"US drone strikes hitting few high-level targets in Pakistan, data show" by Greg Miller, Washington Post / February 27, 2011
WASHINGTON —The drone program is hitting senior operatives only a fraction of the time.
Then it is WHOLESALE MURDER and WAR CRIMES, isn't it?
After a year in which the CIA carried out a record 118 drone strikes, costing more than $1 million apiece, the results have raised questions about the purpose and parameters of the drone campaign.
That is the LAST F***ING THING I WANT MY TAX DOLLARS going for, dammit!!!!!!!!
Senior Pakistani officials recently asked the Obama administration to put new restraints on a targeted-killing program that the government in Islamabad has secretly authorized for years.
The CIA is increasingly killing “mere foot soldiers,’’ a senior Pakistani official said, adding that the issue has come up in discussions in Washington involving President Asif Ali Zardari. The official said Pakistan has pressed the Americans “to find better targets, do it more sparingly, and be a little less gung-ho.’’
How about ENDING the DAMN THINGS altogether?
I mean, we are THERE over a pack of DAMN LIES!! When you really think about it, ALL those people under the drones are INNOCENTS then -- or patsy dupes since "Al-CIA-Duh" and these other "terrorist organizations"are a WESTERN INTELLIGENCE AGENCY CREATION!!
Analysts who track the strikes closely said a program that began with intermittent lethal attacks on Al Qaeda leaders has evolved into a campaign that seems primarily focused on lower-level fighters.
Readers, this is REALLY MAKING ME SICK right now!
Yeah, just LET the MISSILES FLY whoever the hell they are!!
Peter Bergen, a director at the New America Foundation, said data on the strikes indicate that 94 percent of fatalities are lower-level militants.
Related: 60 drone hits kill 14 al-Qaeda men, 687 civilians
Wow, they have really improved their percentage, huh?
“I think it’s hard to make the case that the 94 percent cohort threaten the United States in some way,’’ Bergen said. “There’s been very little focus on that question from a human rights perspective. Targeted killings are about leaders — it shouldn’t be a blanket dispensation.’’
He hasn't been reading my commentaries.
Even former CIA officials who describe the program as essential said they have noted how infrequently they recognized the names of those killed during the barrage of strikes in the past year.
Yeah, SO MANY LOST SOULS -- and there the anger fades away to a struggling sadness when I think of those beautiful people up in the hills with their fractured families. People who JUST WANTED to be LEFT ALONE!!
The CIA declined to comment on a program that the agency refuses to acknowledge publicly. But US officials familiar with drone operations said the strikes are hitting important Al Qaeda operatives and are critical to keeping the country safe.
Yeah, ANYTHING to JUSTIFY MASS MURDER from ON HIGH by the EMPIRE!!!!!
“This effort has evolved because our intelligence has improved greatly over the years, and we’re able to identify not just senior terrorists, but also Al Qaeda foot soldiers who are planning attacks on our homeland and our troops in Afghanistan,’’ said a US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the classified program.
That paragraph is one reason I'm so sick of the newspaper, and why I hate my lying shit government and its mouthpiece media!
“We would be remiss if we didn’t go after people who have American blood on their hands,’’ the official said....
So WHEN are you guys going to GO AFTER Israel?
Yeah, turns out Muslims didn't do 9/11 at all.
The data about the drone strikes provide a blurry picture at best, because of the reliance on Pakistani media reports and anonymous accounts from US government sources.
That's the prism of my morning newspaper!
Even so, data suggest that the ratio of senior terrorism suspects being killed is declining at a substantial rate....
Then it's MURDER, ain't it??!!
--more--"
So how many more bodies has Obama add to the toll?
"US missiles kill 6, Pakistani officials say" by Associated Press / February 25, 2011
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Suspected US missiles hit a house and car in a village in northwest Pakistan close to the Afghan border yesterday, killing at least six people, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
The strikes occurred within minutes of each other in the North Waziristan region, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to brief the media.
Unmanned drones frequently fire missiles at suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban militants on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border. The attacks have emerged as a major weapon in Washington’s campaign against militants who are blamed for attacks in Afghanistan as well as plots against the West.
The officials said three missiles slammed into the house, killing four people. Two people were killed in the strike on the car. They did not identify the victims.
Yup, HOUSES and CARS!!
How would YOU like to be driving down the road or sitting at home and hearing a BIG WHOOSH before your WORLD LITERALLY EXPLODES, American?
Good God, WHAT the FUCK are we DOING over there?!!!!
American officials do not publicly acknowledge the program or who they are targeting.
