tagged w/ Pakistan
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"Pervez Musharraf has been arrested in Pakistan" Read more at http://exm.nr/XLtnWL"Pervez Musharraf has been arrested in Pakistan" Read more at... more
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Cora Currier writes at ProPublica
The U.S. drone war remains cloaked in secrecy, and as a result, questions swirl around it. Who exactly can be targeted? When can a U.S. citizen be killed?
Another, perhaps less frequently asked question: What happens when innocent civilians are killed in drone strikes?
In February, during his confirmation process, CIA director John Brennan offered an unusually straightforward explanation: ”Where possible, we also work with local governments to gather facts, and, if appropriate, provide condolence payments to families of those killed.”
There’s little documentation of where and how such payments are being made. The government has released almost no information on civilian casualties sustained in drone strikes conducted by the CIA and the military in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. Officials maintain they have been “in the single digits” in recent years, while independent researchers put the total for the past decade in the hundreds.
Certainly, though, drone strikes and condolence payments make for a striking match: The technological apex of war combined with an age-old method of compensating loss.
Such condolence payments featured prominently in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are now embraced by many military commanders and by human rights advocates, some of whom are pushing for a system to govern what had been an ad hoc practice for most of the 20th Century: recognizing the dignity of life, even during war, and even with what might seem like a mere token acknowledgement.
The history of condolence payments
Condolence payments may be rooted in ancient custom, but they are a relatively recent addition to the terms and conduct of modern warfare. Neither U.S. nor international humanitarian law requires them, and they aren’t, in technical terms, an admission of wrongdoing.
In fact, the Army regulation on such payments (which are also called solatia) describes them as “an expression of sympathy toward a victim or his or her family,” in keeping with local custom. According to Center for Civilians in Conflict, an advocacy organization, the U.S. tradition of such payments dates back to the Korean War.
Foreign civilians have long had some recourse for compensation through the Foreign Claims Act, which permitted payments for damages caused by U.S. troops.
But the law doesn’t cover anything that happens during active combat – a significant exception in situations where U.S. troops are on the ground, intermingled with civilian populations. The line between combat and non-combat isn’t always clear. And even when soldiers feel their actions were justified, it is often to their advantage to recognize the harm done.
“Under the law of war, you can kill civilians, as long as their deaths are proportional to immediate military gain,” said Gary Solis, a professor at Georgetown Law. “But as a nation, we recognize it’s important to gain the trust of the people. As the complexion of war has changed, the significance of these payments has too.”
Full Story: http://www.juancole.com/2013/04/innocent-victims-currier.htmlCora Currier writes at ProPublica
The U.S. drone war remains cloaked in secrecy,... more
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It's not about Roseanne, it's really about drone strikes in Pakistan. Includes some good stuff about arms exports and sales.It's not about Roseanne, it's really about drone strikes in Pakistan.... more
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The United States’ ongoing drone campaign in Pakistan is a violation of the South Asian nation’s sovereignty, as it is being conducted without the consent of its elected representatives or that of the legitimate Government, a United Nations independent expert has warned.The United States’ ongoing drone campaign in Pakistan is a violation of the... more
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"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari have officially inaugurated the final construction phase of the multi-billion-dollar Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project.
Ahmadinejad and Zardari attended the ceremony on the Iran-Pakistan border on Monday.
Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi and Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi also attended the ceremony, which marks the start of the construction of the pipeline, intended to transfer natural gas from Iran to energy-hungry Pakistan.
The United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Mohammad Bin Dha'en Al Hameli also attended the ceremony.
During a short meeting prior to the inaugural ceremony of the pipeline, Ahmadinejad and Zardari said the project would promote peace, security and progress in the Iranian, Pakistani as well as other regional nations."
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They are calling it the "peace" pipeline. I doubt the US and Israel see it that way. I could believe this will then be seen as a hostile action by the US and Israel. Just look at how their surrogates were warmongering at the AIPAC meeting last week. And I am sure Iran knows that as well. So is it really a "peace" pipeline? How could a pipeline possibly be seen as a symbol of peace when it is a symbol of war and environmental destruction?
And as such we have dueling pipelines. This is one of the main reasons why we have been in Afghanistan (TAPI Pipeline.) I now wonder if this is really what US drone strikes in Pakistan have been aiming at as well. You see, this "war" is not about "democracy", it is about resources. And in the geopolitical battle for resources there is no such thing as democracy or humanity.
