Media Blackout As Obama Appoints First Ever "Assassination Czar"

HorryForThree · Jun 11, 2012

CIA gets nod to step up Pakistan drone strikes

Expressing public and private frustration with Pakistan, the Obama administration has unleashed the CIA to resume an aggressive campaign of drone strikes in Pakistani territory over the last few weeks, approving strikes that might have been vetoed in the past for fear of angering Islamabad.

Now, said a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity in discussing sensitive issues, the administration's attitude is, "What do we have to lose?"

......

Pakistanis view the drone strikes as an attempt to intimidate their civilian and military leaders into giving in to U.S. demands. If that's the strategy, it won't work, said experts and analysts in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.

"They are trying to send a message: 'If you don't come around, we will continue with our plan, the way we want to do it,'" said Javed Ashraf Qazi, a retired Pakistani intelligence chief and former senator. It's "superpower arrogance being shown to a smaller state.... But this will only increase the feeling among Pakistanis that the Americans are bent on having their way through force and not negotiation."

........

Zardari's government is bracing for elections and can ill-afford to appear subservient to Washington. Neither can the country's powerful military, which wields vast influence over foreign policy but has seen its image dented by recent crises, including the relentless drone attacks on its territory.

"If the U.S. feels it is doing very well in the war against al-Qaida, OK," said Riaz Khokhar, a former Pakistani foreign secretary. "But people in Pakistan don't know who Al Libi is and don't care who he is. What people care about is that Pakistani sovereignty is being violated repeatedly by drones."
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rhadamanthus · Sep 26, 2012

Not sure why I thought of this thread after reading through the latest dose of reality on American death programs. Must be fatigue.

Far more civilians have been killed by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas than U.S. counter-terrorism officials have acknowledged, a new study by human rights researchers at Stanford University and New York University contends.
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The report says the strikes violate international law because, in part, the government has not proved the targets are direct threats to the United States.
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link

The report is a perturbing read.

Meanwhile, Assange is now a formal "enemy of the state" and Manning has been newly charged with "aiding the enemy". Whistleblowing...not what it used to be...or something.

rocketsjudoka · Sep 27, 2012

Its interesting reading stuff like this while Republicans are out calling Obama a radical liberal who is constantly apologizing for America.

rhadamanthus · Sep 27, 2012

rocketsjudoka said: ↑

Its interesting reading stuff like this while Republicans are out calling Obama a radical liberal who is constantly apologizing for America.
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I'm trying hard to not pay attention to the election stupidity (you'll note that the above post was my first in quite a while, for example). But your point is accurate.

Obama has expanded and strengthened all the major facets of Bush's "war on terrorism". Excepting, of course, unfunded dumb wars.

EDIT: Well...the "war on terrorism" itself is an unfunded dumb war so I guess there is some symmetry in that regard too.

thadeus · Sep 28, 2012

Jesus ****ing christ. Seriously?

This is the sorta thing that turns people into crazy-ass RonPaulophiles.

(clarity edit: referring to rhad's post above)

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Media Blackout As Obama Appoints First Ever "Assassination Czar"

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