Because THAT would be ADMITTING to WAR CRIMES!
Pakistani intelligence is believed to cooperate with the CIA in at least some of the attacks.
Yeah, that is why Pakistanis hate their government as much as Americans hate theirs.
There were on average two attacks a week last year, the most intense period of strikes since the program began in earnest in 2008. Most of the strikes hit North Waziristan, one of seven tribal regions in the border area and the only one where the Pakistani army has not launched any operations.
Also yesterday, unidentified gunmen in southwestern Pakistan attacked and set fire to two NATO oil tanker trucks that were traveling to Afghanistan.
--more--"
"Taliban car bombing kills 20 in Pakistan" by Munir Ahmed, Associated Press / March 9, 2011
ISLAMABAD — The Taliban detonated a car bomb in Pakistan’s third-largest city yesterday, killing 20 and wounding more than 100 people in an attack they said targeted the offices of the country’s main intelligence agency.
The blast in the Punjabi city of Faisalabad underscored the reach of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the US-allied nation.
Yup, "Al-CIA-Duh" is AT IT AGAIN!!
You know, you have to get up pretty early in the morning to fool a Pakistani -- or this particular American for that matter.
The militants are based in the tribal regions close to Afghanistan but have been able to tap into extremist networks in the country’s heartland of Punjab and strike there with regularity over the last three years.
The remote-controlled bomb also devastated a gas station and an office of Pakistan’s state airline in the industrial city. Police said the offices of a “sensitive’’ security agency were nearby but were not damaged in the attack.
Hmmmmmmmmmm!
Ahsanullah Ahsan, a Taliban spokesman, said that militants detonated the bomb by remote control and that the target was the Inter-Services Intelligence, a powerful agency that plays a major role in Pakistan’s fight against Islamist militants.
The ones the CIA man was helping?
How odd that the ISI was attacked after the CIA man murdered two of their agents.
He said the attack was revenge for the shooting of Omar Kundi, a militant commander, in Faisalabad last year by security forces.
I would like to believe my lying, Muslim-hating, war-promoting paper, but.... sigh.
Islamist militants seeking to overthrow the government have bombed hundreds of police, army, commercial, and civilian targets in Pakistan over the past three years. ISI offices in the Punjabi cities of Multan and Lahore have been attacked, as well as in the northwest city of Peshawar.
And BEHIND IT ALL has been the CIA helping its "Taliban" allies.
Yesterday’s bombing apparently caused secondary explosions at the fuel station, adding to the destruction, said Aftab Cheema, the Faisalabad police chief....
Faisalabad, 160 miles south of Islamabad, is home to Pakistan’s textile industry.
Militants have never staged a major attack there, but extremist groups have deep roots and are believed to be growing in strength.
Oh, AM I EVER SMELLING the STENCH of a FALSE FLAG ATTACK!!
The region is home to extremist networks that were once nurtured by the state to fight in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
NURTURED by the U.S. STATE, too!!
The United States has pushed Pakistan to crack down on Islamist extremist groups in its borders, saying they threaten not only Western troops engaged in the Afghan war effort but also the stability of Pakistan itself. The army has launched offensives in the northwest, but questions remain over whether the state has fully severed ties with extremist networks, especially those primarily fighting in Afghanistan.
In light of Davis' shenanigans this is REALLY INSULTING "journalism."
The United States regularly fires missiles from unmanned drones at militant targets in the border region.
One such attack yesterday killed five alleged militants in South Waziristan region, intelligence officials said on customary condition of anonymity.
The missiles hit a house near the main town of Wana, they said.
Hey, Obama, there is BLOOD on YOUR HANDS!!!
Missile attacks in South Waziristan have been rare over the last 16 months. The vast majority of the more than 120 attacks have been in North Waziristan. The Pakistan army launched a major offensive in the south in 2009, but has yet to move into the north.
--more--"
"Suspected militants killed in Pakistan" by Associated Press / March 12, 2011
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — A pair of US missile strikes killed five suspected militants in a Pakistani tribal region along the border with Afghanistan yesterday, intelligence officials said.
"Suspected" militants?
And if they were not?
The second strike apparently hit militants retrieving bodies from the first.
Or FAMILY MEMBERS and NEIGHBORS!!
Of course, the AmeriKan media would never obscure or obfuscate the issue!
The missiles landed in the Spinwam village area of North Waziristan, a tribal region largely under the control of militant groups whose primary focus is battling US and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan. Pakistan has resisted taking action against insurgents in the territory, leaving US missile strikes as the primary weapon against them.
