Obama Endorses Another Escalation of CIA Drone Strikes in Pakistan
Official: 'What Do We Have to Lose?'
As officials express public outrage at the Pakistani government for various perceived slights, President Obama has been authorizing more and more aggressive levels of drone strikes against the tribal areas, further escalating the war in the area.
A top US official quoted in McClatchy but unnamed said that the administration’s attitude toward Pakistan’s opposition to the strikes is “what do we have to lose?” UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay has called for a UN probe into the indiscriminate killing of civilians in the strikes.
The US has claimed that the strikes are extremely accurate and based on the best intelligence possible. Despite this, the drone strikes in Pakistan have killed well over 2,000 people since President Obama took office, and fewer than 50 of the victims have ever been conclusively named by officials.
Officials familiar with the situation say that the escalation is a result of the NATO summit in Chicago, during which Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was supposed to agree to reopen the supply routes into Afghanistan. No deal was ever finalized, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said that US patience toward Pakistan is running out.
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Druthers
June 8th, 2012 at 11:46 pm
This is the new version of "How to Win Friends and influence People."
Everyday there are more and more people who will never forget us!
Dan La Rue
June 9th, 2012 at 7:46 am
If Panetta's patience with Pakistan is running out, perhaps the Pakistan government's patience with the United States is likewise getting a bit thin? Our welcome there is not only ours to decide.
What on earth will Panetta do when his patience totally runs out? Carpet bombing? What options does he have, other than military?
klyde
June 9th, 2012 at 9:10 am
Murder Incorporated International Division.
rosemerry
June 9th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
What do we have to lose? I suppose all respect for the USA, all hope of peace and cooperation with an "ally", and plenty of lives and money are already lost. The USA's patience with anyone who is not a puppet has never been great.
Andron
June 9th, 2012 at 3:23 pm
You;re forgetting Isreal , arn't you?
There the Puppet pulls the strings and there is unlimited patience.
scott hough
June 9th, 2012 at 9:45 pm
AN ALLIE? ARE YOU SERIOUS? Panatta is in this for the weapons and foreign aid only. He knows for a fact that if he really pisses us off he will have a billion Indians up his ass!
CassandraSpeaks
June 10th, 2012 at 5:04 pm
We have already pushed a lot of the Pakistani public into the arms of the militants, and we have very few friends there now. We are making it inevitable that radical Islamists will come to power, whether through elections or military coup d'etat, and control a huge nuclear-armed military in a country of 175 million people. It would only be a matter of time before a long and bloody war with India would break out and draw us in, and the Russians and Chinese would join Islamist radicals around the world watching in glee was we self-destruct.
Mike Ehling
June 10th, 2012 at 7:36 pm
It's about time for Pakistan to enter into a formal alliance with China. After all, what's Pakistan got to lose?