{"id":2679,"date":"2013-12-26T11:56:31","date_gmt":"2013-12-26T17:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/?p=2679"},"modified":"2013-12-26T11:56:31","modified_gmt":"2013-12-26T17:56:31","slug":"drone-strike-in-pakistan-was-first-to-be-launched-by-obama-administration-on-christmas-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/drone-strike-in-pakistan-was-first-to-be-launched-by-obama-administration-on-christmas-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Drone Strike in Pakistan Was First to Be Launched by Obama Administration on Christmas Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Kevin Gosztola<\/a>, The Dissenter
\nclick here for original article<\/a><\/p>\n

For the first time since the United States began to launch drone attacks, a strike was launched late on Christmas Day in Pakistan. Four people who could not be identified but who were allegedly from Afghanistan were killed.<\/p>\n

The Pakistani newspaper, The Express Tribune,reported<\/a>, \u201cFour suspected militants were killed when a US drone fired missiles at a compound in North Waziristan Agency in the late hours of Wednesday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two missiles were fired at a compound. A local tribesman said he had heard \u201ctwo huge explosions\u201d in the \u201coutskirts of Miramshah.\u201d Tribesmen left their homes in panic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can still hear the sound of drones hovering in the sky,\u201d he said, adding that the bodies were being pulled out of the compound.<\/p>\n

The Pakistan Tribune also\u00a0reported<\/a>, \u201cPanic gripped the area following the attack as unmanned aircraft kept flying over the area till wee hours of Thursday morning.\u201d And, \u201cThe identity of the deceased couldn\u2019t be ascertained because of their charred bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

It had been three weeks since a drone strike had been launched by the US on any individuals in Pakistan.<\/p>\n

An intelligence official apparently\u00a0claimed<\/a>\u00a0that the individuals killed were from the Haqqani network.<\/p>\n

Attacks targeting the Haqqani network have\u00a0represented a departure<\/a>\u00a0from going after only \u201csenior Al Qaeda leaders.\u201d The Haqqani network has also never launched any attacks on the continental United States.<\/p>\n

The government of Pakistan strongly condemned the US drone strike. \u201cThere is an across the board consensus in Pakistan that these drone strikes must end,\u201d a Ministry of Foreign Affairs\u00a0press release<\/a>declared.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrone strikes are counter-productive, entail loss of innocent civilian lives and have human rights and humanitarian implications. Such strikes also set dangerous precedents in inter-state relations,\u201d it added. And, \u201cThese drone strikes have a negative impact on the government\u2019s efforts to bring peace and stability in Pakistan and the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

In past years, drone attacks have been launched in Yemen on Christmas Eve. In 2012, two occurred: one attacked a vehicle and killed at least two suspected al Qaeda militants in the southern Bayda province of Yemen. The attack happened in the early evening in the country. It was believed a \u201cmid-level al Qaeda Yemeni operative,\u201d Abdel-Raouf Naseeb, was one of the men killed,\u00a0according<\/a>\u00a0to The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ).<\/p>\n

According to Swiss-based human rights group Alkarama, the second US drone strike\u00a0took place<\/a>\u00a0around 7 pm and targeted men in a \u201clocal sports stadium.\u201d The Interior Ministry claimed they had been allegedly involved in a massive prison break \u201cthat freed dozens of fighters who then took arms against the government and helped administer al Qaeda rule in the south.\u201d The men may have simply considered themselves \u201csimply al Qaeda members,\u201d and so Alkarama contends they should not have been targeted since \u201csenior operatives\u201d are the only individuals who are supposed to be on the Obama administration\u2019s \u201ckill list.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muhammed Said Ben Dahman, the uncle of Hamza Hussein Said Ben Dahman, 16 years-old at the time of the strike, recounted, \u201cAbout 6.30 pm we heard the sound of a drone and Hellfire missiles were fired at a low altitude before exploding against the stadium. After a moment of stupor, families rushed through the streets crowded with children and ran to the stadium. Hamza was in shock; maybe he inhaled fumes from missiles. His body was paralyzed; he lost consciousness and his condition worsened day by day. His father quickly went to Egypt for medical treatment, because doctors here could not identify his illness. We requested assistance from the government, but they ignored it and so far we have received no help. The house had to be sold to meet the expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

It had been 47 days\u00a0since any drones had attacked<\/a>\u00a0anyone in Yemen.<\/p>\n

Two strikes were launched on Christmas Eve in 2009. One was the \u201cfirst known US attempt to assassinate American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.\u201d It targeted an Awlaki family home and left at least 30 people dead. The Obama administration had believe he was having a meeting with members of al Qaeda. The second strike\u00a0occurred<\/a>\u00a0in the Abyan province and an unknown number of people were killed.<\/p>\n

Daniel Klaidman wrote in his book,\u00a0Kill or Capture<\/em>, \u201cOn one late evening in late 2009 [General Hoss] Cartwright and [John] Brennan met with Obama in the Oval Office to consult with him on a target in Yemen that the president had previously declined to approve. The two men had General David Petreaus, at the time head of Centcom, on the phone. Petraeus wanted to add the target for whom they unexpectedly had a clear shot, to an operation in mid-execution. To Cartwright\u2019s surprise Obama, after assuring himself that the man in question was a legal target and the operation had been suitably vetted, reversed himself and gave approval for the hit.\u201d (Awlaki was not actually assassinated by a drone until September 30, 2011, and he was not approved for Obama\u2019s \u201ckill list\u201d until the US Office of Legal Counselsigned off formally<\/a>\u00a0in June 2010.)<\/p>\n

Finally, Dawn, a Pakistani-based media group, reported that North Waziristan is \u201cclose to full-blown conflict.\u201d There are an estimated 43 local militant groups, including the Haqqani network.<\/p>\n

The Pakistani government has sought to initiate peace talks with leaders of these militant groups, but the Obama administration continues to authorize drone attacks that are\u00a0increasingly viewed<\/a>\u00a0as a part of an effort to \u201csabotage\u201d such talks.<\/p>\n

In a time of year when peace and reconciliation should be a value that is promoted, the Obama administration seems to be starting an American holiday tradition of launching drone strikes.<\/p>\n

While Americans gather with family and friends, eating turkey, exchanging presents and sharing time with one another, the president and his national security team mark the holiday by continuing to wage war on countries where populations wholly oppose such action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter click here for original article For the first time since the United States began to launch drone attacks, a strike was launched late on Christmas Day in Pakistan. Four people who could not be identified but who were allegedly from Afghanistan were killed. The Pakistani newspaper, The Express Tribune,reported, \u201cFour suspected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2680,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/9640275622_295b07d42b.jpg?fit=285%2C333&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2681,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2679\/revisions\/2681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}