The first strike yesterday hit a vehicle carrying three militants in the village. A half-hour later, a second pair of missiles hit two other militants on foot as they were apparently trying to pick up the remains of those hit by the first attack, said two Pakistani intelligence officials.
The identities of the dead were not immediately clear, but that area of North Waziristan is dominated by fighters loyal to warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur.
So we must have got some bad guys no matter who they were.
Who cares who they were and whether they had families and lives, right?
--more--"
And just when you thought it was impossible for the lying AmeriKan media to raise it a notch:
"Ambush kills 9 civilians in Pakistan" by Associated Press / March 14, 2011
PARACHINAR, Pakistan — Gunmen ambushed a van and killed nine civilians yesterday in a stretch of northwestern Pakistan covered by a new peace deal among tribes from rival Muslim sects. Security forces responding to the attack killed three alleged gunmen, police said.
Oh, does THIS EVER STINK!!
The clash does not bode well for the future of the peace accord in the Kurram tribal region, which ended a four-year conflict that cost hundreds of lives....
Gee, and WHO BENEFITS when there is NO PEACE?!?!
Then I found out who the "peacemakers."
Tribesmen in Kurram have also reported that the Haqqani network, a fiercely independent branch of the Afghan Taliban and a major enemy of US and NATO forces, had cut a deal with the Shi’ites so it could use Kurram as a staging ground for fighting in Afghanistan.
Ah, the HAQQANI NETWORK!
"Haqqani.... credited with introducing suicide bombing to the region.... cultivated as a "unilateral" asset of the CIA and received tens of thousands of dollars in cash for his work.... He may have had a role in expediting the escape of Osama Bin Laden.... In July 2008, CIA officials confronted Pakistan officials with evidence of ties between Inter-Services Intelligence and Haqqani. Haqqani has been accused of involvement in the 2008 Indian embassy bombing in Kabul.... The Haqqani Network is based in Pakistan and is believed to have links to Al Qaeda."
Links to who?
And the EXTREMIST SUNNI TALIBAN TERRORIST Haqqani cut a DEAL with SHIITES that they consider WORSE HERETICS than GODLESS AmeriKans?!
Yeah, when they are not killing each other they are working together.
WHATEVER LIE WORKS at the TIME, right, corporate media?!?!
There have been reports that Taliban militants planned to take advantage of the peace deal to gain more territory along the Afghan border.
Sorry, I have HAD ENOUGH WAR PROPAGANDA, readers.
The Taliban, who adhere to a hard-line interpretation of Sunni Islam, have at times exploited sectarian and tribal feuds to spread their influence along the Pakistan-Afghan border.
So says my lying, agenda-pushing, Muslim-hating, war-promoting paper.
Pakistan’s tribal belt is a hotbed of Islamist militant groups, many linked to Al Qaeda.
Yeah, well, which "Al-CIA-Duh" would that be, BG?
The made-up "Al-CIA-Duh?"
Or the "Al-CIA-Duh" CREATION for the COURTROOM!?
The Pakistani Army has launched offensives in several areas, and the United States has fired hundreds of missiles at suspected militants using unmanned aircraft in the region.
Yesterday, Pakistani intelligence officials said three suspected US missile strikes in the country’s tribal regions killed seven alleged militants.
"Alleged?"
--more--"
Maybe this will make the missiles stop:
"Pakistan condemns US drone attack" by Associated Press / March 18, 2011
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s army chief strongly condemned a US drone attack that killed more than three dozen people yesterday, saying the missiles struck a peaceful meeting of tribal elders near the Afghan border.
It's what we at the MSM Monitor call MASS MURDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The accusation by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani adds tension to a relationship already strained by the shooting deaths of two Pakistanis by a CIA contractor who was freed Wednesday following a contentious deal to pay millions in “blood money’’ to the men’s families.
Yes, my newspaper never told us the Saudis put up the dough -- among so many other aspects of the case.
These conflicts make it that much harder for the United States to achieve its main goal in Pakistan: persuading the government to target Islamic militants on its territory. They regularly stage cross-border attacks against foreign troops in Afghanistan.
Maybe AmeriKa's CIA should stop supporting them. That might help a bit, no?
“It is highly regrettable that a jirga [meeting] of peaceful citizens including elders of the area was carelessly and callously targeted with complete disregard to human life,’’ said Kayani in a written statement.
Happens EVERY TIME AmeriKa launches those things!!
Kayani’s condemnation conflicted with statements provided by Pakistani intelligence officials throughout the day saying that the 38 people killed and seven wounded in the attack were militants meeting to discuss sending additional fighters into Afghanistan.
