“It was a perfect picture,” Malik, who watched the videotape later, said. “We used to see James Bond movies where he talked into his shoe or his watch. We thought it was a fairy tale. But this was fact!” The image remained just as stable when the C.I.A. remotely launched two Hellfire missiles from the Predator. Authorities watched the fiery blast in real time. After the dust cloud dissipated, all that remained of Mehsud was a detached torso. Eleven others died: his wife, his father-in-law, his mother-in-law, a lieutenant, and seven bodyguards.Gee whiz! Gosh! Wow! I guess that proves he was guilty of something! And were those eleven other people guilty of something too?
The top CIA official in Pakistan has been called back home from Islamabad after his cover was blown allegedly by the ISI, resulting in serious threat to his life.posted by DreamerFi at 2:05 AM on December 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
[..]
The station chief, the official said, was recalled to CIA headquarters because “terrorist threats against him in Pakistan were of such a serious nature that it would be imprudent not to act.”
In Pakistan, Geo News channel quoted an unidentified US embassy official as saying that the CIA station chief in Islamabad was named in a case filed with police by a tribesman who claims his son and brother were killed in an American drone attack.
You do realize that the law of war explicitly allows for military action that will kill civilians, right?There are lots of laws concerning armed conflict, bashed out in many a treaty. However, and with some sadness, I cannot count the Treaty of Westphalia amongst them.
Really? There's a law about that?
I'm have to admit I'm surprised; the only one I'm aware of in that vein is the fourth of the four Geneva Conventions, which basically says exactly the opposite of that.
Do you have a citation?
Do you have any proof whatsoever that the people being murdered in the NWFP ("militant" or not) are in any way responsible for the attacks which took place on 9/11? And do you honestly feel that targeting these individuals makes the U.S. safer? How would you like it if the civilians who died in the Twin Towers were labeled "collateral damage" of the intended target - America's economy and it's false sense of invincibility?I apologise, I shouldn't have made such a loose connection. At present, the ongoing plots to target the mainland US and Europe are primarily coming from the AQ Senior Leadership in the region, as well as Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan, currently being run by Hakimullah Mehsud. The recent September upsurge in drone strikes (more in September 2010 than in the many years prior if memory serves) was in response to intelligence suggesting an imminent threat.
To return to my earlier analogy, which would make you likelier to want the violent overthrow of the US government? Finding your loved one - or what pieces are left of them - dead from a French drone bomber? Or shot by a US soldier following orders dictated in Paris?I was speaking from the point of view of the Pakistani people as a whole. The drone strikes are seen as a violation of Pakistani sovereignty. The Pakistani public as a whole, and not just those in the affected regions, are opposed to the drone strikes yet simultaneously supportive of Pakistani Army operations against the militants.
If you're gathering that from the link you posted, your interpretation is inaccurate. The poll was of 1000 FATA residents. That's Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Of which North and South Waziristan are both part.No, not from that link. I've been following the whole region with interest... mostly cause of things I've read here on the blue to be honest. I understand you are from Pakistan? Or grew up there or something? Perhaps you can provide input on what you think is the general public opinion?
Then they probably shouldn't have let the weird guys with magic talking boxes and computer-machines stay with them for a while. Not saying they deserve to be killed, but they did have an out.Mullah Omar was between a rock and a hard place in that he couldn't hand over his guest, Bin Laden, as to do so would be a violation of the Pashtun code of honour, Pashtunwali.
1. My country was attacked.It's also funny (in a sad way) that the entire argument hinges on the "we cannot do nothing" line, I must have misinterpreted that "turn the other cheek" idea.
2. We cannot fight a perfect war, killing only those who would kill. We cannot do nothing.
3. We're fighting the only way we can, and sadly people are being killed who should not be.
It sucks. I'm not claiming we are/were completely innocent, but flying airliners into towers full of civilians is the only thing we can afford to do that our enemies would notice.
Fighting the only way it can? What does that mean? You make it sound like it's a forgone conclusion, that the US is an entity apart from the people who live there, that it's some lumbering radioactive beast we call from the depths of the ocean like Godzilla, helpful but unaware of its own strength, and mostly violent and out of control. We are still rational actors here, and we're in control of the decisions we make.I meant that the US, and most Western nations, have spent the last fifty years planning and training to fight a conventional war against an enemy who have tanks, artillery, air support and uniforms. An enemy who obeys the law of armed conflict.
