"NATO airstrikes kill 25 Pakistani soldiers; Country responds by closing supply route, drone base" by Salman Masood New York Times / November 27, 2011
Pakistani officials said yesterday that NATO aircraft had killed at least 25 soldiers in strikes against two military posts at the northwestern border with Afghanistan, and the country’s supreme army commander called them unprovoked acts of aggression, in a new flash point between the United States and Pakistan.
The Pakistani government responded by ordering the CIA to vacate the drone operations it runs from Shamsi Air Base, in northern Pakistan, within 15 days and by closing down the two main NATO supply routes into Afghanistan, including the one at Torkham.
Ooops.
The Pakistani government responded by ordering the CIA to vacate the drone operations it runs from Shamsi Air Base, in northern Pakistan, within 15 days and by closing down the two main NATO supply routes into Afghanistan, including the one at Torkham.
Ooops.
NATO forces receive roughly 40 percent of their supplies through that crossing, which runs through the Khyber Pass, and Pakistan gave no estimate for how long the routes might be shut down.
I will be looking for information in my BG on this matter, readers, since it has seldom mentioned in all these long years of war. I guess printing and talking about supply lines would somehow violate national security, as if the natives, 'er, "terrorists" weren't aware of the trucks rumbling through.
Yes, my dear American reader, the information is being kept from you, you poor lost soul.
In Washington, American officials were scrambling to assess what had happened amid preliminary reports that allied forces in Afghanistan engaged in a firefight along the border and called in airstrikes.
Senior Obama administration officials were also weighing the implications on a relationship that took a sharp turn for the worse after a Navy Seal commando raid killed Osama bin Laden near Islamabad in May, and that has deteriorated since then....
Awright, lookit: Bin Laden Stories Show AmeriKan Media Not to be Believed
And since they lie about that, lie about this, lie about nearly every damn thing -- or at best twist, turn, and distort -- how can the AmeriKan media mouthpieces be believed at all regarding anything?
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The lame government excuse, 'er, explanation:
“It seems quite extraordinary that we’d just nail these posts the way they say we did,” said one senior U.S. official who was in close touch with U.S. and NATO officials in Pakistan and Afghanistan early Saturday. “Whether they were going after people or whether there was some firing from the Afghan side of the border, then the Pakistan side, we just don’t know. It’s real murky right now. Clearly, something went very wrong.”
Oh, when YOU SEE THAT WORD you can start RINGING THE COVER-UP ALARM BELL!!!
"The details of how the accident unfolded remain murky"
"the truth lies buried in the murky world of spies."
See: They Don't Want Your Blood Money
Why Am I No Longer Reading the Newspaper?
Seeing through the murk yet?
The U.S. ambassador in Islamabad, Cameron Munter, called an emergency meeting and expressed regret over the Pakistani casualties. And Gen. John R. Allen, commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, offered condolences to families of the dead and promised an investigation....
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Related:
"Pakistani military officials expressed a lack of confidence in the investigations promised by US officials."
So do I.
"Pakistanis fired first, officials say; Adds to turmoil over NATO strike" by Rahim Faiez | Associated Press, November 28, 2011
ISLAMABAD - Afghanistan officials claimed yesterday that Afghan and NATO forces were retaliating for gunfire from two Pakistani Army bases when they called in airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, adding a layer of complexity to the episode that has further strained Pakistan’s ties with the United States.
The account challenged Pakistan’s claim that the strikes were unprovoked....
Afghanistan’s assertions about the attack muddy the efforts to determine what happened. The Afghan officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said it was unclear who fired on Afghan and NATO forces, which were conducting a joint operation before dawn Saturday.
They said the fire came from the direction of the two Pakistani Army posts along the border that were later hit in the airstrikes. NATO has said it is investigating, but....
Two US senators called for harder line on Pakistan yesterday. Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, said Pakistan must understand that US aid depends on Pakistani cooperation. Senator Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said Pakistan’s moves to punish coalition forces for the airstrikes are more evidence that the United States should get its troops out of the region....
Oh, I REALLY LIKE THA LAST IDEA a WHOLE LOT!
