Allison Bricker

NAJMARAI, PAKISTAN – Reuters¹ and Al Jazeera² are reporting that up to  eighty people were killed in U.S. drone missile attacks on Tuesday in the village of Najmarai, located in the South Waziristan along the Afghan border. The attacks came just as those in attendance were leaving after offering prayers for the funeral service of Niaz Wali, as suspected Pakistani Taliban commander. Eyewitness reports indicate three missiles fired from unmanned Pentagon drones:

“I saw three drones, they dropped bombs”
Sohail Mehsud
resident of Makeen

A Pentagon spokesman wholly denies any such drone attack was carried out. However, Pakistani television is also reporting the attack, which if proven would be the twentieth drone attack so far in 2009. The Pentagon believes that regardless of claims of national sovereignty by Pakistan and the death of civilians, the drone attacks are necessary in the tribal region of Pakistan, which the Pentagon believes is a major staging ground for Taliban attacks into Afghanistan.

Map of Region Click to Enlarge

Additionally, Qari Hussain told the Associated Press that Baitullah Mehsud, the intended target of the attack was not even present at the funeral, but that five of those killed out of the eighty were associates of Mehsud’s. Moreover the U.S. government has had a standing $5million Dollar reward for information leading to the capture of Mehsud who is suspected of planning the assassination attempt of former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto.

Consequently, the Pakistan army was also attempting to capture Mehsud and had launched air raids and artillery barages on suspected Taliban bases in the region earlier in the month. Tuesday’s attack also coincided with the assassination of Qari Zainuddin, a key rival of Mehsud’s.

Reporting for the Al Jazeera news network, Kamal Hyder indicates the drone atacks may backfire and instead incite further anger towards Americans saying:

“It may play into the hands of elements like Mehsud because the attack took place on a funeral – there are cultural sensitivities,”

“Such attacks are likely to complicate the situation for the Pakistani military because they have to be equally sensitive to public opinion in that area – something that is not going to be helped by the drones.”

Kamal Hyde
Reporter
Al Jazeera News Network

The increasing frequency of the drone attacks are already drawing heavy criticism from both Pakistanis and their government.

Source(s): ¹Reuters India “FACTBOX – U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan” published June 24th, 2009 • ²Al Jazeera ‘US drone’ hits Pakistan funeral

Kelly

WASHINGTON D.C. – Former Representative Cynthia McKinney is interviewed by Dina Gusovsky from “Russia Today” to discuss her opinion of the Obama Administration, stating that when it comes to the Iraq War, safeguarding civil liberties, the national debt, and a thorough investigation of the FEDERAL RESERVE, the current administration is merely “Bushism without Bush.”  Ms. McKinney also takes exception to the Obama Administration’s doublespeak on torture and the expansion of war into Pakistan.

Allison Bricker

Al-Qaeda’s third in command, Mustafa Abul-Yazeed, said in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera¹ today, that he is praying Taliban forces are able to capture Pakistani nuclear weapons as they continue fighting their way towards Islamabad. In April of this year, Taliban forces captured the “Swat Valley region” and are now approximately sixty-miles outside the Pakistani capitol.

Abul-Yazeed also goes on to say during the interview that hostilities will only cease when the United States removes its forces from all Muslim countries and quits supplying military funding to nations hostile towards Muslims, namely Israel. Foreign policy experts, the C.I.A., and Representative Ron Paul have also cited our interventionist foreign policy as the root cause of what is known as “blowback”, i.e. the motivation to commit acts of terrorism against the United States.

Source(s): ¹ “The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Authorized Edition)” by National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, published by:W.W. Norton & Co. July 22, 2004

• ² Al Jazeera News Network, “Al-Qaeda commander threatens US” orignally aired June 22nd, 2009

• ³ “Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror” by Michael Scheuer, Potomac Books Inc. March 4, 2005

• ⁴ “Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism” by Robert Pape Random House Trade Paperbacks – July 25, 2006

• ⁵ “Blowback, Second Edition: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire” (American Empire Project) by Chalmers Johnson Holt Paperbacks January 4, 2004