The officials said the militants were allied with Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a powerful Pakistani Taliban leader in the area, and even gave the name of a senior militant, Sharabat Khan, who was reportedly killed in the attack.
So they deserved to be blown into oblivion anyway, right? If that's who was killed?
The compound was targeted by two pairs of missiles fired three minutes apart. It was located in the Datta Khel area of the North Waziristan tribal region — the main sanctuary for Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters along the Afghan border, said the intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. Most reporters are barred from visiting the tribal region, so it is difficult to verify who is killed in attacks.
The United States refuses to publicly acknowledge the covert CIA drone program in Pakistan, but officials have said privately that strikes have killed several key Taliban and Al Qaeda commanders. They also say the number of civilians killed in the attacks is very low.
Yesterday’s strike came a day after Pakistan released Raymond Allen Davis, the CIA contractor who shot and killed two men on Jan. 27 in the eastern city of Lahore, allegedly in self defense. He was freed after heirs of his victims were given $2.34 million in exchange for a pardon.
Davis’s release has sparked small-scale protests in Pakistan’s major cities that many expect will intensify today after noon prayers. Kayani’s claim of civilian casualties in the drone strikes could add to the anger against the United States.
I sit here and feel so helpless.
All I can say is I AM SO SORRY, Pakistani people. I have been SCREAMING and SWEARING for YEARS and the MASS-MURDERING WAR CRIMES over a LIE continue and continue.
I'm SORRY I have FAILED YOU!
--more--"
Related: Missile Strike Math
Time to say a prayer:
"Pakistan’s minister for minorities is slain; Christian opposed hard-line stance " by Washington Post / March 3, 2011
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s federal minorities minister, a Christian, was gunned down by suspected Islamist militants in this capital city yesterday in the second killing this year of a senior government official who had spoken out against the country’s stringent anti-blasphemy laws.
Related: MSM Monitor: Pitting Pakistan's Christians Against Its Muslims
Sorry, I'M NOT BUYING IN to Christian-Muslim strife anymore no matter where it occurs.
WHO (rhymes with) BENEFITS when Christian and Muslims are at each others throats for no reason other than false-flag attacks intended to put us at each others throats?
Shahbaz Bhatti, the sole Christian Cabinet member in majority-Muslim Pakistan, was shot multiple times by gunmen who surrounded his car as he left for work from his mother’s house, near his own home in a residential neighborhood. The attackers fled, but fliers scattered at the scene denouncing Bhatti as an infidel bore the names of the militant Islamist groups Punjabi Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Oh, now I'm convinced. So which CIA contractor was helping them?
The assassination represented a severe blow to Pakistani liberals, who are increasingly being silenced by Muslim hard-liners willing to use violence against those who do not share their harsh views....
But if Zionist hard-liners in Israel are willing to use violence, well, that's okay, and if peaceful protesters cries across the world are ignored, so what?
--more--"
And how odd that he was one of our allies:
"US tried to shield Pakistani official; Minister faced death threats" by Jane Perlez, New York Times / March 4, 2011
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Obama administration, concerned for the safety of the Pakistani official who was assassinated Wednesday, tried in the weeks before his killing to secure an armored car and beef up protection for him, a US official said yesterday....
And he was assassanitaed anyway, huh?
--more--"
"Pakistanis bury slain Christian politician" by Associated Press / March 5, 2011
KHUSHPUR, Pakistan — Men beat their bare chests, women wailed, and church leaders warned that Pakistan was sinking under the weight of extremism yesterday as they buried a Christian politician assassinated for opposing harsh blasphemy laws....
He was the second Pakistani politician killed in two months over the matter, and his death underscored the perils facing a government that is increasingly too weak to govern well in the face of rising Islamist extremism.
So WHEN does the OFFICIAL U.S. OCCUPATION begin?
As Bhatti was being mourned, a bomb blast at a mosque in Pakistan’s northwest killed eight people, another sign of the militants’ strength....
Yup, the pious "Al-CIA-Duh" bombed a mosque, sure.
--more--"
Just like they bombed a funeral!
"Bomber kills 36 mourners at funeral in Pakistan" by Riaz Khan, Associated Press / March 10, 2011
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber struck a funeral attended by anti-Taliban militiamen in northwestern Pakistan yesterday, killing at least 36 mourners and wounding more than 100 in the deadliest militant attack in the country this year. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility....
So says my lying, agenda-pushing, Muslim-hating, war-promoting paper anyway.
--more--"
The AmeriKan media doesn't have a prayer of being believed anymore, readers.
