Is air strike like this considered modern day covert operation? I am all for traditional covert operation involving manpower to bring Osama bin Laden and his associates to justice. Aerial bombardment over a sovereign nation doesn't sound like a legitmit means to fight terrorism to me, unless there is a taciturn agreement between the two states.
The death toll of women and children is not looking too good. We make the anti-US propaganda so easy for the other side. I'm certainly not saying we are more murderous than Al Queda, their suicide bombers both play hell with the innocents, but being the infidel superpower holds us to a higher standard. Who is the guy that decided 20 or so women and children were acceptable collateral damgage to get this guy. It just seems so cowardly and unlike the US military.
SHOCKER!! Reports: Bin Laden's No. 2 NOT in targeted village (CNN) -- Ayman al-Zawahiri -- Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in the al Qaeda terrorist network -- was not in a remote Pakistani village targeted by a CIA airstrike, according to news reports. Senior Pakistani officials said earlier reports that al-Zawahiri may have been killed in Friday's attack -- in the village of Damadola, near the Afghan border -- were incorrect. "Their information was wrong, and our investigations conclude that they acted on a false information," a senior intelligence official told The Associated Press on Saturday. AP said the official had direct knowledge of the investigations into the airstike that killed 18 people. Reuters also quoted a senior Pakistani official as saying: "Al-Zawahri was not there at the time of the attack." The Pakistans government was expected to issue a statement later Saturday, AP reported. Both the Pentagon and the White House declined to comment on initial reports of the airstrike on Friday. (Watch how al-Zawahiri was targeted -- 5:39) Friday morning's strike killed eight men, five women and five children, Pakistani intelligence sources told CNN. Three homes were targeted. "We are conducting tests to identify the bodies," one intelligence official said. Hundreds of residents took part Saturday in protesting the attack. The strike came a week after the Arabic language news network Al-Jazeera aired a new videotape with a message from al-Zawahiri, in which he called on U.S. President George W. Bush to admit defeat in Iraq. U.S. authorities believe al-Zawahiri, 54, a doctor from a prominent Egyptian family, helped mastermind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He has also been indicted in the United States for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The U.S. government has put up a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture. While bin Laden himself hasn't been heard from since October 2004, last week's videotape was the fifth message from al-Zawahiri released over the past year, including several claiming responsibility for the July attacks on London's transit system. Considered the intellectual and ideological driving force behind al Qaeda, al-Zawahiri has been associated with bin Laden since at least 1987, when they first met in Pakistan. He is also believed to act as bin Laden's personal physician. In 1998, al-Zawahiri merged his own Islamic militant group, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, into bin Laden's organization. Three months after the 9/11 attacks, U.S. forces attacked al-Zawahiri's residence in Afghanistan, killing his wife and children. In March 2004, Pakistani troops launched an assault on an area in Waziristan province where intelligence indicated al-Zawahiri was hiding, but he was not captured. Last month, Pakistani officials confirmed the death of a top al Qaeda official, Abu Hamza Rabia, who was killed in an explosion December 1 north of the border town of Miram Shah (Full story). But witnesses gave conflicting accounts of how he died. Villagers said he was killed in a missile strike, while Pakistan offficials said he died while working with explosives. Egyptian-born Rabia was described as al Qaeda's operations chief and No. 3 man. Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/14/alqaeda.strike/index.html
Considering how f-ed up the CIA's intelligence was on the war, the chances of them actually picking targets based on accurate intelligence are slightly above zero at .0001% .
So basically 18 innocent people were murdered for nothing? That's what that article above seems to indicate, correct? At least the Israelis are precise in their air strikes, and tend to get their targets (along with a bunch of other bystanders, but at least they get their main targets). Oh, I forgot, they're coll damage... The CIA jobs need to be outsourced to the Mossad if this article is accurate, sounds like they're getting desperate to do something right, to the point that they will fire on civilian targets (homes) for mere 'suspicion' Al-Zawahiri was there. Well, the hunt continues...
hmmm....I wonder why there is so much anti-American sentiment throughout the world. I am sure the family members and friends of those 18 people dead love the US even more now.
I'm sure folks in elbow room with terrorists love us anyhow. This at least shows Pakistan is not off limits to terroristic folk....Good. Good.
The strike near the Afghan border on Friday killed at least 18 people, including women and children, and three houses were destroyed, according to residents of Damadola village in Bajaur tribal area. CORPSES People from Damadola said no foreigners, only local people, were present and killed in Friday's attack. "I know all the 18 people killed. There was neither Zawahri nor any other Arab among them. Rather they were all poor people of the area," Haroon Rashid, the area's National Assembly representative, was quoted by the Afghan Islamic Press news agency as saying. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/security...M8wuecA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl hearts and minds...
Aggression is not good for innocent folks caught in combat, but against terrorism, it is an ugly necessity in counterterroristic means. This is not about Democratic or Republican Presidents lying, and Johnson lying a lot, or 1,974 reasons anti-war folk can conjure.
and this reasoning is different from the terrorists how? im sure they'd rather attack the pentagon everyday too but since they can't...they attack whoever tehy can as an 'ugly necessity'.