It's also funny (in a sad way) that the entire argument hinges on the "we cannot do nothing" line, I must have misinterpreted that "turn the other cheek" idea.posted by dougrayrankin at 9:35 AM on December 18, 2010
I don't think this is the time nor the place to debate the validity of Christian doctrine.
That seems a bit myopic given, you know, Vietnam and all that. Have they spent the last 40 years trying to pretend that didn't happen?Even during the Vietnam war, the principal focus of American military doctrine was "Prevent Spread of Communism, prepare to fight the Soviets". Besides, the Vietnam war itself was only in part a counter-insurgency. What's happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan is nothing but a counter-insurgency. Something that our military commanders are slowly beginning to realise.
I wasn't. "Turn the other cheek" is a good idea, irrespective of the general validity (or otherwise) of Christian doctrine, if you want to defuse violence rather than escalate it.Fortunately for Jesus, he was not dealing with an endless supply of people who would blow themselves and others up and would not compromise until a global caliphate is established. You see, "turn the other cheek" works when facing a rational opponent. Radical Islamists are the antithesis or rationality. As I've said to others before... your ideas are nice on paper, but not particularly realistic.
Here's an idea: build, rather than destroy. In my (admittedly idealistic) version of the action in Afghanistan, the U.S. built and defended cell phone towers for a decade, and rained cel phones down on villages, rather than death. For a net cost savings, and a net gain rather than a steep loss of good will. Ten years of this might have been enough to see an improvement in living standards, in the ability of women to communicate and organize.You mean like this? It's a common thing, but unfortunately it tends to make a fine target for those who oppose development.
Karim Khan, a journalist from North Waziristan, called for Banks to be charged with murder and executed and also sought $500 million damages.That's what I like to see. People marching from the FATA to Islamabad and standing there saying "You've wronged me, I expect recompense." - I'm not being facetious either. If every family member of those killed in the drone strikes did the same, the political pressure to reconsider the strikes would be immense.
This is so confused - why would "The Taliban" a loosely aligned group of tribal leaders in Afghanistan, have an interest in setting off a bomb in the U.S.? They do not.They do.
they do *now*. did you read the article? they're vowing *revenge* attacks.*After* the US targeted them for providing support to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
I'm late getting back to this party, for which I apologize, but my point wasn't that the Geneva Conventions prohibit civilian deaths, full stop; I wanted only to point out that Dasein's idea of what constitutes "the laws of war" was fabricated entirely out of his own macho posturing, and not out of anything resembling an international treaty, convention or official document of any kind. I defy you to find an international agreement of any kind saying anything that amounts to "killing civilians is totally acceptable under the following circumstances".Did you see my post following yours which referenced a whole bunch of laws? The "Law of Armed Conflict" is not one single law, or bill. It's a term used to refer to all those treaties that govern what is and is not acceptable in the pursuit of a valid military aim. It is applicable in this case in so much as (for example) Baitullah Mehsud was the leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. When he was killed it also meant killing a few members of his family and bodyguards. This was balanced against the effect achieved - disarray within the organisation, infighting, lack of co-ordination, a reduction in attacks carried out (lives therefore saved).
The followup assertion that it is "all about proportionality" is likewise one that accomplishes the trick of conceding that there is a moral element to the application of force while deferring to a (nonexistent, it turns out) law in order to avoid having to confront the questions that raises. Which is, I should tell you, just a classic Keyboard Kommando finishing move; it turns out nobody believes that it's OK to just follow orders but if you're obeying the laws, well that's different! Unless, of course, when you're making those laws up on the spot.
An estimated 95,000 civilians died in the communist re-education camps, another 500,000 were involved in forced labor projects, which killed 48,000 civilians. Another 100,000 were executed. Finally, 400,000 boat people died while trying to flee Vietnam. This is 643,000 killed during the consolidation of communist rule.[17] This consolidation ended around 1984, although boat people deaths occurred through 1988This is one example though and there are a great many differences between Afghanistan and Vietnam. It seems more likely that we would have an extended period of continued statelessness like existed in Lebanon (until Syrian intervention in the early 1990s) or as exists today in Somalia. Kabul's population has tripled since 2001 (as it is one of the safer places). What's going to happen if we just pull up stakes and go. I suspect chaos and population displacement. This year about 3000 civilians have died in the conflict. If we pull out that number will rise substantially.
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posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:21 PM on December 17, 2010 [2 favorites]