US drones in Pakistan killed 700 civilians in 2009

PESHAWAR: Of the 44 Predator strikes carried out by the American drones in the tribal areas of Pakistan in 12 months of 2009, only five were able to hit their actual targets, killing five key Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, but at the cost of around 700 innocent civilian lives. According to the figures compiled by the Pakistani authorities, the Afghanistan-based US drones killed 708 people in 44 predator attacks targeting the Pakistani tribal areas between January 1 and December 31, 2009. For each Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist killed by the American drones, 140 civilian Pakistanis also had to die. Over 90 percent of those killed in the deadly missile strikes were innocent civilians. The success percentage for the drone hits during 2009 is hardly 11 percent.. » read more

The Expanding US War in Pakistan

Three US special forces soldiers were killed in northwest Pakistan this week, confirming that the US military is more deeply engaged on the ground in Pakistan than previously acknowledged by the White House and Pentagon (see " The Secret US War in Pakistan," November 23, 2009). The soldiers died Wednesday in Lower Dir when their convoy was hit by a car bomber in what appeared to be a targeted strike against the Americans. According to CENTCOM, the US soldiers were in the country on a mission to train the Pakistani Frontier Corps, a federal paramilitary force run by Pakistan's Interior Ministry that patrols the country's volatile border with Afghanistan. A Pakistani journalist who witnessed the attack said that some of the US soldiers were dressed in civilian clothes and had been identified by their Pakistani handlers as journalists. The New York Times estimates that there are sixty to a hundred such US special forces "trainers" in Pakistan.. » read more

Pakistan Is Fully Prepared For World War III

Jan. 20, 2010 (Dec. 2009) Technology to cover range of 7,000 Kms, Pakistan, to increase its defensive capabilities, has started preparing intercontinental missile with a range of 7000 kilometres. According to sources, the intercontinental missile has a range of 7000 kilometres and is capable of hitting its target falling within its range. The missile can contain nuclear as well as traditional warheads.. » read more

The issue of 10,000 disappeared persons haunts Pakistan government

Jan 9, 2010 Rocking the unpopular US-client government of President Asif Ali Zardari, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has reopened the cases of thousands of missing or disappeared persons during General Musharraf's regime. In a major setback to the government, Pakistan's Supreme Court last month declared the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) as unconstitutional and ordered the government to reopen money laundering case against him in Switzerland. Perhaps the issue of missing persons and the NRO's legality were the main causes behind the US and President Zardari's reluctance to reinstate the Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftekhar Chaudhry. However, under intensive public pressure and massive pro-Chief Justice demonstrations, President Zardari and Washington agreed to his restoration in March last year. Now the nightmare is coming true.. » read more

Pakistan says US drone attacks must end

Jan. 9, 2010 Font size : Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday reiterated his country's concerns over the US drone strikes in talks with a delegation of visiting US senators. The US delegation is led by Senator John McCain, the former presidential candidate. Gilani said his government was "disappointment over the continuing drone attacks" and criticized Washington for not sharing pilotless drone technology with Islamabad, Pakistan's official APP news agency reported Saturday. Pakistan says it can fight militants operating in its border areas better if it has the know-how.. » read more

Pakistan opposition parties: Shoot US drones down

Jan. 8, 2010 he mainstream political opposition parties of Pakistan condemn the US drone attacks in country's tribal region, urging Islamabad to shoot them down. Criticizing the attacks as "foreign intrusion," the parties' officials said that the US is violating Pakistan's sovereignty. Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and the Jamaat-e-Islami parties have demanded the government on Friday to ensure autonomy of the country by making its policies effective, a Press TV correspondent reported. Talking to reporters, Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, a PML-N lawmaker and a former chief minister of North West Frontier Province, said effective strategy is required to halt drone attacks which have killed hundreds of civilians in the recent past.. » read more

The Final Showdown: Obama Declares War On Pakistan (with videos)

Dec. 14, 2009 WASHINGTON, DC — Obama’s West Point speech of December 1 represents far more than the obvious brutal escalation in Afghanistan — it is nothing less than a declaration of all-out war by the United States against Pakistan . This is a brand-new war, a much wider war now targeting Pakistan , a country of 160 million people armed with nuclear weapons. In the process, Afghanistan is scheduled to be broken up. This is no longer the Bush Cheney Afghan war we have known in the past.. » read more

The Drone Dilemma

Dec. 12, 2009 A clandestine CIA search-and-destroy program, which launches missile strikes from remotely piloted drone aircraft, has killed more than a dozen senior leaders of Al Qaeda during the last two years. Among the dead: Abu Khabab al-Masri, reputed to be Al Qaeda's top expert on weapons of mass destruction, and Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban and reputed mastermind of the murder of Benazir Bhutto. U.S.. » read more

Blackwater Loses a Job for the C.I.A.

Dec. 12, 2009 WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency has terminated a contract with the security company formerly called Blackwater Worldwide that allowed the company to load bombs on C.I.A. drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan, intelligence officials said Friday.. » read more

* News * World news * CIA Blackwater operating at CIA Pakistan base, ex-official says

• Contractor said to be helping to load missiles • US denies controversial company is in country Dec. 11, 2009 The US contractor Blackwater is operating in Pakistan at a secret CIA airfield used for launching drone attacks, according to a former US official, despite repeated government denials that the company is in the country. The official, who had direct knowledge of the operation, said that employees with Blackwater, now renamed Xe Services, patrol the area round the Shamsi airbase in Baluchistan province. He also confirmed that Blackwater employees help to load laser-guided Hellfire missiles on to CIA-operated drones that target al-Qaida members suspected of hiding in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border regions, confirming information that surfaced in the US media in the summer. Members of the Islamic party Jamaat-i-Islami protest against the US in Lahore.. » read more

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