Pakistan Says U.S. Drone Killed Taliban Leader
Last edited Thu May 30, 2013, 12:58 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: New York Times
Less than a week after President Obama outlined a new direction for the secret drone wars, Pakistani officials said that a C.I.A. missile strike on Wednesday killed a top member of the Pakistani Taliban, an attack that illustrated the continued murkiness of the rules that govern the United States targeted killing operations.
The drone strike in Pakistans tribal belt, along the Afghan border, was the first since Mr. Obama announced what his administration billed as sweeping changes to the drone program, with new limits on who would be targeted and more transparency in reporting such strikes.
But in the days since the presidents speech, American officials have asserted behind the scenes that the new standards would not apply to the C.I.A. drone program in Pakistan as long as American troops remained next door in Afghanistan a reference to Mr. Obamas exception for an Afghan war theater. For months to come, any drone strikes in Pakistan the country that has been hit by the vast majority of them, with more than 350 such attacks by some estimates will be exempt from the new rules.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/world/asia/drone-strike-hits-near-pakistani-afghan-border.html
delrem
(9,688 posts)who puts a greater distance between the results of his rhetoric and the results of his practice.
Bush was the opposite. To be sure, Bush's rhetoric didn't correspond with the truth, but his action corresponded with his rhetoric.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)It has kept terrorists on the run and broken their back despite funding from the Pakistani military.
It has also created an anti-military movement in Pakistan which swept Nawaz Sharif to power and broken the radical islamists' back.
Go Obama!
pauldp
(1,890 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)You still buy the "war on terror". Sad.
Millions of dollars and for every "terrorist" we kill, we create 10 more. The conservatives love it, the military loves it, the neo-cons love it.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)They harbor, support, arm, train and fund terrorists. No one denies this.
When Pakistan gives a safe haven to terrorists and places them in civilian areas, the blood is on their hands.
cpwm17
(3,829 posts)That gives nobody the right to drop bombs on American homes. That is terrorism.
The US is the world's leading arms exporter. Much of the arms goes to countries unfriendly to world peace.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)states". Does the President get to decide unilaterally? Do you have a list of all the so-called "terrorist states".
Killing with drones is terrorism. Are we a terrorist state? Or maybe we are killing for God.
RC
(25,592 posts)Guess they didn't have time to draw straws.
I can't help but wonder how we USA'ns would react if some other country were using drones in this country, to take out what they consider to be terrorists? Blowing up houses in residential neighborhoods in the middle of the night. Killing innocents and calling them terrorist after they were too dead to object. After all, that is what we are doing in the Middle East.
The War on Terror, the self-perpetuating War. The more we fight, the more we need to defend ourselves from the new terrorist we create. What a concept, huh?
cstanleytech
(26,283 posts)I think moving the control of the armed drones from the CIA to the military is a good first step as they "are" a weapon that should be under military control and if the CIA wants their own drones then fine but they should be limited to unarmed ones for surveillance and intelligence gathering only.
polly7
(20,582 posts)DCBob
(24,689 posts)Thats about the only other alternative to getting at these guys in that region.
Why are we there in the first place?
Another question: What roll did we, the US, play in making these terrorists terrorists in the first place?
DCBob
(24,689 posts)Last edited Wed May 29, 2013, 07:10 PM - Edit history (1)
Should we ignore the activities of the organization who was responsible for 9/11 ?
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Your position sounds like that of the neo-cons. Killing with drones isnt making us any safer.
Our infrastructure is crashing, our children are without health care, our seniors are living in poverty, our government is spying on us. And what does our government do? "Hey look over there, a terrorist in Pakistan."
DCBob
(24,689 posts)I marched in the Iraq war protests in DC three times. I am against most forms of war and violence but in cases of dealing with those involved with 9/11.. I make an exception.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)How do you know that any of the people that the Pres chooses to kill are in any way associated with 9/11?
You are yielding way to much power to our President.
DCBob
(24,689 posts)I didnt trust Bush/Cheney at all. I do, for the most part, trust our current President.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)DCBob
(24,689 posts)its your eyesight that's in question if you read that from what I wrote.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)said you trust him. What is that trust based on? The fact he has a nice smile, a nice family, and is a Democrat.
What he is doing is morally wrong. Fighting terror with terror.
DCBob
(24,689 posts)ISLAMABAD, Pakistan The Pakistani Talibans second-in-command was killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike early Wednesday in the tribal North Waziristan region, two Pakistani intelligence officials and a local Pakistani Taliban commander in the region said.
An official spokesman for the insurgent group, however, said he had no confirmation of the leaders death. I have no such information, Ehsanullah Ehsan said in a phone interview from an undisclosed location in the tribal region.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/pakistan-officials-us-drone-kills-4-militants-near-afghan-border-first-strike-after-election/2013/05/29/24ef335a-c834-11e2-9245-773c0123c027_story.html
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Their beef is with the Pakistani government.
Why are we doing Pakistan's dirty work for it?
cstanleytech
(26,283 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Factfriendly McFact
(4 posts)If they die we will probably not hear about it, as only people who die immediately are included in news articles:
"Three children were reportedly hurt in Wednesdays attack, which was the first known targeted strike on Pakistani soil in six weeks. Local officials said at least two other militant leaders besides Rehman were among the dead. The CIA declined to comment on the reported strike."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/pakistan-officials-us-drone-kills-4-militants-near-afghan-border-first-strike-after-election/2013/05/29/24ef335a-c834-11e2-9245-773c0123c027_story.html?hpid=z1
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)PESHAWAR, Pakistan A suspected U.S. drone strike killed the No. 2 commander of the Pakistani Taliban on Wednesday, Pakistani intelligence officials said, although the militant group denied he was dead.
If confirmed, the death of Waliur Rehman would be a strong blow to the militant group responsible for hundreds of bombings and shootings across Pakistan. The United States has a $5 million bounty out on Rehman, who Washington has accused of involvement in the 2009 suicide attack on a U.S. base in Afghanistan that killed seven Americans working for the CIA.
Missiles fired by a U.S. drone slammed into a house early Wednesday in Miran Shah, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal region, killing five people including Rehman, Pakistani officials said.
Two officials said their informants in the field saw Rehman's body, while a third said intelligence authorities had intercepted communications between militants saying Rehman had been killed. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
-snip-
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/29/waliur-rehman-dead-pakistan-no-2-killed-drone-strike_n_3351939.html
tabasco
(22,974 posts)This was a good shot on some terrorist assholes.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)Pterodactyl
(1,687 posts)Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)May 30, 2:39 AM EDT
Intel officials: Pakistan Taliban No. 2 is buried
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistani intelligence officials say the Pakistani Taliban's deputy leader has been buried after his death in a U.S. drone strike.
The killing of Waliur Rehman has not been confirmed by the White House or the official Pakistani Taliban spokesman. But it would be a major blow to the militant group. The U.S. had accused Rehman of involvement in a 2009 suicide attack in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA employees.
Rehman's killing could rattle the incoming Pakistani ruling party's goal of negotiating with the Taliban. Rehman had previously been considered amenable to talks.
Two intelligence officials say informants on the ground told them Rehman was buried Wednesday night. Two militants claimed they attended the funeral.
-snip-
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_PAKISTAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-05-30-02-39-41
I have issues with the drone program but this guy was a big fish which we probably could not have gotten any other way.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Even the Pakistani authorities offered huge rewards for his capture or death.