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US Drone strikes in Pakistan are illegal under international law.

Drones have been the single most effective weapon in taking out Terrorists in FATA.

Keep going USA.
 
Keep going USA.

No, they should be handed over to Pakistan to operate, and you are not going to put a dent in the Taliban insurgency by killing a dozen militants here and there.

Even the death of Baitullah Mehsud made no appreciable difference in the violence from the TTP - in fact, they had about half a dozen leaders vying to take his place.
 
^^ That will never happen. The Drone is cutting edge US Technology and they will never share it with a country like Pakistan.

The best Pakistan can do is keep feeding US intelligence on these militants and US drones keep taking them out.
 
^^ That will never happen. The Drone is cutting edge US Technology and they will never share it with a country like Pakistan.
Hence the criticism of the Pakistani ledership - if they won't share it we should shoot them down.

An unwillingness to 'share' is not good justification for illegal strikes and a violation of another nation's sovereignty.
The best Pakistan can do is keep feeding US intelligence on these militants and US drones keep taking them out.
Which goes back to the same point of ' you cannot put a dent in the insurgency by eliminating a dozen militants here or there'.
 
Hence the criticism of the Pakistani ledership - if they won't share it we should shoot them down.

An unwillingness to 'share' is not good justification for illegal strikes and a violation of another nation's sovereignty.

Which goes back to the same point of ' you cannot put a dent in the insurgency by eliminating a dozen militants here or there'.

These Drones are takeing off from Pakistan,,, that is not taking place with out the permission of the Pakistan Goverment...and you you can put in more then a dent by eliminating the leaders of the militants.

For the first time you can go after the guys calling the shots rather the ignorant backward *** holes that dont know any better.
 
US drone attack kills three in Pakistan: officials
PAKISTAN - 8 DECEMBER 2009

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan – A missile strike from a US drone aircraft killed three suspected militants in Pakistan's lawless northwest tribal belt early Tuesday, security and intelligence officials said.

The attack targeted a car in Aspalga village, about 12 kilometres (seven miles) southeast of Miranshah, the main town of the restive North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

"The three people killed in the attack were militants but as yet their identity is not confirmed," an intelligence official told AFP. "The moment the car left a house, it was hit by two missiles."

One security official and another intelligence official in Peshawar, the troubled capital of North West Frontier Province, also confirmed the strike, saying the missiles were fired from an unmanned US aircraft.

Three people were also injured in the attack, officials said.

North Waziristan neighbours South Waziristan, where Pakistan has been focusing its most ambitious offensive yet against homegrown Taliban militants, sending about 30,000 troops into the region in October 17.


Source: AFP
 
2 Arab al Qaeda members killed in North Waziristan strike

By Bill Roggio December 9, 2009 9:08 AM

Two Arab members of al Qaeda are reported to have been killed in yesterday's airstrike in North Waziristan.

The airstrike, which was carried out by unmanned US attack aircraft, targeted a vehicle moving in the town of Aspangla near the main town of Miramshah. Three people were initially reported killed in the attack.

The region is a stronghold of the Haqqani Network and Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadar; both shelter al Qaeda and other jihadi terror groups. Several months ago, the Pakistani military signed a peace agreement with Bahadar to clear the path to conduct the military operation against the Movement of the Taliban in South Waziristan

Taliban fighters confirmed the death of the two Arabs and said the men were from Saudi Arabia, The News reported. The identity of the Saudi al Qaeda members could not be determined as "the car was torn into pieces."

It is unclear if the Saudi al Qaeda members were senior leaders in the terror group. Saudi and Egyptian members of al Qaeda often serve as senior leaders for al Qaeda.

Read more: 2 Arab al Qaeda members killed in North Waziristan strike - The Long War Journal
 
US strike kills 4 al Qaeda, 2 Taliban in South Waziristan

By Bill Roggio December 10, 2009 11:25 AM

The US has conducted the first unmanned airstrike in the lawless tribal agency of South Waziristan since the Pakistani Army launched an offensive there in mid-October.