Let's GET 'EM OUT RIGHT NOW -- about face, for'd 'harch -- and GROUND ALL THE MISSILE-FIRING DRONES for GOOD, too!
There were protests around Pakistan, including in Karachi, where about 500 Islamists rallied outside the US Consulate....
Yeah, there are protests everywhere but the paper picks and chooses those it wishes to promote.
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"Pakistan raid halts rapprochement; Army leader under renewed pressure after fatal attacks" November 29, 2011|By Kathy Gannon, Associated Press
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers came just as the difficult relationship between the United States and Pakistani militaries was showing signs of improvement.
Yeah, imagine that.
Only hours earlier, US Marine General John Allen, the coalition’s top commander in Afghanistan, and Pakistan’s army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani concluded a meeting that sought to find common ground, a senior US official said.
That makes the whole strike stink to high heaven even more.
The official said the two men discussed areas of cooperation and “basically what we could do for each other.’’
Now, Kayani is under renewed pressure from his rank and file, intelligence sharing has stopped, and Pakistan has withdrawn its offer to nudge the Afghan Taliban to the negotiation table.
On its website, the US embassy warned of possible retaliation against Americans and said some US government personnel outside Islamabad were being recalled to the capital as a precaution.
CAN YOU SMELL the STINK?
The White House said yesterday that President Obama considers the airstrikes a tragedy and that the administration is determined to look into the circumstances of the attacks....
A complete breakdown in the US-Pakistani relationship seems unlikely, and both sides know that more is at stake than ever before.
Nevertheless, the senior US official said the weekend predawn raids have left the relationship “the worst it has been.’’
*****************************
Saturday’s airstrikes lasted almost two hours and persisted even after Pakistani commanders pleaded with coalition forces to stop, the Pakistani army said yesterday.
NATO described the attacks as “tragic and unintended’’ and promised a full investigation.
Oh, this is such crap.
Afghan officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, said Afghan commandos and US special forces were conducting a mission on the Afghan side of the border and received incoming fire from the direction of the Pakistani posts. They responded with airstrikes. Pakistan denies it fired first at NATO.
The poorly defined, mountainous border has been a constant source of tension between Pakistan and the United States.
NATO officials have complained that insurgents fire across the frontier into Afghanistan, often from positions close to Pakistani soldiers who have been accused of tolerating or supporting the militants. NATO and Afghan forces are not allowed to cross into Pakistan in pursuit of militants.
The Pakistani military has complained about anti-Pakistan insurgents finding safe havens in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Nuristan provinces. In the area in which Saturday’s attack took place, Pakistan has suffered dozens of casualties at the hands of insurgents who return across the border to Afghanistan, according to US and Pakistani officials.
Before Saturday’s raid, the official said, “the military-to-military relationship had stabilized and was slowly, incrementally improving. The intelligence-to-intelligence relationship had also stabilized and incrementally was improving. Now it has all stopped.’’
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"Pakistan says US gave wrong location; Officials say that resulted in deaths" by Chris Brummitt | Associated Press, December 03, 2011
ISLAMABAD - US officials gave Pakistani soldiers the wrong location when asking for clearance to attack militants along the border last weekend, Pakistani military officials said yesterday. The strike resulted in the deaths of 24 soldiers and a major crisis in relations between Washington and Islamabad.
The claim was the latest in a series by mostly anonymous officials in both countries trying to explain what happened before and during last week’s bombing of two Pakistani border checkpoints by US aircraft.
NATO and the United States have expressed regret for the loss of lives but have rejected Pakistani allegations it was a deliberate act of aggression.
Still closed, okay.
Thousands of Islamic extremists and other demonstrators took to the streets across the country after Friday prayers to protest the Nov. 26 strike. The chants were a worrying sign for the West because it indicates that anger about the incident is uniting hardliners and the military.
Hey, we do bring people together, don't we? Everybody hates our occupations and aggressions wherever they are found.
Pakistan’s army, still smarting from the criticism about the secret US raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2, has ordered border troops to take a more aggressive stance against intruders, said Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani.
