Friday, July 3, 2009

STOP U.S. DRONE MISSILE ATTACKS ON PAKISTANI VILLAGES

There has been another deadly U.S. drone strike along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The BBC reports that the attack killed 10 people.

Writes the BBC:

""Three missiles hit the hideout of Taliban commander Noor Wali. Casualties are feared, but details are not immediately available," news agency AFP quoted a security official as saying.

"The attacks took place in Mochikhel, an area controlled by Noor Wali, who is part of Baitullah Mehsud's Tehrik-e-Taliban organisation.

"Mochikhel is near the key Servakai route, currently the scene of fighting between Pakistani security forces and Mehsud's militants.

"Any casualty figures could not be immediately confirmed but unnamed intelligence officials and residents said at least 10 militants were killed."


The government of Pakistan objects to these U.S. attacks from unseen drones as being counter-productive. Villagers living next to houses being destroyed and families being killed naturally resent the U.S. and Americans for these missile strikes. If rural Pakistanis liked Americans before, they now have nothing but hatred and resentment.

Reports the BBC:

"Pakistan has been publicly critical of drone attacks, arguing that they kill civilians and fuel support for the militants.

"The US military does not routinely confirm drone attacks but the armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are believed to be the only forces capable of deploying drones in the region."


I still don't understand how Barack Obama could approve these strikes. Why? Because it denies the supreme worth of the individual, and it takes place outside of any domain of law. Of the 10 people killed in the strike reported by the BBC, how many were children, how many were civilians, and how many were "insurgents" acting in good faith? How can Obama's government decide on its own who deserves to die, who should be a target of the drone's missiles, who merits the death penalty solely on account of living with or next to an insurgent?

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