US Drone strikes in Pakistan are illegal under international law.

[TruthSeeker]

US killed al Qaeda’s Lashkar al Zil commander in airstrike

By Bill Roggio, LWJ, January 7, 2010 8:45 AM

Al Qaeda has confirmed that the US killed the leader of the Lashkar al Zil, or the Shadow Army, the terror group's military organization along the Afghan and Pakistani border.

Mustafa Abu Yazid, al Qaeda's leader in Afghanistan, said that Abdullah Said al Libi was killed in a US airstrike in Pakistan. Yazid confirmed that Al Libi was killed in a tape praising the suicide attack on the CIA base in Khost. Yazid also confirmed that Saleh al Somali, al Qaeda's former external operations chief, was also killed in a US attack.

But Abdullah Said al Libi was not listed by US intelligence as being killed during recent strikes. “[Mustafa Abu Yazid’s statement] is our first true indication that Abdullah Said al-Libi is dead, which is the subtext for why Ilyas Kashmiri has been listed as the Lashkar al Zil commander in recent media reports,” a senior US military intelligence official told The Long War Journal. It is not clear exactly when al Libi was killed.

On Jan. 4, the Asia Times described Ilyas Kashmiri as the leader of the Lashkar al Zil during a report that stated al Qaeda’s military organization was behind the suicide attack at Combat Outpost Chapman.

Kashmiri is one of the most dangerous al Qaeda leaders. He served as the operations chief of Brigade 313, a conglomeration of Pakistani jihadi groups and one of six brigades in the Shadow Army. Kashmiri is suspected of planning and leading some of the terror group's most sophisticated assaults in the Afghan-Pakistan theater.

Abdullah Said al Libi is a Libyan national who is thought to have served in his country's military before joining al Qaeda. In April 2009, al Libi laid out al Qaeda and the Taliban's strategy to retake control of the Khorasan, a region that encompasses large areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Iran. In the statement, al Libi is identified as the leader of the Qaidat al-Jihad fi Khorasan, or the base of the jihad in the Khorasan.

"Al Libi's death is significant, but there is little doubt he has been replaced by perhaps the most capable military commander in al Qaeda's stable," a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal. The US thought Kashmiri was killed in a strike in North Waziristan alst September, but he later resurfaced in an interview with the Asia Times.


Read more: US killed al Qaeda’s Lashkar al Zil commander in airstrike - The Long War Journal

 

[TruthSeeker]

Four Killed in Suspected US Drone Strike in Pakistan

VOA News 08 January 2010

Pakistani intelligence officials say at least four people have been killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike in the militant stronghold of North Waziristan.

Officials say missiles hit a house and a vehicle near Miranshah, Friday. The region is near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

http://www1.voanews.com/english/new...ed-US-Drone-Strike-in-Pakistan--81003917.html
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Foreigners among four killed in drone attack

MIRANSHAH: At least four militants, including some foreigners were killed and two others injured when suspected US drone fired missiles at a house in Tappi village near Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan Agency on Friday.

According to foreign media, US drone fired two missiles at a house in Tappi village in Miranshah, head quarters of North Waziristan Agency, killing four militants, including foreigners and injuring two others.

The house and a vehicle parked in the premises of the house were also damaged.

According to locals, the house, which belonged to local militant, who were also included among those killed in the attack.

The militants cordoned off the area and started relief activities.

According to locals, death toll might increase because some bodies were believed to be buried under the rubble.

One security official, who did not want to be identified, told foreign media that some important militant commanders, including foreigners were also present in the house, and were killed in the attack.

ONLINE - International News Network

 

[TruthSeeker]

Fresh US drone attack kills 5 in Pakistan

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:48:09 GMT

Pakistani officials reported Friday the death of five people after US drone attacked the northwestern area of North Waziristan.

The attack targeted the village of Tappi in the strife-torn area, AFP reported.

"The US drone fired two missiles on a house. The house was completely destroyed," a senior security official was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity.

Fresh US drone attack kills 5 in Pakistan

 

[TruthSeeker]

In Islamabad, McCain defends drone attacks

Published: Jan. 8, 2010 at 1:05 PM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Continued drone attacks inside Pakistani territory are vital for regional security, U.S. Sen. John McCain said Friday in Islamabad.

