US officials say that the dramatic escalation in drone strikes against Pakistan since the beginning of the new year, 11 strikes in the first 19 days killing roughly 90 people, is a direct consequence of the December bombing of a key CIA building at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Afghanistan’s Khost Province.
The attack killed seven CIA agents who were coordinating the drone attacks, and the bomber, a Jordanian intelligence agent who secretly was working with the Pakistani Taliban, made it clear the bombing was revenge for US drone strikes against Pakistan.
The attacks are a predictable response of escalation from an administration that has been constantly escalating the war in the region. But the attacks might have additional fuel from comments made by Pakistan’s military yesterday.
Pakistan’s Army spokesman declared that the military is unable to launch an invasion of North Waziristan, a long-standing demand of the US, for at least 6-12 months, as the military is already stretched thin fighting other US-backed attacks. Officials say the lack of a ground invasion of the region will likely provide further excuses for the CIA to escalate air attacks on the region.
Non-existent in the calculations appears to be that the Khost attack was blowback for the 44 attacks in 2009. That being the case, one wonders what consequences the CIA will stir up with attacks which at the present pace could number into the hundreds in 2010.
Gates is worried about Propaganda that is tainting the American image in Pakistan ? what is this ? comedy Central ? the CIA's actions speak for them self's. nobody is making friends by bombing anything that moves. this new American administration will join the long line up of war criminals that are much worse than the last wave that was convicted at the Nuremberg trial.
This is tantamount to an admission that we are attempting to terrorize the civilian population of Pakistan into withholding support for the resistance. If there were "actionable intelligence," we would need no other reason to attack those targets. Since we apparently need another reason to carry out the attacks, we apparently do not always have reliable intelligence and are attacking indiscriminately without regard to civilian casualties. We are admitting that the escalation is revenge for the Khost attack and an attempt to deter future attacks on the CIA by "breaking the will" of the civilian population. This is a war crime.
LOVE THOSE DRONES THEY BLOW THEM UP NICE