US officials have said that last Saturday’s incident occurred when a joint US and Afghan patrol requested backup after being hit by mortar and small-arms fire by Taliban militants.
Before responding, the patrol first checked with the Pakistani Army, which reported it had no troops in the area, they said.
US officials said Pakistani troops had “given the go-ahead’’ for the strikes, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. This account would suggest that the Pakistanis were at least partly to blame for the error.
Please, you HAVE TO BE F***ING KIDDING!!
I guess sometimes it IS OKAY TO BLAME VICTIMS, huh?
A Pakistani military official confirmed that the Americans had provided his side with a location for the planned strike.
However, he said, the information arrived late, Pakistan never cleared the strike, and the coordinates given were incorrect.
Why am I more inclined to believe the other guy over my own government and mouthpiece media? Why is that?
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I'm sorry, readers; I didn't realize I was dripping with sarcasm this afternoon.
"Obama calls president of Pakistan" December 05, 2011|New York Times
WASHINGTON - President Obama telephoned the president of Pakistan yesterday to offer “condolences’’ for the deaths of two dozen soldiers who were killed in NATO air strikes along the Afghan border, the White House said.
I'd hang up. I wouldn't want to hear hollow apologies and the rest. He's increased drone strikes in the region since Bush left, and that was not the change I wanted.
The conversation, eight days after the incident, overcame the reservations of some Defense Department officials and favored an approach suggested by diplomats who had urged a conciliatory gesture. But the president’s comments stopped short of a formal apology or a videotaped statement to ease the public anger in Pakistan....
The strikes on the two Pakistani outposts occurred during a tightly planned operation by Afghan and US Special Operations Forces against a Taliban training camp in a remote and mountainous border area....
--more--"
Related:
"In diplomacy, as in life, it never hurts to say you’re sorry when you’ve made a mistake."
What gall coming from a newspaper that never really apologized for all the lies blared from their headlines leading up to the invasion of Iraq and now pressing the attack on Iran.
"Pakistan PM seeks to mend US relations in wake of NATO strike; But Islamabad sees chance for leverage in D.C." December 06, 2011|By Chris Brummitt, Associated Press
LAHORE, Pakistan - In an overture to Washington, Pakistan’s prime minister said yesterday his country wants to repair US relations pushed close to rupture since NATO airstrikes on the Afghan border killed 24 Pakistani troops last month.
Isn't that how this whole thing started?
Yousuf Raza Gilani’s comments were the strongest indication yet that Islamabad realizes Pakistan needs an alliance with Washington even as it continues retaliating for the Nov. 26 raid by blocking NATO and US supplies from traveling over its soil into landlocked Afghanistan.
Supply line still shutdown, okay. Ever notice my newspaper only supplies me with sentences on the issue?
The interview came a day after President Obama called Pakistan’s president to tell him that the airstrikes were not deliberate targeting of Pakistani soldiers and that the United States was committed to a full investigation....
The result of which will be it was their fault.
Yesterday, Gilani said Pakistan was willing to consider starting over, apparently believing the attack had given Islamabad fresh leverage to dictate terms in what has been an uneasy and largely transactional relationship since Pakistan joined the US war against violent Islamist extremism after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Gilani said new ties being negotiated with the United States would ensure that the two countries respected each other’s “red lines’’ regarding sovereignty and rules of engagement along the border.
“We really want to have good relations with the US based on mutual respect and clearly defined parameters,’’ Gilani said in an interview at his residence in the eastern city of Lahore.
“I think that is doable,’’ he said. “I think that it won’t take long. We are not anti-American. We are part of the system. We have to work with the entire international community.’’
Despite Gilani’s gentler rhetoric, the gulf between the two nations remains wide. US officials have said the airstrikes have been the most serious blow to a relationship that has been battered by a series of crises this year, exposing its brittleness each time.
Pakistani officials have been demanding more clarity in their relationship with the United States for some time, angry over the CIA presence in the country and the covert but routine drone strikes....
