Concerns that the US is once again escalating its attacks against Pakistan’s tribal areas appear all the stronger today, as drones attacked a vehicle in North Waziristan Agency, killing three suspects.
Future drone attacks might be a seriously risky matter, however, as Pakistan’s Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal Rao Suleman reported that the air force is now prepared to shoot down future drones if given authorization to do so by the Zardari government.
The drones have been hugely unpopular in Pakistan, and the government has recently issued repeated demands for their halt. The fact that the attacks have continued and escalated have put the Pakistani military into a position of needing to assert itself.
Marshal Suleman also revealed an unusual fact about the drone flights, which have come out of an air base in Balochistan. According to Suleman, the Shamsi Air Base has actually been under the control of the United Arab Emirates since the 1990s.
hahaha…yea right. While behind thte scenes they assure the CIA that it will be business as usual.
Exactly! I guess they're relying on people not having read the WikiLeaks cable that shows the deal between them and the Shrub.
If Pockystahn shoots down my drones, I will consider that an act of aggression toward me and the USA and will respond accordingly. The country must reelect me so I can finish the mission.
If only someone in Pakistan has the guts to do something about the baltant abuse of Pakistani Airspace by the US the whole perpective of the so called "war on terror"which in fact is a basic slautering of innocent civilians by the US, will change.
Go Pakistan Air Force shoot down these insidious drones and assert your ability to control your own country.
Regrettably, my fellow citizens have forgotten their own history & now revel in displays of brute force, yellow ribbons, flag-waving, chanting USA! USA!!
"If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I would never lay down my arms – never! never! never!" – William Pitt
the fact that Pakistan has not shot down any of these drones shows that the Pakistan goverment is on the take big time ,and are quiet happy to see innocent Pakistani civilians butchered.
It will be interesting to see if their largely American, with some French and Chinese, equipment can be remotely disabled.
Fer sure, with some 30mm projectile magic.
Where is the Congressional authorization for this expanding madness? We are not at war with Pakistan, and we have no justification for mutilating Afghanistan, two sovereign countries that never attcked the U.S. What purpose does the Constitution, the U.N., the World Court and our Congress fulfill? Our presidents just wage war whenever and wherever they choose. Is it any wonder that there are many in the world that are pi..ed-off at us. Yesterday we killed a 12-year old girl in Afghanistan. Her crime? She was sleeping on the roof of her home to escape the heat of the day.
You are absolutely right about people, and not only in the Middle East, getting hugely mad at US policies. They only bring destruction, suffering and outrage. It's coming to the point when the rest of the world will have to stand up to the criminal actions emanating from the elites that control Washington.
The Pakistani forces have been ready to shoot down US aircraft for some time now. The last time they tried, they received the tender ministrations of a troop of Apaches.
But if they were serious, actually shooting a drone down would not go unnoticed.
That’s probably exactly what our military wants so that they can expand the fighting in Pakistan and say it was their fault. War is profit, don’t you know?
And the purpose of the military is war. It’s easy to find excuses for war, very difficult to end them, even when 70% of the country wants them ended.
Shoot anything down in tour airspace show the vUS that you are not eather cowards or corrupt.Stop letting them kill your people.Think the US would let you in there air space.The only time besides pearl harbour that US air space was invaded was 9/11 and that was an inside job.Anyone that says otherwise eather did not read the proff or is on the take.Japan nows it was an inside job wake up and read.
Promises, promises. Let's just say that I'll believe it when I see it. In the meantime, I reserve the right to believe that they're all playing footsie under the table and that this is all part of the plot to fool the populations of both countries.
True, however, I think the civilian population of Pakistan are REALLY getting fed up with the slaughter of their countrymen by American drones. If the population and military decide to oust the stooges in Islamabad – a real possibility, only then will we see the Pakistani nation assert its independence – but probably not until then.
Another US war with Pakistan is perhaps inevitable. Sooner or later Pakistan's government must answer to its own peoples for permitting these perversions of its sovereignty by US forces. Also a glance at the map shows the area to the north of Gaidar will be necessary for the completion of the pipeline. Note there also the protrusion of a large salient of Iranian Baluchistan, where CIA forces are already quite active.
The Great Game is alive and well.
Of course the US is increasing the number of drone attacks! We just got a whole bunch of intelligence from OBL's residence that tells us exactly where top Al Quaeda and Taliban leaders are, and we need to act on the info immediately. If Pakistan doesn't like the drone attacks, their intelligence service should not have been harboring OBL and continuing to harbor other terrorist leaders.
"We just got a whole bunch of intelligence from OBL's residence that tells us exactly where top Al Quaeda and Taliban leaders are…"
wow do you work for the CIA or something? You seem to have access to knowledge that us ordinary peons don't have.