US Drone Strike Kills Nine in South Waziristan Hours After Brennan Testifies

Amid Sudden Debate, Killings Continue

The Brennan confirmation hearings in the Senate are bringing sudden Congressional attention to the long-standing Obama Administration policy of drone strikes against Pakistan, but that’s not changing policy.

At least not so far, as US drones fired two more missiles against a pair of houses in South Waziristan Agency today, killing nine people and wounding five others. The slain were referred to, as usual, as “suspected militants.”

Also as usual, officials conceded that they didn’t have names for any of the victims of the attack, and simply said that since it was an attack on a tribal area affiliated with the Mehsud tribe they assume it had something to do with Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Hakimullah Mehsud.

It was the second strike in as many days, as a US attack yesterday in North Waziristan killed five other people, who were likewise unidentified. This is par for the course as with thousands slain in the drone war, only a few dozen have ever been identified.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.