Teacher and 9 year old son killed by suspected U.S. drone in Pakistan

[JelloSka]

CNN: (1-3-2009): Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- A teacher and his 9-year-old son were killed Sunday night by a suspected U.S. drone, a Pakistani administration official and an intelligence official told CNN.

The incident occurred in the village of Musaki in the North Waziristan district. The suspected U.S. drone fired two guided missiles at the compound of local resident Sadiq Noor, the officials said. There were reports Noor's home was used by local and foreign militants.

There was no immediate U.S. confirmation of the report.

Earlier Sunday, four people were killed and one injured when a remote-controlled roadside bomb struck a vehicle in the Hangu district of North West Frontier Province, officials said.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/01/03/pakistan.bombing/index.html

[polly7]

1. I never would have believed I'd live in a world where any country

could just pick and choose where to drop bombs, knowing civilians were being killed, over and over, for years. It's insane.

[virgogal]

6. I remember when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed. Nothing

surprises or shocks me anymore.

Nothing.

[timeforpeace]

20. And when it's YOUR country, and the President YOU (and I) voted for, it's a horrible nightmare come

true.

[high density]

28. Drone use up, drone civilian death rate down 40% under Obama

The C.I.A. has launched 53 such strikes in Obama’s first year in office, more than during Bush’s entire presidency, according to data compiled by Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann at the New America Foundation. In part, that strategy owes to increasingly precise technology that has made it easier in the last couple of years to hit a desired target with fewer civilian casualties. And in part, it underscores the ability to redirect resources away from Iraq now that the war has subsided there; when the Obama administration came into office, it learned that dozens of drones were devoted to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan but just five or six in the tribal areas of Pakistan where Al Qaeda’s leadership is mainly holed up, according to officials who declined to be identified discussing a classified program. Obama has authorized doubling the number of drones in the Pakistani border area, as well as increasing the presence over Yemen and Somalia, officials said.

Over the course of Obama’s first year in office, his drones have taken out a number of “high-value targets,” including Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban; Saad bin Laden, a son of Osama bin Laden; and Tahir Yuldashev, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a close ally of Al Qaeda. At the same time, according to estimates by Bergen and Tiedemann, the civilian death rate of those killed by drone strikes has fallen to about 24 percent in 2009 from about 40 percent from 2006 to 2008. Government officials insist that the civilian casualty rate is even lower. “I don’t hear anyone inside the government, including people like me who came from outside, who thinks the Predator program is anything but essential,” says a senior Obama counterterrorism official. “There are a lot of negatives, but it is completely essential.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/magazine/17Terror-t.html?pagewanted=8

The fact is drones will be used no matter what president is leading the country, short of Dennis Kucinich.

[virgogal]

2. The operative word in the header and article is "suspected". I'll wait

for more info.

[polly7]

5. The operative word is always suspected.

When it's found to be true, it's rarely ever mentioned again. Do unarmed drones have some sort of sensor that tells them which small children are terrorists?

[JelloSka]

11. Agree. It could have been a Nicaraguan drone. Let's be patient n/t

[polly7]

15. You're not serious.

I hope.

[timeforpeace]

21. They got mad skillz with drones technology. Suspected. How stupid.

[polly7]

23. Yeah, it would be pretty stupid. Which is why it was sarcasm.

Sorry you weren't sharp enough to catch that.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Damn. Will we never learn?

[Don Caballero]

4. We must wait until this is confirmed by our officials

We must not take the word of those who wish to tarnish our image in the area.

[G_j]

7. who is "we" ???

and btw, "our officials" as a rule, lie.

[Don Caballero]

8. Like the Taliban attempt to frame our troops in the mass murder of those kids

This may be another attempt

[polly7]

12. Are all of the tens of thousands of kids in the ME killed, set-ups?

You seem to want people to think so.

[Wilms]

9. "confirmed by our officials"? Are you that naive, or do you think we are?

You're kindof creepin me out with your formula admonishment posts.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7383695&mesg_id=7383710

Is this a habit with you?

[G_j]

16. seems to be

of course they don't need confirmation for their own theories.

[Flaneur]

26. Your Dick Cheney imitation is spot on!

But seriously, why are you on this board?

[JelloSka]

10. self-delete nt

[malaise]

13. Move along

They're just collateral damage. :sarcasm:

[JelloSka]

14. Karzai appointed a delegation (not Taliban) that concluded those children were killed

Following the attack, President Karzai tasked a delegation on Monday led by the Chief of Complaints Commission and composed of representatives from the ministries of Defense, Interior, National Directorate of Security and the Office of Administrative Affairs for an immediate investigation of the incident.

The local administration officials and the international forces based in Kunar province told the team of investigators they were unaware of the incident.
The findings by the delegation concluded that a unit of international forces descended from a plane Sunday night into Ghazi Khan Village in Narang district of the eastern province of Kunar and took 10 people from three homes, eight of them school students in grades six, nine and 10, one of them a guest, the rest from the same family, and shot them dead.

Now, if all those people are Taliban, then the US government has not told us so. I have not seen calls for Karzai to fire those officials.

"http://president.gov.af/Contents/91/Documents/1124/phone_talks_kunar_eng.html

[Capn Sunshine]

17. What about that remote controlled bomb in the story

did "we" do that one too? Suspected drone?
pretty kneee jerk unless you're trolling.
In which case , bravo.

[JelloSka]

19. What does that other bomb in a separate incident have to do with the suspected drone attack?

The explosion came from under a bridge. Can a plane do that?

[timeforpeace]

22. Meet Miss Direction, the favorite Miss on DU.

[Capn Sunshine]

27. no, it's a story about violent deaths with no causes

only speculation. Do you have fresh dental work because that uncontrollable jerking in your knee might damage things. So heads up.

[rug]

18. It was a preemptive strike. The boy may have grown up.

[thereismore]

25. It's a sad day when the :sarcasm: emoticon isn't even needed. nt

[timeforpeace]

24. Still suspected or confirmed?