A new agreement, even a vague, nonbinding one, may be enough to satisfy domestic critics that Pakistan has extracted something from Washington before agreeing to reopen the supply lines....
That is all the AmeriKan military really cares about. Supply routes are the lifeblood of empire.
The Obama administration wants continued engagement even as Pakistan’s refusal to attack militant sanctuaries along the border over the last three years has fueled criticism in Congress the country is a duplicitous ally unworthy of American aid.
Are all our friends like Israel?
Many US officials regard Pakistani cooperation as vital for peace talks with Afghan insurgent leaders to succeed, because many of the leaders live in Pakistan and have ties to its security forces. The country, home to 180 million people, has nuclear weapons and a thriving Islamist militant insurgency of its own that is giving support to Al Qaeda operatives....
Booga-booga, boo-boo.
Oh, Lord, am I SICK of AGENDA-PUSHING CRAPOLA filling the pages of my newspaper!
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"Pakistan pulls troops from border outposts; Personnel meant to coordinate with coalition forces" December 07, 2011|By Lolita Baldor and Sebastian Abbot, Associated Press
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan temporarily recalled some troops yesterday from border posts meant to coordinate activity with international forces in Afghanistan as relations have been pushed to an all-time low by NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
The troops were pulled back for “consultation’’ on how to improve coordination with NATO and should be back at their posts within the next few days, said Major General Athar Abbas, a Pakistan army spokesman. He did not specify the number of troops who would be recalled, but said some would remain at the border centers.
The decision, however, highlighted current problems with coordination because US military officials worried it was another retaliatory move by Pakistan for the NATO strikes. The officials feared it would hamper efforts to work in concert with Pakistani forces and increase the risk for another misunderstanding.
US military officials said late Monday that Pakistan was pulling out of at least two of the three centers along the border and expressed concern about the potential impact. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The United States and Pakistan have offered different accounts of what led to the NATO attacks against two army posts along the Afghan border before dawn on Nov. 26, but the deadly assaults seem to have been caused in part by communication breakdowns.
Gee, Zeppelin turned out to be prophetic.
The soldiers’ deaths have further strained already tense US-Pakistan relations, threatening Washington’s attempts to get Pakistan to cooperate on the Afghan war.
Pakistan retaliated immediately by closing its Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies, demanding the United States vacate an air base used by American drones, and boycotting an international conference held Monday in Bonn, Germany, aimed at stabilizing Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani of Pakistan said Monday that Pakistan wants to repair relations with the United States. But there is still simmering anger in the country and ties have steadily deteriorated despite billions of dollars in American aid.
NATO attacks have killed Pakistani troops at least three times along the porous border since 2008, but the Nov. 26 attack in the Mohmand tribal area was by far the most deadly.
US officials have said the strike occurred when a joint US and Afghan patrol requested air support after coming under fire.
Pakistan has said the Americans gave the wrong coordinates - an allegation denied by US defense officials.
A denial from them is damn near an admission.
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"Errors by US, Pakistan led to airstrike, Pentagon says" December 23, 2011|By Matthew Rosenberg
KABUL — Mistakes by both US and Pakistani forces led to airstrikes against Pakistani posts on the Afghanistan border that killed 26 Pakistani soldiers last month, according to a Pentagon investigation that for the first time acknowledged some American responsibility for the clash, which plunged the already frayed relationship between the United States and Pakistan to a new low.
Isn't that JUST GREAT!?!
Yup, U.S. OWNED UP TO IT! Ought to be given a hug and pat on the back, right?
But a crucial finding — that the Pakistanis fired first — was likely to further anger Pakistan.
But it was their fault.
US officials said yesterday that the investigation, which has not yet been released, had concluded the airstrikes were an act of self-defense ultimately justified because Pakistani soldiers opened fire on a joint team of Afghan and US special operations forces operating along the often poorly demarcated frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan....
That DOES NOT LOOK like CLAIMING RESPONSIBILITY to ME!!!!
Pakistan has insisted that its forces did nothing wrong and that they did not fire the first shots. Rather, senior Pakistani officials have accused the United States of knowingly striking the border posts.
