H16744
Headlines : InternationalU.S. strikes within Pakistan — without notice
Here you have the US government performing a military strike autonomously inside another sovereign nation. This should be an act of war, but instead it is becoming business as usual.
It is an approach that some U.S. officials say could be used more frequently this year, particularly if a power vacuum results from yesterday’s election and associated political tumult.
The article is about a strike at the end of January, while Musharraf was still in firm control. It is highly critical of our “partners” and “counterparts” in the region, stating that they “at best lack commitment and resolve and at worst lack sympathy for U.S. interests.”
As this is the Washington Post and MSNBC, these are put forth as good reason for the US to “do what it has to do.”
[Posted By epimethean]Republished from Washington Post and MSNBC
In the predawn hours of Jan. 29, a CIA Predator aircraft flew in a slow arc above the Pakistani town of Mir Ali. The drone’s operator, relying on information secretly passed to the CIA by local informants, clicked a computer mouse and sent the first of two Hellfire missiles hurtling toward a cluster of mud-brick buildings a few miles from the town center.
The missiles killed Abu Laith al-Libi, a senior al-Qaeda commander and a man who had repeatedly eluded the CIA’s dragnet. It was the first successful strike against al-Qaeda’s core leadership in two years, and it involved, U.S. officials say, an unusual degree of autonomy by the CIA inside Pakistan.
Having requested the Pakistani government’s official permission for such strikes on previous occasions, only to be put off or turned down, this time the U.S. spy agency did not seek approval. The government of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was notified only as the operation was underway, according to the officials, who insisted on anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities.
Posted by epimethean
I've been reluctant to post anything of consequence to a site I am sure is being watched by the TPTB, but I finally decided they already have my number if they want to reach me, so here it is! I am an amatuer at almost anything that interests me. (see...
This has happened multiple time so far, just not being admitted to by the Pakistani military. Many people know about it, there have been many raids into NW pakistan by predators, and the natives have shown off missile debris that was clearly US made Hellfire missiles.
The PBS show Frontline even had one of their shows dedicated to the generals of AlQaeda and the complicity within northern Pakistan, Wahiristan region, IIRC.
I think that the main problem is that Pakistan is having trouble outright going against the AlQaeda because so much of its training operations seem to travel fluently between the afghan and paki border.
If Mushie doesn’t out the PPP’s blatant election rigging — then his string-pullers have decided to host the Hegemon’s next conflagration — to rid themselves of those pesky “communists” which they are now required to call “al qaeda”.
NBC pulled the post. A google pulls the G’s post and that is IT. Interesting . . .
Hey Mushie, what do ya know . . . pero. You gotta out that pesky PPP dolly pie.
Methinks the USA would consider it an act of war if some other country let loose with drones in their territory…
I’m just saying, is all…
^ right you are, truth.