last week reignited the fears of many Pakistanis that Washington was set on invading their country. Barack Obama has banned the Bush-era term “war on terror” and dithered about sending extra troops to Afghanistan, but across the border in Pakistan, the US president has dramatically stepped up the covert war against Islamic extremists. US airstrikes in Pakistan, launched from unmanned drones, are now averaging three a week, triple the number last year. “We're quietly seeing a geographical shift,” an intelligence officer said. For the past month drones have pounded the tribal region of North Waziristan in apparent retaliation for the murder of seven CIA officers in Afghanistan by a Jordanian suicide bomber working with the Pakistani Taliban. Last week America launched its first multiple drone attack, according to Pakistani security officials. Eighteen missiles were fired from eight unmanned aircraft in Dattakhel village, killing 16 people. The discovery of the dead US soldiers revealed that America’s shadowy war in Pakistan not only involves drones but also small cadres of special operations soldiers. Pakistan’s foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, insisted that US troops were in Pakistan only to provide counter-insurgency training for the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force operating in the tribal areas. Other sources said there were about 200 US military inside the country. “I’m not sure you could just call it training,” one official said. “They are hardly behind the wire if they are on trips to schools in Dir.” The three US soldiers, who have been described variously as special operations forces and civil affairs troops, were killed when their convoy was bombed as it travelled to the re-opening of the school. It had been rebuilt with US aid after being bombed by the Taliban last year. Three schoolgirls, two villagers and a Pakistani soldier were also killed in the attack, for which the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility. More than 100 were wounded, mostly schoolgirls. It was officially reported that the device was a remote-controlled bomb. It has now emerged that a suicide bomber rammed into the vehicle carrying the Americans. This suggests the bomber had inside information. “This attack was too perfect: they lay in wait for the convoy to pass and knew exactly which vehicle to hit,” a US military officer told the Long War Journal. One of those killed was Sergeant Matthew Sluss-Tiller, 35, the father of a three-year-old daughter. His mother, Jane Blankenship, said her son had been in Pakistan on a civil affairs mission and had grown a beard for it. One official suggested the “trainers” may be used to pick up intelligence on drone targets, particularly because the CIA did not trust its counterparts from the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence service that has close links to the Taliban. The Americans insist the drone attacks have been a success, picking off the second and third tier of Al-Qaeda’s leadership. In August they killed Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban. They recently claimed to have killed his successor, Hakimullah Mehsud, but Pakistan’s foreign minister said this had not been confirmed. To the irritation of Washington, Islamabad has kept up a pretence that drone attacks are carried out without its approval, even though the aircraft are based in Pakistan. Among the Pakistani public, there has been outcry at the attacks. Surveys constantly show that Pakistanis consider the US a greater threat than the Taliban, despite 3,021 Pakistani deaths in terrorist attacks last year. If the drones are controversial, the presence of US soldiers on Pakistani soil is far more so. Despite a $1.5 billion (£959m) aid programme, Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, had to fly into Pakistan two weeks ago to reassure its military leadership. “Let me say definitively the US does not covet a single inch of Pakistani soil,” he told Pakistan’s National Defence University. |