Suspected US missile kills 20 in Pakistan

[Darth Wong]

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/02/1 ... istan.html

Suspected U.S. missile kills at least 20 in Pakistan
Last Updated: Saturday, February 14, 2009 | 1:47 AM ET
CBC News

A suspected U.S. missile strike by a drone aircraft flattened a home in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 20 people, two intelligence officials said.

An unknown number of people were also wounded in the attack in the troubled South Waziristan tribal region, where Pakistan has launched several military operations in recent years against the Taliban, al-Qaeda and their local supporters.

It was not immediately clear who the dead and wounded people were, the officials said.

Taliban fighters surrounded the targeted home and were transporting the bodies and wounded out, said the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

No government or military spokesmen were available for comment.

Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its fight against terrorism, but it has opposed missile strikes in the country's tribal regions where Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents operate.

The U.S. has launched more than 30 missile attacks in recent months.

Saturday's attack came days after Pakistani leaders told Richard Holbrooke, an American envoy dispatched by President Barack Obama to the region, that the U.S. attacks should be stopped as they were counterproductive and fuelling anti-American sentiment in Pakistan.

It also came a day after a militant group holding an American employee of the United Nations warned it would kill him within 72 hours and issued a grainy video of the blindfolded captive saying he was "sick and in trouble."

I posted an article about how 80% of Al-Qaeda's leadership has been killed by these missile strikes. Might as well post an article detailing some of the downside.

[Ryan Thunder]

Taliban fighters surrounded the targeted home and were transporting the bodies and wounded out, said the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Why would the Taliban be involved if the targeted house was full of innocents?

[Knife]

Taliban fighters surrounded the targeted home and were transporting the bodies and wounded out, said the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Why would the Taliban be involved if the targeted house was full of innocents?

Because chances are some of the Taliban grunts are locals.

[Ryan Thunder]

Taliban fighters surrounded the targeted home and were transporting the bodies and wounded out, said the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Why would the Taliban be involved if the targeted house was full of innocents?

Because chances are some of the Taliban grunts are locals.

I suppose. But the way the article talks about it makes it sound like they were the local authorities, or something similar. Which would indicate to me that they had some sort of significant presence there.

[Knife]

I suppose. But the way the article talks about it makes it sound like they were the local authorities, or something similar. Which would indicate to me that they had some sort of significant presence there.

They probably do. Taliban fighters are the wannabe government in exile and in tribal lands that accept them as government even in exile, they would have 'legitimacy' of a sorts and I'm sure the head shed are more than willing to reinforce that image with having their grunts do work like help out the locals after the evil American's blow them up. Makes sense for the leaders, makes sense for the locals who are grunts pulling out people they know from the wreckage.

[Wicked Pilot]

Why would the Taliban be involved if the targeted house was full of innocents?

The leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud, and his followers where the target.

[Dominus Atheos]

I'm confused. The article doesn't mention who these 20 people were. Were they 20 Taliban, 20 innocent civilians, 5 Taliban and their families. 10 Taliban and 10 human shields, or what? If they were all civilians, did the missile miss it's target, or did the US get the wrong target? Why did the US think there were Taliban in there?

[JointStrikeFighter]

Remember its not national sovereignty if they can't defend it.

[PeZook]

Remember its not national sovereignty if they can't defend it.

This is a sad truth in international law. If one country decides to break the rules, and other countries don't call them up on it, it's as if the rules don't exist. And it seems like nobody gives a shit about this particular region of Pakistan: not even the Pakistani government, since they didn't lodge any formal protests (or I just don't know of any). It's almost as if they tacitly approve of these missile strikes.

[Guardsman Bass]

Remember its not national sovereignty if they can't defend it.

This is a sad truth in international law. If one country decides to break the rules, and other countries don't call them up on it, it's as if the rules don't exist. And it seems like nobody gives a shit about this particular region of Pakistan: not even the Pakistani government, since they didn't lodge any formal protests (or I just don't know of any). It's almost as if they tacitly approve of these missile strikes.

If they oppose them, they certainly haven't done anything more than complain, considering that they've been letting the US use airfields in Pakistan to launch the Predator and Reaper Drones.

[Stuart Mackey]

I'm confused. The article doesn't mention who these 20 people were. Were they 20 Taliban, 20 innocent civilians, 5 Taliban and their families. 10 Taliban and 10 human shields, or what?

Every one is getting their stories/propaganda straight.

If they were all civilians, did the missile miss it's target, or did the US get the wrong target?

The taliban will say they were civvies, the US that they were taliban and you and I will never know for certain.

Why did the US think there were Taliban in there?

Because special forces were probably tracking them/infiltrating them.

[Ryan Thunder]

The taliban will say they were civvies, the US that they were taliban and you and I will never know for certain.

Because statements made by our authorities must be given just as much weight as those made by our sworn enemies. We can trust them, right?

[Stuart Mackey]

The taliban will say they were civvies, the US that they were taliban and you and I will never know for certain.

Because statements made by our authorities must be given just as much weight as those made by our sworn enemies. We can trust them, right?

A question of operational security, propaganda/disinformation that applies to both sides. The Taliban are known to hide among the civvies, and fight from within them and use those civilian deaths as propaganda and the US et al are not going to release information on ongoing operations that may aid the enemy, especially if something has gone wrong and nor are the Taiban.

As for whom to believe, both sides use propaganda, or simply never say anything, and in the case of western governments with forces in Afghanistan, as Churchill once said, and I paraphrase "The truth is so precious it must have a bodyguard of lies".There are things going on over there that we will not know the truth about for decades, if not several generations, so as to safeguard operations and methods.

I would have thought this was all rather obvious, I was clearly wrong.