The strike, carried out by unmanned Predator or Reaper attack aircraft, hit a Taliban "hideout" in Tanga in the Ladha region in South Waziristan. Ladha is one of several Taliban strongholds that were the target of the Pakistani Army's offensive against the Mehsud branch of the Taliban in South Waziristan.

Four al Qaeda operatives and two Taliban fighters were killed in the attack, according to reports from the region. "Eyewitnesses said the toll could be mount," Geo News reported. It is not known if senior al Qaeda or Taliban commanders were killed in the attack.

The Pakistani military has claimed that 594 Taliban fighters and 80 soldiers have been killed during the South Waziristan operation (five Taliban fighters and a soldier were reported killed today), which targeted Hakeemullah's forces in the Mehsud tribal areas. The military has ignored the Taliban under the leadership of Mullah Nazir as well as the Haqqanis and Hafiz Gul Bahadar in North Waziristan.

Al Qaeda fighters are known to have harbored in the Ladha region in South Waziristan. The US has conducted seven airstrikes in Ladha since 2008, two of which have killed dangerous al Qaeda and Taliban commanders.

Khalid Habib, the former commander of the Lashkar al Zil, or the Shadow Army, al Qaeda's paramilitary forces in Pakistan's northwest and Afghanistan, was among six Taliban and al Qaeda operatives killed in an airstrike on a safe house in the village of Sam in the Ladha region of South Waziristan on Oct. 16, 2008.

Also, Baitullah Mehsud, the former leader of the Movement of the Taliban, was killed in the Aug. 5 airstrike in Ladha.

Today's airstrike is the second in three days, and the first in South Waziristan since Sept. 30. Two Arab al Qaeda operatives from Saudi Arabia were among three terrorists reported killed in the Dec. 8 strike in North Waziristan.

So far this year, the US has carried out 48 airstrikes inside Pakistan. In all of 2008, 36 strikes were carried out. Since the US ramped up cross-border attacks in 2008, 14 al Qaeda and Taliban leaders have been killed [see LWJ report, "US airstrikes alone cannot defeat al Qaeda"].

US airstrikes inside Pakistan have tapered off since September, which saw six attacks. There have been only two airstrikes in October, two in November, and two so far this December. No senior al Qaeda or Taliban commanders have been reported killed in those attacks.

Read more: US strike kills 4 al Qaeda, 2 Taliban in South Waziristan - The Long War Journal
 
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I think half the time Roggio makes up these 'intelligence officials' in his head to confirm his own speculation on his blog. I still follow him from time to time, and I have noticed him speculate several times in the comments section, only to have an 'anonymous intelligence official' confirm exactly that in a blog post a few days later.

"Their [the Pakistanis' operation in South Waziristan] is winding down and they haven't achieved their goal: to kill or capture Hakeemullah Mehsud and Taliban's leadership, and they don't want to be one-upped by the US."

This is nonsense - the PA is not a child, like Roggio, that does not want to be 'one upped' by the US as if this is some sort of schoolyard brawl. And how exactly is the US getting intelligence (if indeed this was a US strike) in the middle of a battle zone where you will either be killed by the Taliban or the PA if you can't explain who you are, if it isn't being provided by Pakistan?

If Pakistan is not providing intelligence, then why on earth is the US even bothering with attacks in SW? All the HVT's have escaped, heck Roggio doesn't stop pointing that out, so how is the US going to 'one up' the PA by killing an HVT in SW that isn't there?

Please do not post garbage from his site on this forum. The man outright lies and fabricates things, and refuses to correct incorrect information, at least when it serves to clear Pakistan, when his disinformation is exposed.
 
Please do not post garbage from his site on this forum.