Yeah, THAT IS WHAT I THINK because a FEW WEEKS EARLIER the SECRET MEMO CALLING for U.S. MILITARY HELP against a possible coup surfaced!! Of course, it is ALL COINCIDENCE in the land of the mouthpiece AmeriKan media.
Officials in Pakistan have said they will accept nothing short of a complete apology from President Obama....
Really, what is so hard about that? Eleven other countries will be knocking at the door wanting the same? Maybe we should give it to them, because this pock-marking of the planet with missiles over.... oh, never mind. I've been typing the same damn shit for over five years now and really, what has fucking changed for the better?
US officials had not planned to release any results of the investigation by the US Central Command this week and were still determining what details could be publicized and what should remain classified, said a Western official in Kabul who asked not to be identified because the full report remains classified.
Don't you LOVE the FREE and TRANSPARENT West as opposed to all those icky horrible governments we must wage war on because they don't love their people?
But with word spreading in Washington about the report’s main findings, the Defense Department put out its statement yesterday as US officials scrambled to brief their Pakistani counterparts and try to limit the fallout before news of the findings became public.
‘‘The message we’re trying to convey tonight is that there were some pretty serious breakdowns all around,’’ said a US official in the region yesterday.
I'm SO SICK of being GIVEN MESSAGES and being SERVED SYMBOLISM?
So when does the DAMN TRUTH ever enter into the equation?!!!!!!!!!!
Based on the Defense Department’s statement and the accounts of US and Western officials who have seen the results of the investigation, the report lays out Washington’s counter-narrative to the Pakistani accusations that their forces were intentionally and repeatedly targeted over the course of two hours after midnight Nov. 26.
Did I mention how SICK I AM of being fed NARRATIVES, too?!!!!!??
Some elements of the report confirm what Pakistani officials have been saying about the airstrikes, said officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.
The conclusion is that both sides erred.
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Gee, the sarcasm boiled over into some anger, didn't it
"US, Pakistan to limit already tense relations" by Anne Gearan | Associated Press, January 03, 2012
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - In what could be the biggest change in a decade in a relationship that has been a mainstay of US military and counterterrorism policy since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the United States and Pakistan are lowering expectations for what the two nations will do together and planning for a period of more limited contact.
Then the narrative can be things are much better and relations are improving.
The change described by both Pakistani and US officials follows a series of diplomatic crises over the past year that strained an already difficult partnership based around the US goal of stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
For Pakistan, cooperation on that agenda was rewarded with billions in financial aid. The change means less cooperation with Washington and a willingness to swear off some aid that often made Pakistan feel too dependent, and too pushed around.
Both US and Pakistani officials said the November killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a NATO air strike and Washington’s refusal to outright apologize for the deaths has been a game changer in a relationship characterized by mistrust and mutual acrimony.
In the United States, civilian and military officials have called the friendly fire incident a tragedy caused by mistakes on both sides, but insist that Pakistan fired first. Pakistan denies that, and has called the incident an unprovoked attack.
A senior Obama administration official conceded that the deaths made every aspect of US cooperation with Pakistan more difficult and that the distance Pakistan has imposed may continue indefinitely.
Those supply lines open yet?
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"Pakistan rejects US report on airstrikes" Associated Press" January 24, 2012
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s army yesterday formally rejected a US assertion that American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops last year were justified as self-defense, a stance that could complicate efforts to repair the troubled but vital relationship between the two countries.
In a detailed report, the army said that Pakistani troops did not trigger the Nov. 26 incident at two posts along the Afghan border by firing at American and Afghan forces, as the United States has alleged. Pakistan’s army said its troops shot at suspected militants who were nowhere near coalition troops.
“Trying to affix partial responsibility of the incident on Pakistan is, therefore, unjustified and unacceptable,’’ said the report, which was issued in response to the US investigation that concluded at the end of December.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the United States stood by the US Central Command’s investigation of the altercation.
“We did offer to the Pakistani government, to the Pakistani military, that they could participate fully in our investigation and have their own people on our team. They declined to participate,’’ she said yesterday.
