Posted on 02/02/2013 5:57:39 PM PST by lbryce
Pakistani villagers offer funeral prayers for people who were reportedly killed by a U.S. drone attack in Miranshah, capital of Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan along the Afghanistan border.
UNITED NATIONS — A U.N. expert on Thursday launched a special investigation into drone warfare and targeted killings, which the United States relies on as a front-line weapon in its global war against al-Qaida.
One of the three countries requesting the investigation was Pakistan, which officially opposes the use of U.S. drones on its territory as an infringement on its sovereignty but is believed to have tacitly approved some strikes in the past. Many Pakistanis say innocent civilians have also been killed in drone strikes, which the U.S. has rejected.
The other two countries requesting the investigation were not named but were identified as two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Your conclusion sounds too much like a conspiracy theory to me. My guess? I think President Obama knows virtually nothing about the military or fighting a war, so he defers to his advisors. The simplest explanation is mostly likely the correct one. His advisors (and the military no doubt) think the drone attacks are serving some sort of purpose, so they’re advising the president to continue them. President Obama simply continued and expanded Bush’s drone policy, because his administration believed it was effective.
That said, that doesn’t mean the drone attacks are in fact effective. We know they are killing some of the enemy, but this administration has created even more opportunities for Islamic terrorists elsewhere, like in Libya and Eygpt. Before they’re done, we’re likely to have a new caliphate.
What you’re saying sounds reasonable and legitimate and might very well be. But I’m afraid you’re giving Obama too much credit. There are many illustrations that have come to light that make him out to being much more sinister, malevolent, Machiavellian than anyone would ever imagine that gives credence to what I’ve postulated.
Deliberately killing non-involved civilians is always counterproductive. Our targetting of the enemy in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, etc. has been very good, based on good real time intelligence.
You have to go to Bill Roggio’s “Long War Blog” site to read and see about our programs. Same for “Weaselzippers” great film collections from both Iraq and Afghanistan.
The films from the helicopters are the best because you often get live-time talk between the pilots/gunners and those doing the targetting.
We are overly cautious in some cases, but that is okay.
Just because someone isn’t carrying a weapon at one point in time, in a battleground, doesn’t mean that he’s not going to carry one down the next block. The same for planting bombs in roads. Our ROE’s say you can’t kill an unarmed enemy eventhough he has committed an act of war against you. BULLSHIT.
Only where you can determine that the Taliban is holding his family hostage, forcing the adult or child to plant a bomb in order to save them, should a “no shoot” order be given. I’d leave the rest of the decision to those on the ground or in the air. We’ve lost too many men and women by not taking out the bomb-planters.
We have also lost the psychological warfare advantage of “instant death” to those who plant the bombs. That is one key advantage we cannot afford to lose.
Our electronic/photographic intelligence is very good in most places, even Afghanistan.
Nobody is going to win by conquering Afghanistan in the traditional sense though the Taliban has the numbers to seize enough territory and small towns and villages to set up a parallel government, much like they did in the 1990’s before the Northern Alliance kicked them out of many areas.
What you are not seeing now are combat reports from Afghanistan. I don’t see the ISAF reports that used to be posted at FR. At least they gave us some insight into combat ops on the ground.
The news media has completely abandoned combat reporting except when a mistake is made
I want to know how many Taliban bomb “facilitators” have been killed or captured; the same for “bomb planters”; how many Taliban “cell” leaders have been killed or captured, etc.
That is the grinding out war that can drive an enemy out of an area if done right.
Nothing on Afghan military forces engaging the enemy. Some good units are but you won’t see reports about them in the MSM, only at Roggio’s site or writings by Michael Yon.
Selective drone attacks will be part of American military tactics from now on. Trust me. They work. Also, they are now, if our politicians don’t even recognize it, part of the military’s “Long Arm” reach strategy, based on President Monroe’s attacks on the Libyan pirates (Tripoli), as well as on U.S. law enforcement tactics in the 1800’s (and well into the 1900’s).
That tactic is the basis for the saying “You can run, but you can’t hide, you can’t escape, you can only surrender or die.”
It is also one of the underpinings of the function of Interpol - more eyes and ears around the world to locate, track and aid in the capture of international criminals and fugitives.
The war on terrorism is going to be a decades long one, but it can be speeded up by taking out key enemy targets as soon as the become designated/located and marked.
The Israelis have been fighting terrorism long before Israel became a state, starting with the Arab raiders of Jewish farming settlements in British Palestine Mandate, from the 1920’s till today.
Even though they suffer daily attacks, their success in defeating them is extraordinarily high. However, at various times in the past, US presidents and their high-ranking advisors have cut-off or suspended US-Israeli intelligence joint operations and sharing.
If you have noticed, the Israelis haven’t bombed any milk factories in the past. We have.
In 1972, I created and coedited the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee study “The Human Cost of Communism In Vietnam”, 1972 (essentially Volume 1 of 3 on the subject). I did a lot of book research as well as first-hand research on the subject, as well as bringing in the best in the field to contribute to the study.
I learned a lot back during the Vietnam war and have not stopped learning, but one thing always remains the same, the enemy will continue to attack you until you destroy him or inflict enough damage to make all but the most die-hard fanatics leave the fight. Then you track them down to the ends of the earth and kill them.
The British did this to the Mau Maus, the Communists in the Malaya war and the US/Philippinos did it to the Huks. Those wars were won because the will was there to do so, and the tactics used were devastating.
Back then there were real military leaders, not the puffs we have today in Dempsey and others.
We are at war. Once we all realize that and what kind of war it is, the methods for fighting will be also realized, and implemented. Then you will be on the long rode to victory.
No, it is you who does not know of what you speak.
No one has ever said that the indiscriminate carpet bombing and napalming of Southeast Asia was “OK”. Quite the contrary.
Your son may be a soldier but why woulkd you assume I wasn’t. You must not talk to many vets.
Our troops have no mission in Afghanistan any more. They are just ducks in a shooting gallery. There because O lacks the guts to pull them, but he will not allow them to do their job while there. He never has.
You’re entitled to your opinion, but you have no right or call to tell me to shut up.
This is one area where I actually agree with Zero, although I note the hypocrisy on his part (and the American Left), who complained vociferously about Bush's war policies but have nothing to say about Zero.
I really like that America is killing terrorists with a weapon that causes them so much terror. That is why they’re complaining about it, because it takes away their borders, their safe houses, they cannot operate invisibly and cannot hide. I say keep it up.
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