No justification for US drone strikes, says FO

[Aeon]

No justification for US drone strikes, says FO
Thursday, 07 Oct, 2010

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said Thursday there was “no justification nor understanding” for US drone strikes on its soil that have ramped up to record levels in the past month.

“We believe that they are counter-productive and also a violation of our sovereignty,” foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told reporters, adding:

“We hope that the US will revisit its policy.”

Basit said that the drone war was “not serving the larger strategic interests, especially in the context of our efforts to win hearts and minds, which is part and parcel of our strategy against militants and terrorists”.

Eight people were killed Wednesday in the latest attacks by the pilotless planes against militants in North Waziristan tribal district, security officials said.

The US has launched a record number of strikes since September 3 — a total of 26 drone attacks that have killed 149 people, according to officials.

Since August 2008, 142 strikes have been launched, killing more than 1,100 people.

Officials in Washington say in the past drone strikes have killed a number of high-value targets including former Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud and it has branded the remote border region the global headquarters of Al-Qaeda.

However, the attacks fuel anti-American sentiment in the country.

Pakistan's ambassador in Washington, Hussein Haqqani, told the BBC that the increase in strikes in North Waziristan came after intelligence agencies uncovered the plot to “attack multiple targets in Europe”.

He also said that a drone strike on Monday in the district which killed eight militants, including five Germans, was linked to the plot.

The United States does not as a rule confirm drone attacks, but its military and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy the pilotless aircraft in the region. — AFP

 

[Tuahaa]

I don't like the "We hope" bit they say- just order the end of the drone strikes!

 

[Hoodibaba]

Then just shoot the bloody drones down!

 

[Tuahaa]

Then just shoot the bloody drones down!

Yeah, and turn Pakistan into Iran II.

Oh well, even that wouldn't be so bad

 

[Hoodibaba]

Yeah, and turn Pakistan into Iran II.

Oh well, even that wouldn't be so bad

Cmon man, be on one side!

You either do not want the drones or you do want the drones.

You cannot both want and not want the drones. That's called hypocrisy or a half-hearted attempt to say the least!

 

[DGMO]

I don't like the "We hope" bit they say- just order the end of the drone strikes!

Because the civillian govt and the military are both singing from the same hymn sheet it seems. Both are in favour of the drone strikes, especially when we take key passages from Bob Woodward's recent book:

Zardari:

Hayden and his deputy, Stephen Kappes, had gone to meet with Zardari, elected only two months earlier, to gauge his reaction to
the [US] drone strikes, which were generating widespread protests in Pakistan. According to Woodward's account of the meeting, Zardari said: "Kill the seniors. Collateral damage worries you Americans. It does not worry me." Hayden had told Zardari that "many Westerners, including some U.S. passport holders, had been killed five days earlier on the Kam Sham training camp in the tribal area of North Warziristan," Woodward writes. "But the CIA would not reveal the particulars due to the implications under American law."​

Kayani:

The CIA director had come to believe that the Predator and other unmanned aerial vehicles were the most precise weapons in the history of warfare. He wanted to use them more often.

Pakistan allowed Predator drone flights in specified geographic areas called “boxes.” Because the Pakistanis had massive numbers of ground troops in the south, they would not allow a box in that area.

“We need to have that box,” Panetta said. “We need to be able to conduct our operations.”

Kayani said he would see that they had some access.​

So these attacks are being conducted with the full knowledge and approval of the civ-mil leadership.

Even Carl Levin expressed his displeasure of the way we behave in public vs. private. In private he says we're all for the drone strikes, but for public consumption it's nothing but criticism.

We can't have it both ways.

 

[Nothing]

Zardari (GOP) wants more money from USA and IMF and PA wants new USA weapons and more $$$$$ to but more weapons .....public don't get anything so they cry for drone strikes

 

[Musafar]

It's all lip service to the ears of pakistani citizens.

These foreign ministers and other should be nominated for Oscar awards, seriously, ive never seen such good actors.

They along with the army are playing a very deceptive game of sanctioning these drones strikes on one hand and with the other denying that they ever have any involvement