Pakistan responded to the deadly attack by closing its border crossings to supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan also kicked the United States out of a base that was used to service American drones.
And yet the strikes continue.
--more--"
More hits and misses:
"Haqqani network insider dies in US drone strike in Pakistan" October 14, 2011|By Haq Nawaz Khan and Karin Brulliard, Washington Post
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pakistani intelligence officials said a suspected CIA drone strike killed a Haqqani network insider in the northwestern part of the country yesterday in what appeared to be a direct hit on the Afghan militant group, which the United States says is aided by Pakistan’s premier spy agency.
The early-morning missile attack, in the town of Dande Darpa Khel in North Waziristan, also killed two other Haqqani fighters, said an intelligence official who was not permitted to speak publicly. The town is just west of Miran Shah, the capital of North Waziristan, which US officials say the Haqqani network uses as a base to stage attacks on coalition forces and US targets across the border in Afghanistan.
Imagine sleeping in your bed and not even hearing the whoosh-bang.
Related: Haqqani Ha-Ha
It's just not funny anymore.
I mean, do I look like I'm effin' laffin'?
Yesterday, a second suspected drone attack struck a border town in neighboring South Waziristan, killing four militants who were planting explosives, a political official in the area said. The two drone strikes were the first reported in Pakistan this month.
The strikes came as the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, arrived in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, to try to improve relations with the country, which have gone from bad to worse amid escalating US accusations of Pakistani support for the Haqqanis.
Again, just coincidence on the timing there. Pffft!
Pakistan denies that it helps the group, but the nation’s army has also repeatedly refused to initiate military offensives against it.
Therefore their border outposts get blasted in a "mistake,"ooops!
The intelligence official said the morning drone strike killed a guard named Jalil Haqqani, whose role in the network remained unclear yesterday. The intelligence official said the guard was not directly related to the Haqqani family, which runs the insurgent organization of which he was a “trusted’’ but not senior member.
A local tribal elder said that Jalil Haqqani was a driver who was close to the family and was charged with guarding a street that led to militants’ compounds and that two drone missiles slammed into a car carrying him and two other fighters.
Another elder said Jalil Haqqani was responsible for communications.
Intelligence officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the Associated Press that Jalil Haqqani was a “coordinator’’ and was related to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the network’s leader.
Pakistan’s tribal region, where the Haqqani network and a stew of other militant groups are said to be based, is off-limits to foreigners and dangerous for outsiders, making it difficult to independently verify the details of CIA drone strikes in the area.
US and Afghan officials say the Haqqani network, which claims allegiance to the broader Afghan Taliban movement led by Mohammad Omar, regularly attacks coalition troops and has carried out several high-profile assaults in Kabul, including an attack last month on the US Embassy there.
American officials have long depicted the Haqqanis as the most vicious of the Afghan insurgent groups and too extreme to be included in any peace deal to end the war in Afghanistan.
Recently, however, the United States has indicated that it is open to talking with the Haqqanis as it pursues negotiations, a process that is Grossman’s main assignment as envoy.
Well, we HAVE BEFORE!!!
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And what should I see in my printed paper but a photo above the previous article:
"SMOKY AFTERMATH -- The charred remains of NATO fuel trucks smoldered yesterday after gunmen attacked the Afghanistan-bound convoy on a highway near Shikarpur in Pakistan's Sindh Province. The attackers set fire to six of the trucks, police said."
Oh, right, that was before the supply lines were cut.
"US drone strikes kill 4 in Pakistan" October 15, 2011|Associated Press
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Missiles from US drone aircraft killed four people in a northwestern Pakistani region controlled by the Haqqani militant network yesterday, a day after a similar attack there killed a top commander of the group, Pakistani officials said.
The identities of the dead in the North Waziristan region were not known, the officials said.
The four were riding in a car close to Miran Shah town, the main base of the Haqqani network, when two missiles struck, said the officials, who did not give their names because they were not allowed to brief reporters.
US intelligence believes the Haqqanis are the top threat to security in Afghanistan and that they enjoy the support of the Pakistani Army.
