Pakistan: "Over 700 killed in 44 drone strikes in 2009"

DAWN.COM (DawnNews):

For each Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist killed by US drones, 140 innocent Pakistanis also had to die. On average, 58 civilians were killed in these attacks every month, 12 persons every week and almost two people every day.--PESHAWAR: Of the 44 predator strikes carried out by US drones in the tribal areas of Pakistan over the past 12 months, only five were able to hit their actual targets, killing five key Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, but at the cost of over 700 innocent civilians.

According to the statistics compiled by Pakistani authorities, the Afghanistan-based US drones killed 708 people in 44 predator attacks targeting the tribal areas between January 1 and December 31, 2009.

For each Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist killed by US drones, 140 innocent Pakistanis also had to die. Over 90 per cent of those killed in the deadly missile strikes were civilians, claim authorities.

The success percentage for the drone hits during 2009 was hardly 11 per cent. On average, 58 civilians were killed in these attacks every month, 12 persons every week and almost two people every day. Most of the attacks were carried out on the basis of human intelligence, reportedly provided by the Pakistani and Afghan tribesmen, who are spying for the US-led allied forces in Afghanistan.

Of the five successful predator attacks carried out in 2009, the first one came on January 1, which reportedly killed two senior al-Qaeda leaders – Usama al-Kin and Sheikh Ahmed Salim – both wanted by the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Kin was the chief operational commander of Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and had replaced Abu Faraj Al Libi after his arrest in 2004.

The second successful drone attack was conducted on August 5 in South Waziristan that killed the most wanted fugitive chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Baitullah Mehsud along with his wife.

The US State Department had announced a $5 million head money reward for information leading to Baitullah, making him the only Pakistani fugitive with the head money separately announced by Islamabad and Washington.

Howie P.S.: Glenn Greenwald points out some other unintended consequences of the current efforts to counter "terrorism" in "The backfiring of the Surveillance State." GRITtv, video (21:52), asks "Is Yemen the New Front in the “War On Terror”?":

Suddenly the newspapers and cable news shows are talking about Yemen as the newest site for Al Qaeda. Yemeni authorities have been ramping up attacks against militants, with U.S. aid, and after the failed attempt to bring down a U.S.-bound airplane over Christmas, the rhetoric has just grown more incendiary: John McCain said, “The government of Yemen is going to need our help in combating Al-Qaeda. There needs to be significant effort made at improving their economy.”

So what’s really going on? Abdul-Ghani Al-Iryani, a political analyst, spoke to us from Sana’a, Yemen, and then Michael Bronner, investigative journalist and Vanity Fair contributor, and Christoph Wilcke, Human Rights Watch Senior Researcher, Middle East and North Africa Division, join us in studio to discuss the situation further.

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"Drone Porn: The Newest YouTube Hit" (with videos)

Keith Thomson, with videos (AlterNet):

Ranging from wide shots of bombings taken by onboard cameras to startlingly graphic close-ups, the so-called "drone porn" has been a smash hit.---Recently, a group of high-level Al Qaeda members convened in a secret location in the Hindu Kush mountains in central Afghanistan.

"It's okay to talk," one of them said. "There are no Americans within a hundred miles."

Then...

BLAMMO.

A Hellfire missile, fired from a Predator drone, struck.

Remotely operated by pilots on the ground, Predator unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) boast a range of 454 miles and the ability to hover over a target for 40 hours. Originally developed by the U.S. Department of Defense in the mid-1990s for reconnaissance, Predators were fitted with a pair of Hellfire missiles after an American general remarked, "I can see the tank. Now I'd like to see it blown up."

The newer, bigger Reaper UAVs boast a 3,682-mile range and a relative arsenal, including Hellfires, Sidewinder missiles and 500-pound laser guided bombs -- a potent enough package that the Air Force is now training more pilots to fly aircraft from ground operations centers than from cockpits.

In researching remotely piloted aircraft, I visited the stretch of Southern Nevada desert that has become to UAVs what Silicon Valley is to the device on which you're reading this column. In 2007, Creech Air Force Base was made the home of the 432d Air Expeditionary Wing, the first Air Force wing dedicated to unmanned aircraft systems. Its daily missions in Afghanistan and Iraq could provide the military version of a SportsCenter highlight reel.

With an aim of promoting UAVs domestically as well as "enlightening" our enemies, the Defense Department recently began placing the Predator and Reaper mission clips on YouTube. Ranging from relatively detached wide shots of bombings taken by onboard cameras to startlingly graphic close-ups, the so-called "drone porn" has been a smash hit, as it were, tallying over 10 million views.

Perhaps best explaining its popularity are the thousands of YouTube commenters. Some marvel at the new technology and discuss the resulting paradigm shift in warfare. Some raise questions, including whether it's principled, dignified or otherwise in America's best interest to post drone prone in the first place. Most comments are along the lines of, "Hell yeah HOOOAH BABY!"

