Latest U.s. Drone Strike In Pakistan Kills At Least 3

[News_Editor]

Latest U.S. drone strike in Pakistan kills at least 3 < br />

2012-10-02 10:08:40 GMT+7 (ICT)

MIRANSHAH, PAKISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- The latest United States drone strike on Monday killed at least three people in northwestern Pakistan, local authorities said.

A vehicle in the Khaider Khel area in the district of Mir Ali, located just east of Miranshah, the capital of volatile tribal region of North Waziristan, was targeted and hit by a U.S. drone. According to reports, the unmanned aircraft launched a series of missile strikes against the vehicle, killing three suspected militants.

Meanwhile, peace activist and former U.S. Army colonel Mary Ann Wright on Sunday spoke in Islamabad, the country's capital, saying the U.S. has been violating the sovereignty of Pakistan with its drone strikes.

Participating in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) peace march to Waziristan, Wright, who stepped down from her post as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassies in Afghanistan in 2003 after the Iraq invasion, called for an end to the drone strikes. A letter petition signed by thousands of U.S. nationals is to be presented to Charge d’affaires Ambassador Richard Hoagland at the U.S. Embassy.

According to Conflict Monitoring Center, nearly 3,000 people have been killed in U.S. drone strikes since 2004 in Pakistan, including more than 300 in 38 drone attacks this year alone. Last year, 609 people were killed in 75 drone attacks in Pakistan, according to the agency.

Pakistani officials have repeatedly described the U.S. drone attacks as illegal. Pakistani President Asif Zardari has expressed the need to establish alternative security operations to the drone strikes, but U.S. officials have indicated that they will continue to carry out drone strikes to take out militants.

Few details about casualties from the strikes are usually available, but allegations of civilian casualties regularly spark protests in Pakistan. According to the Washington-based think tank New America Foundation, as many as 2,680 individuals were killed as a result of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan between 2004 and early 2012.

In January, U.S. President Barack Obama, for the first time during his presidency, publicly acknowledged that U.S. drones regularly strike suspected militants along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He confirmed that many of these strikes are carried out in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, targeting al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects in tough terrain.

The U.S. considers the Pakistan-Afghan border to be the most dangerous place on Earth. The area is known to be a stronghold of the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani Network, which is one of the top terrorist organizations and threats to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.

But controversy has surrounded the drone strikes as local residents and officials have blamed them for killing innocent civilians and motivating young men to join the Taliban. Details about the alleged militants are usually not provided, and the U.S. government does not comment on the strikes.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-10-02

[GiHadOrange]

Meanwhile, peace activist and former U.S. Army colonel Mary Ann Wright on Sunday spoke in Islamabad, the country's capital, saying the U.S. has been violating the sovereignty of Pakistan with its drone strikes.

Participating in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) peace march to Waziristan, Wright, who stepped down from her post as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassies in Afghanistan in 2003 after the Iraq invasion, called for an end to the drone strikes.

Thumbs up.

[Exsexyman]

Meanwhile, peace activist and former U.S. Army colonel Mary Ann Wright on Sunday spoke in Islamabad, the country's capital, saying the U.S. has been violating the sovereignty of Pakistan with its drone strikes.

Participating in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) peace march to Waziristan, Wright, who stepped down from her post as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassies in Afghanistan in 2003 after the Iraq invasion, called for an end to the drone strikes.

Thumbs up.

A survey by American academics recently estimates that only 2% of victims of these drone attacks are genuine militants or terrorists. Which means that 98% of the victims are innocent civilians. Most of them people who are trying to go to the assistance of the people on the receiving end of these cowardly attacks. Apparently the politically correct jargon now from the incumbent Nobel Peace Prize winner in the White House is, 'Double Tap Strike'. Which basically means wait about 30 minutes after the first strike, and then unleash a second strike on the friends and neighbours who are trying to rescue the poor sods,( a large proportion who are women and children), who are victims of the first strike. It's called winning the hearts and minds don't you know!

[Morch]

Meanwhile, peace activist and former U.S. Army colonel Mary Ann Wright on Sunday spoke in Islamabad, the country's capital, saying the U.S. has been violating the sovereignty of Pakistan with its drone strikes.

Participating in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) peace march to Waziristan, Wright, who stepped down from her post as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassies in Afghanistan in 2003 after the Iraq invasion, called for an end to the drone strikes.

Thumbs up.

A survey by American academics recently estimates that only 2% of victims of these drone attacks are genuine militants or terrorists. Which means that 98% of the victims are innocent civilians. Most of them people who are trying to go to the assistance of the people on the receiving end of these cowardly attacks. Apparently the politically correct jargon now from the incumbent Nobel Peace Prize winner in the White House is, 'Double Tap Strike'. Which basically means wait about 30 minutes after the first strike, and then unleash a second strike on the friends and neighbours who are trying to rescue the poor sods,( a large proportion who are women and children), who are victims of the first strike. It's called winning the hearts and minds don't you know!

I might be mistaken, but if memory serves the 2% reference was to "leaders" among the casualties - this in itself related to early declarations by USA government officials that the such leaders were the main targets of drone attacks.

Regardless of what the USA administration and military claim - there are civilian casualties. That is almost a given when conducting military operations under such conditions.

Could not access the full report (link is dead), so had to make do with the LA Times:

The report says 130 people were interviewed by researchers in Pakistan over a nine-month period, including 69 survivors or family members of victims. The interviews took place in Pakistan outside the dangerous tribal areas. The researchers relied on a Pakistani human rights group, Foundation for Fundamental Rights, to find interview subjects.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/24/world/la-fg-drone-study-20120925

Now, while in all probability there are civilian casualties, and likely more than a few after those long years of fighting - interviewing people handpicked by a biased party, and making such bold claims sounds a trifle odd. Not having read the full report, I can't rightly if that's how they went about it.

As for the so-called "double tap" issue - again, war isn't pretty. This is no new trick or tactic, fighting people probably did something of the sort since days of old. Not to excuse or condone it, just an observation.