Gives them ANOTHER CUI BONO REASON to hit the BORDER OUTPOSTS, doesn't it?
It wants the army to sever its ties and attack the group, something that the government refuses to do. The issue is a main cause of tensions between the two countries.
On Thursday, a missile attack close to Miran Shah killed Janbaz Zadran, who US officials said was a top commander in the network who helped orchestrate attacks in Kabul and southeastern Afghanistan.
They said he was the most senior Haqqani leader in Pakistan to be killed.
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Another day, another drone strike:
"US missiles kill 6 at border, officials say
DERA ISMAIL KHAN - US missiles killed six suspected militants in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border yesterday, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The strikes were part of a flurry of such attacks which could indicate a more aggressive US strategy against insurgents finding sanctuary there. (AP)."
For once they are true to their murderous word:
"US drone missiles kill 4 in Pakistan" November 01, 2011|Associated Press
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - US drone-fired missiles killed four suspected militants yesterday close to the Afghan border, Pakistani officials said.
The missiles hit a vehicle close to the town of Mir Ali in the North Waziristan tribal region, which is effectively under the control of Al Qaeda and Taliban militants, many of whom fight US forces in Afghanistan.
The identities of those killed were not known, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
In other words, they could have been innocent civilians.
American drones routinely fire missiles at Al Qaeda and Taliban militants on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan.
US officials do not talk about the CIA-led program, which is unpopular in Pakistan. Pakistani authorities formally protested, but the army is believed to provide intelligence for some of the strikes.
Yes, everyone knows the government has cooperated with the U.S. all these years while officially protesting. That's why citizens here and there don't believe lying governments and their mouthpiece media.
Human rights groups have questioned the legality of the attacks and pointed to reports of civilian casualties, which they say are not transparently investigated, if at all.
Yeah, WHO CARES ABOUT THEM!?
Who cares about INNOCENT PEOPLE being MURDERED upon the ALTAR of LIES and EMPIRE?!
I know who DOES NOT CARE! My lying, agenda-pushing, war-promoting newspaper, that's who!
They CHANGE the SUBJECT!!
In a separate development yesterday, the Pentagon released excerpts from an investigation that confirms a Pakistani wearing the uniform of a local militia was responsible for the shooting death of US Army Major Larry J. Bauguess in May 2007.
The incident happened on the Pakistan side of the Afghan border. Until now, Washington had kept quiet about a Pakistani role in Bauguess’s death. It initially reported that he died of wounds sustained by “enemy small arms fire.’’
Again, JUST ANOTHER COINCIDENCE!!!
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Then I was TOLD the STRIKES had STOPPED for a while!
"Pakistan Taliban leader reported dead in US strike" by Associated Press, January 16, 2012
ISLAMABAD - Intercepted militant radio communications indicate the leader of the Pakistani Taliban may have been killed in a recent US drone strike, Pakistani intelligence officials said yesterday. A Taliban official denied that.
The report coincided with sectarian violence - a bomb blast in eastern Pakistan that killed 14 people in a Shi’ite religious procession.
Related: Occupation Iraq: Divide and Conquer
It's the same cast of characters bringing it to their nation.
The assertion that the Pakistani Taliban chief was killed came from officials who said they intercepted a number of Taliban radio conversations. In about a half a dozen intercepts, the militants discussed whether their chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, was killed on Jan. 12 in the North Waziristan tribal area.
Didn't they already kill him?
Related: U.S. Turns on Taliban Terrorist Asset
Again?
Some militants confirmed Mehsud was dead, and one criticized others for talking about the issue over the radio.
In early 2010, Pakistani and American officials said they believed a missile strike had killed Hakimullah Mehsud along the border of North and South Waziristan. They were proved wrong when videos appeared showing him alive.
The Pakistani Taliban is linked to attacks against US targets. They trained the Pakistani-American who tried to detonate a car bomb in Times Square in New York City in 2010 and is tied to a suicide bombing that killed seven CIA agents at an Afghan base in 2009.