McCain, R-Ariz., led a delegation of U.S. lawmakers to the Pakistani capital to discuss concerns expressed by Islamabad regarding U.S. military activity in neighboring Afghanistan.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari complained U.S. drone attacks inside his country undermine national security and provided incentives to the insurgency plaguing the volatile tribal regions along the Afghan border.

He called on the delegation to hand over drone technology to the Pakistanis so the military could take responsibility for its own security matters, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reports.

McCain countered that U.S. aerial strikes in Pakistan were vital to the success of the war strategy for Afghanistan.

"The attacks are imperative to defeat the enemy," he said. "With an improved decision making process the civilian causalities are totally minimized."

He promised, however, that U.S. military troops would not launch ground incursions inside Pakistani territory.



In Islamabad, McCain defends drone attacks - UPI.com

 

[TruthSeeker]

The Drone Wars: Weapons like the Predator kill far fewer civilians.

Though you won't hear him brag about it, President Obama has embraced and ramped up the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. As tactic and as a technology, drones are one of the main U.S. advantages that have emerged from this long war. (IEDs are one of the enemy's.) Yet their use isn't without controversy, and it took nerve for the White House to approve some 50 strikes last year, exceeding the total in the last three years of the Bush Administration.

From Pakistan to Yemen, Islamic terrorists now fear the Predator and its cousin, the better-armed Reaper. So do critics on the left in the academy, media and United Nations; they're calling drones an unaccountable tool of "targeted assassination" that inflames anti-American passions and kills civilians. At some point, the President may have to defend the drone campaign on military and legal grounds.

The case is easy. Not even the critics deny its success against terrorists. Able to go where American soldiers can't, the Predator and Reaper have since 9/11 killed more than half of the 20 most wanted al Qaeda suspects, the Uzbek, Yemeni and Pakistani heads of allied groups and hundreds of militants. Most of those hits were in the last four years.

"Very frankly, it's the only game in town in terms of confronting or trying to disrupt the al Qaeda leadership," CIA Director Leon Panetta noted last May. The agency's own troubles with gathering human intelligence were exposed by last week's deadly bombing attack on the CIA station near Khost, Afghanistan.

Critics such as counterinsurgency writers David Kilcullen and Andrew Exum allege that drones have killed hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians. The U.N. Human Rights Council's investigator on extrajudicial executions, Philip Alston, has warned the Administration that the attacks could fall afoul of "international humanitarian law principles."

Civilian casualties are hard to verify, since independent observers often can't access the bombing sites, and estimates vary widely. But Pakistani government as well as independent studies have shown the Taliban claims are wild exaggerations. The civilian toll is relatively low, especially if compared with previous conflicts.

Never before in the history of air warfare have we been able to distinguish as well between combatants and civilians as we can with drones. Even if al Qaeda doesn't issue uniforms, the remote pilots can carefully identify targets, and then use Hellfire missiles that cause far less damage than older bombs or missiles. Smarter weapons like the Predator make for a more moral campaign.

As for Mr. Alston's concerns, the legal case for drones is instructive. President Bush approved their use under his Constitutional authority as Commander in Chief, buttressed by Congress's Authorization for the Use of Military Force against al Qaeda and its affiliates after 9/11. Gerald Ford's executive order that forbids American intelligence from assassinating anyone doesn't apply to enemies in wartime.

International law also allows states to kill their enemies in a conflict, and to operate in "neutral" countries if the hosts allow bombing on their territory. Pakistan and Yemen have both given their permission to the U.S., albeit quietly. Even if they hadn't, the U.S. would be justified in attacking enemy sanctuaries there as a matter of self-defense.

Who gets on the drone approved "kill lists" is decided by a complex interagency process involving the CIA, Pentagon and White House. We hear the U.S. could have taken out the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki after his contacts with Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hassan came to light in November, missing the chance by not authorizing the strike. Perhaps al-Awlaki's U.S. citizenship gave U.S. officials pause, but after he joined the jihad he became an enemy and his passport irrelevant.

Tellingly, after the attempted bombing over Detroit, the Administration rushed to leak that Yemenis, with unspecified American help, might have killed al-Awlaki in mid-December in a strike on al Qaeda forces. Al-Awlaki, who also was also in contact with the Nigerian bomber on Northwest Flight 253, may have survived.