Below are three of the Defense Department's most popular videos on YouTube (titles theirs) as well as comparatively tranquil footage of a missile blowing up a tank. The "operational details" links go to the original YouTube pages, featuring more information and comments.

operational details


operational details


operational details


operational details

Keith Thomson played semi-professional baseball in France. He drew editorial cartoons for Newsday and now reports on national security and other matters for several publications, including Garden & Gun. He also has written movies and books, including the novel Once A Spy, which will be published by Doubleday on March 9, 2010. For more information, see keiththomsonbooks.com

Patrick Cockburn: "Threats to Yemen Prove America Hasn’t Learned the Lesson of History" (with audio/video)

Democracy Now! with audio/video:

The United States and Britain have closed their embassies in the Yemeni capital city of Sana’a, citing security threats from an Al Qaeda group. On Sunday Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan told NBC’s Meet The Press that “there are indications that al-Qaeda is planning an attack against a target in Sanaa.” When asked whether U.S. military action was possible in Yemen, Brennan said, “everything is possible.”

On Saturday President Obama connected the foiled Christmas day attack on the Detroit-bound flight to Al Qaeda in Yemen.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown described Yemen as a “regional and global threat” and is calling for an emergency high-level international meeting on Yemen at the end of this month. He spoke to Andrew Marr of the BBC Sunday.

Well for more on Yemen and American and British reactions to the alleged terror threat from there, I’m joined now on the line from the UK by veteran journalist and author Patrick Cockburn. He’s the Middle East Correspondent for the Independent newspaper who has reported from Yemen and is covering the latest news. We are also joined on the line from Sana’a by Michael Horton, a freelance journalist based in Yemen.

"Obama Indicates Escalating US Military Involvement in Yemen" (with video)

Maya Schenwar (truthout) with video (04:50):

This morning, President Barack Obama for the first time attributed the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound plane to al Qaeda. In his weekly radio address, Obama painted the bombing attempt as an act of war. He reiterated his intent to continue fighting the US's "war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred," indicating that Yemen could be the next major site of US military involvement.

According to Obama, the Christmas bombing suspect is specifically linked with a Yemen-based affiliate of al Qaeda.

"We know that he traveled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies," Obama said in this morning's address. "It appears that he joined an affiliate of al Qaeda, and that this group - al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula - trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America."

The Yemeni al Qaeda group has been linked to the 2008 bombing of the American embassy in Yemen, as well as attacks on Western hotels and Yemeni government buildings.

Since this most recent bombing attempt, according to Obama, the US has stepped up its "partnership" with Yemen, "training and equipping their security forces, sharing intelligence and working with them to strike al Qaeda terrorists."

Obama's statements indicate that the US military involvement in Yemen is on the rise - raising questions about the development of another major front in the "war on terror."

The president described a series of recent US-supported military actions in Yemen, undertaken in response to the Christmas Day bombing attempt.

"Training camps have been struck; leaders eliminated; plots disrupted," Obama said.

US military actions in the weeks before the failed Christmas bombing also show a mounting engagement in Yemen. On December 17, the US launched missiles against two suspected al Qaeda sites in that country, according to ABC News.

Yemeni officials estimated that the strikes killed up to 120 people, many of whom were civilians.

Today's radio address provided no further information about the airport security failures that allowed the Christmas bombing suspect to board the plane with explosives in his underpants.

In this first address of the new decade, Obama signaled that peace is a long way off.

"The hard work of protecting our nation is never done," he said.

Read the full transcript of Obama's speech here.

"2009 in Perspective: Glenn Greenwald on the Five Wars U.S. is Fighting in Muslim Countries" (with video/audio)

Democracy Now! with video/audio (20:46):

As 2009 comes to a close, today we begin by taking a step back and putting this year of war in perspective. Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald discusses U.S. foreign policy, including the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, drone strikes on Pakistan, cruise missile attacks on Yemen, operations in Somalia and the ongoing operation in Iraq much more.

The war in Afghanistan was escalated twice in 2009 by President Obama and with it, the death toll of Afghans and US and NATO forces. In the latest news, a suicide bomber attacked a CIA base in Afghanistan Wednesday, killing eight Americans. In Pakistan, the number of US drone strikes has increased dramatically over the past year and in Iraq there are still tens of thousands of US troops deployed. Now, Obama a new military front appears to be opening up against Yemen with Obama ordering cruise missile attacks there.

Meanwhile, the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay remains open and human rights groups have decried what they call an Obama administration policy of preventive detention.

On the domestic front, the president’s top legislative priority–healthcare reform–is lurching forward with legislation passing both the House and Senate. But many question the nature of the reform with no public option and no employer mandate.

For analysis of 2009, we turn now to Glenn Greenwald, a constitutional law attorney and political and legal blogger for Salon.com. He joins us via Democracy Now videostream.

Glenn Greenwald, constitutional law attorney and political and legal blogger for Salon.com. He is the author of three books. His most recent is Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics.

Howie P.S.: At the end of his appearance Greenwald is asked about the results of Obama's efforts on health care legislation. He calls it "an extremely immoral and destructive scheme."

Maddow: "U.S. turns anti-terror attention to Yemen" (video)

MSNBC-Maddow, video (10:56).

Howie P.S.: Richard Engel of NBC News is Maddow's guest. Glenn Greenwald is out with an early warning:

In the wake of the latest failed terrorist attack on Northwest Airlines, one can smell the excitement in the air -- that all-too-familiar, giddy, bipartisan climate that emerges in American media discourse whenever there's a new country we get to learn about so that we can explain why we're morally and strategically justified in bombing it some more. "Yemen" is suddenly on every Serious Person's lips. We spent the last month centrally involved to some secret degree in waging air attacks on that country -- including some that resulted in numerous civilian deaths -- but everyone now knows that this isn't enough and it's time to Get Really Serious and Do More.