There was no claim of responsibility for yesterday’s bombing that killed 14 people during a Shi’ite observance in Punjab Province in the east - the latest sectarian attack in volatile Pakistan.
The hallmark of a western intelligence operation.
Hundreds of Pakistani Shi’ites gathered in the town of Khanpur in Punjab Province for a traditional procession to mark the end of 40 days of mourning following the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein, a revered seventh-century figure.
I'm sorry, but not even the most pious "Al-CIA-Duh" would do something like that. Besides, if they are doing that to Shi'ites they sure as hell ain't working with them. I guess it all depends on what dollop of Zionist propaganda you get on a given morning.
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"Pakistani mourns son slain by drone" January 23, 2012
ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan - Not far from the house where Osama bin Laden was slain, a retired Pakistani banker is mourning the death of his youngest son in an American missile strike 10 days ago.
The drone attack was the end for a man who emerged from among Pakistan’s elite youth into a militant life, from Britain to Afghanistan to his homeland’s turbulent border regions.
Translation: He was a western intelligence asset.
Aslam Awan died when a drone piloted remotely from the United States fired a missile at a house along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. He was among four killed. US officials said he was an “external operations planner’’ for Al Qaeda.
British authorities say he was a member of a militant cell in northern England and had fought in Afghanistan.
Awan’s background reinforces a striking association between this well-ordered, wealthy Pakistani army town and Al Qaeda militants....
The Jan. 10 drone strike in the militant stronghold of North Waziristan that killed Awan was a victory for the CIA-led program at time when relations between Washington and Islamabad are very strained.
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More "coincidences?"
"Pakistan’s top military academy attacked" New York Times, January 28, 2012
ISLAMABAD - Unidentified assailants rained rockets on Pakistan’s elite military academy yesterday morning, in an unusual burst of violence near the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed in May.
No group claimed responsibility, and the military said it had dispatched investigators.
“I don’t know who could be involved because I don’t remember any previous incident like this’’ close to the academy, said Athar Abbas, an army spokesman.
Abbottabad gained global attention last May as the scene of the dramatic Navy SEAL raid that killed bin Laden, and plunged American relations with Pakistan into turmoil.
The town is the birthplace of Aslam Awan, a Pakistani national killed in a US drone strike in North Waziristan on Jan. 10. US officials described Awan, who studied in Britain, as a senior external operations planner for Al Qaeda. Umar Patek, an Indonesian militant accused of involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, was arrested in Abbottabad by Pakistani authorities in January 2011. The US government had offered a $1 million reward for Patek’s capture.
Also see: Spring Cleaning: Kim and Co.
Time for me to start doing that with the stack of unread Boston Globes.
But the town had otherwise escaped the militant bloodshed that has plagued Pakistan in recent years. It has suffered no suicide bombings and few shootings.
This so reeks of a CIA action it is sickening.
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So does this:
"Pakistan says anthrax sent to premier's office" By Chris Brummitt and Munir Ahmed, Associated Press / February 1, 2012
ISLAMABAD—A university professor allegedly sent a packet containing anthrax to the Pakistani prime minister's office in October, his spokesman said Wednesday, raising new security concerns in a country battling Islamist extremists.
No one was made ill by the deadly spores in the package, which was sent by a female professor who was not otherwise identified, said Akram Shaheedi, a spokesman for Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. He added that the motive was not clear.
Shaheedi said tests at laboratories run by Pakistan's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Islamabad confirmed the substance in the package was anthrax.
Shaheedi said the package was received in October. He did not say why the case was publicized only now.
Islamabad police officer Hakim Khan said the prime minister's office informed the force of the incident a few days ago, and a criminal case was filed on Tuesday, a formal step in a police investigation. He said no arrests had been made yet.
Al-Qaida and other Islamic militants have carried out scores of gun and bomb attacks against the Pakistani state and Western targets in recent years. But militants have not been known to send letters or packages containing toxic material.
U.S. officials have long expressed concerns that al-Qaida and affiliated groups would like to use chemical or biological agents in attacks.
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I'm sorry, readers, but AmeriKa's mouthpiece media is missing when it comes to this American.