While this aggressive aerial bombing is commendable against a dangerous enemy, it also reveals the paradox of President Obama's antiterror strategy. On the one hand, he's willing to kill terrorists in the field, but he's unwilling to hold these same terrorists under the rules of war at Guantanamo if we capture them in the field. We can kill them as war fighters, but if they're captured they become common criminals.

Our own view is that either "we are at war," as Mr. Obama said on Thursday, or we're not.

Drones Are Successful Tool in War on Terror - WSJ.com

 

[TruthSeeker]

4 killed in suspected drone strike in Pakistan

From Nasir Dawar, CNN
January 9, 2010 1:06 p.m. EST

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (CNN) -- -- Four people in Pakistan died Saturday when a suspected U.S. drone fired two missiles at a target close to the Afghan border, according to two intelligence sources and an administration official.

The drone struck a compound in the village of Ismail Khan in the Dattakhel area of North Waziristan, a volatile region in Pakistan's tribal area where Islamic militants have a strong presence. Dattakhel has been the center of many recent drone attacks, and this strike is the latest in a series of such actions in the rugged territory.

The sources say foreigners may have been among the fatalities.

4 killed in suspected drone strike in Pakistan - CNN.com

 

[TruthSeeker]

Drone strike kills four in North Waziristan

Saturday, 09 Jan, 2010

MIRANSHAH: A US missile strike on Saturday killed at least four militants in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt, Pakistani security and intelligence officials said.

The missile struck a compound in Ismail Khel village, 40 kilometres west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal region on the Afghan border.

“A US drone fired two missiles, which hit a compound used by militants as a training centre,” a senior security official told AFP.

He said that the identity of the militants was not immediately known, adding it was also not clear whether any high-value target was present in the area at the time of the strike.

An intelligence official in the area also confirmed the strike and casualties.

“The latest death toll is four now,” he said.

Residents said that the compound belonged to a local tribesman named Rasta Barkhan who had links with Taliban militants.

A local resident on condition of anonymity told AFP that five drone aircrafts made very low-altitude flights before the missile strike.

Officials say the attack took place in the stronghold of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a militant who fought with the Taliban when US-led troops invaded Afghanistan.

Bahadur is reputed to control up to 2,000 fighters whom he sends across the border but who do not attack in Pakistan.

It was the sixth missile strike by an unmanned US spy plane so far this year, as the administration of US President Barack Obama puts Pakistan at the heart of its fight against Al-Qaeda and Islamist extremists.

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Drone strike kills four in North Waziristan

 

[Raje amar]

Think this is in retaliation to AQ's suiside attack on CIA. 4 drone attacks in 3 days. can CIA will hit harder than this?

 

[waraich66]

Think this is in retaliation to AQ's suiside attack on CIA. 4 drone attacks in 3 days. can CIA will hit harder than this?

Foolish war strategy , Al Qaeda network is real danger for US/Israel not the leadership.

 

[TaimiKhan]

Doesn't matter how many AQ or Taliban guys they kill, as they have been already getting killed, but the truth is that they have given a blow to the CIA which they will remember for life and give a major dent in their reputation as CIA was untouchable, no more now.

CIA seems to be very very pissed

 

[Ron S]

US Missiles Kill Four in Pakistan

"In response to a deadly assault staged by a suicide bombar on CIA employees just across the border in Afghanistan, US missiles reportedly killed four people in northwest Pakistan. The attack on Friday was the sixth in just over a week in North Waziristan, an unusually intense bombardment that also follows repeated calls by Washington for Islamabad to do more against militants there blamed for attacks on US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The area is the stronghold of the Haqqani network, an Afghan Taliban group with links to al- Qaeda. Its militants are responsible for cross-border attacks and could have played a role in the Dec. 30 attack that killed seven CIA employees in Khost Province, analysts believe. The US does not usually comment on the strikes or their targets. It has carried out more than 50 of them since last year, most by unmanned planes believed operated by the CIA with the cooperation of Pakistani intelligence. They have become more common under the administration of US President Barack Obama."

 

[S-2]

Analysis: Drone Attacks-Challenging Some Fabrications-Farhat Taj DAILY TIMES Jan. 4, 2010

Howling At The Moon-Irfan Husain DAWN Jan. 9, 2010

Dr. Farhat Taj appears again with her findings on PREDATOR attacks inside FATAville. Both her article and Irfan Husain's bear reading by those here.

I hope you will.

Thanks.