OK, I removed the "opinion" or "garbage" portion of the LWJ piece. What remains is factual. I post LWJ stuff on drone strikes because it is timely. I know you don't like Roggio. In the future I will remove any speculative or non-factual portions of any LWJ pieces. If you applied this same "test" to anti-American speculation written and posted by Pakistanis here, based on my sensitivities rather than yours, a lot of content would be vaporized ......
 
If you applied this same "test" to anti-American speculation written and posted by Pakistanis here, based on my sensitivities rather than yours, a lot of content would be vaporized ......

Hey, we still allow the NYT, WaPO, LATimes ........ :D SO I don't find your comparison to be fair.

You shouldn't get so upset over an anti-Pakistan blog not being allowed here.
 
Pakistan Media: Drone Killed Qaeda's No. 3
High-Ranking Official Abu Yahya al-Libi Allegedly Killed by Missile Strike; U.S. Has Yet to Confirm


(CBS) A U.S. government official says a top al Qaeda operative has been killed in a drone attack in western Pakistan, and local media says that the strike killed al Qaeda's number 3 in command, Abu Yahya al-Libi.

The U.S. is still not confirming the report, CBS News has learned.

Abu Yahya al-Libi is the spiritual successor to Palestinian philosopher Abu Azzam - and the inspiration for much of Bin Laden's beliefs, according to CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan. He is very powerful and believed by some to be the natural successor to Bin Laden.

Intelligence officials have confirmed that the pace of attacks by armed unmanned aerial vehicles has increased during the Obama administration.

CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier reported the drone attack was in the mountainous Pakistani border area.

Pakistan Media: Drone Killed Qaeda's No. 3 - CBS News
 
Good News; i used to oppose these drone strikes because they were killing civilians before but ever since Pakistan Army has started providing the Americans with the intelligence, they have been deadly accurate. I know they voilate Pakistan's soverignity but the War we are fighting is extremely bloody and we need every help we can to kill as many of these animals as we can.
 
Al Qaeda Operations Planner Saleh Al-Somali Believed Dead in Drone Strike

By LUIS MARTINEZ and MARTHA RADDATZ, Dec. 11, 2009

The senior al Qaeda operative killed in a drone strike in Pakistan earlier this week was Saleh al-Somali, a major operations planner for the terrorist group, ABC News has learned.

A suspected U.S. drone fired two missiles into an al Qaeda and Taliban sanctuary in a Pakistani region the Afghan border Dec. 8, 2009, killing at least three militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

"There are strong indications that senior al Qaeda operations planner Saleh al-Somali has died," a senior U.S. official told ABC News.

Al-Somali was believed killed in a drone strike Tuesday that likely was part of the CIA's continuing program that uses armed Predator drones to target al Qaeda terrorists operating along the lawless tribal areas of western Pakistan that border Afghanistan.

Questions Over Who Was Killed in Drone Strike

Since Tuesday's attack in Pakistan's northern Waziristan region, speculation had run rampant that a senior al Qaeda operative had been killed in the attack.

According to the U.S. official, Saleh al-Somali was responsible for al Qaeda's operations outside of the Afghanistan-Pakistan region and formed part of al Qaeda's senior leadership circle. He is also said to have had "connections with other Pakistan-based extremists."

Al-Somali was engaged in plotting terrorist acts around the world and "given his central role, this probably included plotting attacks against the United States and Europe," the official said.

Al-Somali took operations guidance from senior al Qaeda leaders and "translated it into operational blueprints for prospective terrorist attacks," the official added.

Al-Somali had risen through the ranks of al Qaeda's propaganda operations to become involved in operations planning for the terrorist group. That included working with western al Qaeda recruits upon their arrival into the tribal of areas of Pakistan, the U.S. official said.

The official said that given his ties to the region, al-Somali maintained a relationship with al Qaeda's allies in eastern Africa, particularly the terrorist group al-Shabaab.

The group has been the focal point of U.S. investigations into the recruitment of Somali-Americans for Jihadist activities in East Africa.

Al Qaeda Operations Planner Saleh Al-Somali Believed Dead in Drone Strike - ABC News
 

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