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Title: * News * World news * President orders air strikes on villages in tribal area (Pakistan)
Source:
Guardian UK
URL Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/200 ... kistan-barack-obama-air-strike
Published: Jan 24, 2009
Author: Ewen MacAskill
Post Date: 2009-01-24 10:47:40 by bush_is_a_moonie
Keywords: None
Views: 693
Comments: 43
* News * World news * Pakistan
President orders air strikes on villages in tribal area
* Ewen MacAskill in Washington * The Guardian, Saturday 24 January 2009 * Article history
Barack Obama gave the go-ahead for his first military action yesterday, missile strikes against suspected militants in Pakistan which killed at least 18 people.
Four days after assuming the presidency, he was consulted by US commanders before they launched the two attacks. Although Obama has abandoned many of the "war on terror" policies of George Bush while he was president, he is not retreating from the hunt for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders.
The US believes they are hiding in the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, and made 30 strikes last year in which more than 200 people were killed. In the election, Obama hinted at increased operations in Pakistan, saying he thought Bush had made a mistake in switching to Iraq before completing the job against al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The US marine corp commander said yesterday that his 22,000 troops should be redeployed from Iraq to Afghanistan. Gen James Conway said "the time is right" to leave Iraq now the war had become largely nation-building rather than the pitched fighting in which the corps excelled; he wanted the marines in Afghanistan, especially in the south where insurgents, and the Taliban and al-Qaida, benefit from both a nearby safe haven in Pakistan and a booming trade in narcotics.
Obama has warned that he is prepared to bomb inside Pakistan if he gets relevant intelligence about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. He had also said he would act against militants along the border if the Pakistan government failed to.
The US missiles were fired by unmanned Predator drones, which hang in the sky gathering intelligence through surveillance and, when commanded and directed by remote control, to launch attacks.
The strikes will help Obama portray himself as a leader who, though ready to shift the balance of American power towards diplomacy, is not afraid of military action.
The first attack yesterday was on the village of Zharki, in Waziristan; three missiles destroyed two houses and killed 10 people. One villager told Reuters of phonethat of nine bodies pulled from the rubble of one house, six were its owner and his relatives; Reuters added that intelligence officials said some foreign militants were also killed. A second attack hours later also in Warizistan killed eight people.
The Pakistan government publicly expressed hope that the arrival of Obama would see a halt to such strikes, which stir up hostility from Pakistanis towards the government; in private, the government may be more relaxed about such attacks.
There is a lot of nervousness in the new administration about the fragility of Pakistan, particularly as it has nuclear weapons, but it also sees Afghanistan and Pakistan as being linked. In the face of a Taliban resurgence, there is despair in Washington over the leadership of the Afghan leader, Hamid Karzai, and there will not be much disappointment if he is replaced in elections later this year.
But Washington insists on seeing as one of its biggest problems the ability of the Taliban and al-Qaida to maintain havens in Pakistan. Obama on Thursday announced he was making veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke a special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan. The secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, spoke by phone to the Pakistan president, Asif Ali Zardari. 
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#11. To: bush_is_a_moonie, farmfriend (#0)
(Edited)
The only change we have is a simian who is so primitive, that he flaunts his hard-on in front of the camera in videos. Such is the primitive power of simian genes. Chimp had them too, but he didn't allow racist prayers and smirk at the good parts, nor did he flaunt hard-ons for the camera. The strikes will help Obama portray himself as a leader who, though ready to shift the balance of American power towards diplomacy, is not afraid of military action. DOUBLE-TALK, NEWSPEAK
I think Obummer should whack a few Indians also, just in case they try to get upitty.
Are yew talkin' about Hopis or Hindoos?
Hindooers. You notice neither Bush nor Obama has dared lob a few missiles across the border into China??? Wonder how come?
That would be striking a match to get a look at the bottom of the fuel drum. It's a lot more fun to pick on the shrimps.
I had a much older friend that served on the Panay in China during the 1930s. From him I learned about the Chinese, what one is never taught in college.
If you have the time, could you impart what he taught you?
Well, some will have to be on PM. He spoke several languages fluently, was thrown out of Naval Academy, my type of guy. Many people lived on the river, born there, lived there and died there. The most gross he told me of was watching the Mother cooking supper or whatever, stop long enough to give birth and if it was a girl, throw it overboard, go back to doing her chores. The human degradation was beyond his comprehension. There was only the elite society that had any order, all of the rest was survival.
are the chinese still by law only allowed one child per family?
just keep that opium pipe flowing, eh?
#34. To: Dakmar (#32)
monkey abuse!
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestI JUST MADE MY FIRST CALL TO A FOREIGN LEADER!! RESPECT ME! I just officially killed my first Pakistanis. See how much power I have?
There's a new alpha male in town.
#13. To: IndieTX (#11)
#14. To: Cynicom (#13)
#16. To: randge (#14)
#18. To: Cynicom (#16)
#21. To: randge, Jethro Tull (#18)
#24. To: Cynicom (#21)
I had a much older friend that served on the Panay in China during the 1930s. From him I learned about the Chinese, what one is never taught in college.
#26. To: bluegrass, randge (#24)
If you have the time, could you impart what he taught you?
#29. To: Cynicom (#26)
The most gross he told me of was watching the Mother cooking supper or whatever, stop long enough to give birth and if it was a girl, throw it overboard, go back to doing her chores.
#32. To: christine (#29)
are the chinese still by law only allowed one child per family?
Replies to Comment # 32.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 32.