 

[S-2]

Wall Street Journal weighs in here-

The Drone Wars- WSJ Opinion Jan. 9, 2010

"...the legal case for drones is instructive. President Bush approved their use under his Constitutional authority as Commander in Chief, buttressed by Congress's Authorization for the Use of Military Force against al Qaeda and its affiliates after 9/11. Gerald Ford's executive order that forbids American intelligence from assassinating anyone doesn't apply to enemies in wartime.

International law also allows states to kill their enemies in a conflict, and to operate in "neutral" countries if the hosts allow bombing on their territory. Pakistan and Yemen have both given their permission to the U.S., albeit quietly. Even if they hadn't, the U.S. would be justified in attacking enemy sanctuaries there as a matter of self-defense."

Thanks.

 

[TruthSeeker]

US airstrike hits Taliban camp in North Waziristan

By Bill Roggio, LWJ, January 14, 2010 12:06 AM

The US killed at least 10 Taliban fighters in an airstrike earlier today on a Taliban camp in Pakistan's lawless tribal agency of North Waziristan.

Two missiles are reported to have hit "a sprawling compound which has been used as a religious school in the past," according to The Associated Press. A house and a madrassa, or religious school, were both leveled in the strike, Geo News reported.

The attack took place in the Pasalkot region in North Waziristan, an area close to the border with the neighboring tribal agency of South Waziristan, where the military is currently conducting an offensive against the Mehsud branch of the Taliban.

Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, was reported killed in the early morning strike in North Waziristan. His spokesman denied he was killed.

The US has ramped up the attacks in Pakistan since the beginning of December after a lull in strikes in October and November of 2009, when only four airstrikes were launched. Today's strike is the sixth this year and the seventh in 15 days. It is also the seventh strike since a suicide bomber killed seven CIA officials, including the station chief, and a Jordanian intelligence officer, in an attack at Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost province. The outpost was used to gather intelligence for strikes against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The suicide bomber who carried out that attack, Humam Khalil Muhammed Abu Mulal al Balawi, appeared on a martyrdom videotape with Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. On the tape, Balawi claimed he carried out the suicide attack to avenge the death of Baitullah Mehsud, the former leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.

Read more: US airstrike hits Taliban camp in North Waziristan - The Long War Journal

 

[TruthSeeker]

Hakeemullah Mehsud targeted in latest US airstrike in Pakistan

By Bill Roggio, LWJ, January 14, 2010 6:01 AM

The early morning airstrike today that struck a Taliban training camp in North Waziristan targeted the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Pakistani officials claimed Hakeemullah Mehsud was killed but the Taliban commander's spokesman denied the reports.

The airstrike was carried out by US attack aircraft in the Pasalkot region in North Waziristan, a region that borders South Waziristan. Two missiles are said to have leveled a compound that served as a madrassa, or religious school. Ten Taliban fighters were reported killed in the attack, according to early reports. Hakeemullah was one of three senior Taliban leaders present during the attack, according to a Pakistani intelligence official.

"It is immaterial to say how many have been killed in the attack," the Pakistani official said, according to Dawn, noting that Hakeemullah was indeed the target of the US attack. "The important thing for us is whether Hakeemullah is amongst those killed. He has probably been killed."

The Taliban denied that Hakeemullah had been killed but did confirm he was in the region.

"We were in Shaktoi but not at the compound which has been struck," Azam Tariq, Hakeemullah's spokesman, said. The town of Shaktoi is near Ramzak in North Waziristan.

Some intelligence officials and several militants said that Hakeemullah was not killed in the attack.

Hakeemullah was last seen on a videotape with the Jordanian al Qaeda operative who killed seven CIA officials, including the station chief, and a Jordanian intelligence officer, in a suicide attack at Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost province. The outpost was used to gather intelligence for strikes against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In the tape, the Jordanian claimed he carried out the suicide attack to avenge the death of Baitullah Mehsud, the former leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan who was killed in a US strike in August 2009.

The Pakistani government has insisted several times in the past that Hakeemullah was killed during a clash with South Waziristan Taliban leader Waliur Rehman Mehsud. The government claimed the two killed each other during an argument over who would replace Baitullah, while the Taliban denied the clash ever took place. Both leaders later appeared together in several tapes, but the government insisted that a body double was standing in for Hakeemullah.

Read more: Hakeemullah Mehsud targeted in latest US airstrike in Pakistan - The Long War Journal