And on an environmental note, both sides are just as destructive to our planet with these projects. One thing they all have in common regardless of side-money rules. We desperately need a paradigm shift of thought and action. Climate change is already ravaging this area of the world.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-90860-US-supports-TAPI-pipeline-project:-Olson-
"U.S. Supports TAPI Pipeline"
"US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson said Tuesday that his country supports the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) pipeline project. "
Follow the money. Many on all sides are making a huge pile of if at the expense of the poor and the environment. They are all corrupt.
Peak oil is here. Now the race for other resources with the US, Russia and China is taking place. Iran has vast natural gas and oil so look for them to be attacked somewhere down the line. It is only a matter of time. It would seem insane to think pipelines could cause WW3, but unfortunately we are already seeing the beginnings of it with this economic cold war. And this does link to the Keystone XL pipeline as well in regards to power, control and money which always takes precedence with politicians.The inauguration of the IP pipeline may well be what tips the approval of it.
And I am almost sure Russia told Iran they have their back if they go through with this pipeline. I think it would be interesting to try to corrolate the locations of drone strikes by US drones in Pakistan to the route of this pipeline. The Taliban in Afghanistan has been in the areas where the TAPI pipeline has been proposed which is one reason why the US has been there- to secure the area to allay the security fears of India and other countries that are parties on the TAPI pipeline deal. And look at the lives lost because of it. Karzai has even now accused the US of working with the Taliban. I wonder if that is because (if true) they are trying to work out a deal with them to give them more power in the region to allow the pipeline to go through. I think it is important for us to know what may well be at play here since Americans and other innocents have died as well. Hopefully people reading this will take some information from it. It would also appear that climate change is not as much of a concern- only in the amount of money to be made from it.
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http://www.naturalgaseurope.com/tapi-turkmenistan-afghanistan-pakistan-india-pipeline
"In a speech July 12 in Washington at a conference jointly sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O. Blake, Jr. mentioned TAPI last, as merely making “progress”. He focused on the US pledge to continue to support the Afghan National Army after NATO withdraws most of its troops in 2014 , but it is not clear which uniformed Afghan force might actually guard the pipeline or when construction could begin.
The proof will be in how the bids turn out; globaltenders.com indicates (4) three tenders currently for Turkmenistan: development of the South Yoloten field with a deadline of January 2013; construction of TAPI with a December 2012 deadline, and investment in the Trans-Caspian Pipeline with a September 2012 deadline although this will likely slip with the recent flare-up of the long-standing dispute between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
So far, Ashgabat has given every indication that it does not want Russia’s Gazprom involved in TAPI, and has been publicly irritated when Moscow jumped the gun . Yet last week a 15-member Russian delegation was in Islamabad for talks on TAPI seemingly in circumvention of Turkmenistan. A Pakistani government source said that Russia would be invited to build TAPI in a special government-to-government no-bid agreement, Express Tribune reported. A memorandum of understanding is still to be signed in “two or three months,” however, and a “third meeting of the joint working group” won’t take place until 2013, indicating the usual delays. Russia is willing to help Pakistan with the Iran-Pakistan pipeline which the US vigorously opposes, so that may make the deal more attractive. Given that Turkmenistan is the source for the gas, Pakistan is unlikely to buck its will if Ashgabat is adamantly opposed to Russian involvement, yet on the other hand, the Turkmen leadership needs TAPI to diversify away from its original diversification from Russia -- the pipeline to China .
Industry analysts say that Chevron or other Western companies would not likely become involved in TAPI unless they could first get an upstream position, still not in place. A senior State Department official declined to confirm that Chevron or ExxonMobil were entering tenders, although he described the prospects for American companies around TAPI as “promising”."
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The game of oneupmanship has begun."Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali... more
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Sen. Rand Paul filibustered over the hypothetical drone targeting of American civilians on US soil. But critics say hundreds of other civilians already are being killed in US drone attacks in Pakistan and elsewhere.
People walk on the wreckage of a house destroyed by an air strike last year that was targeting al Qaeda-linked militants, in the southern Yemeni town of Jaar. U.S. drones have launched almost daily raids on suspected al Qaeda militants in Yemen, and air strikes have aggravated discontent among Yemenis, who say the strikes pose a threat to civilians.
It was a hypothetical scenario designed to pressure the Obama administration into acknowledging that noncombatant US civilians – however much they might be suspected terrorists – would not be targeted while walking down the street or sitting in a café, that the president does not have the constitutional authority to do that.
Not so hypothetical is the issue of hundreds of other noncombatant civilians – women, children, and old men, mainly in Pakistan – ending up as collateral damage in US drone attacks aimed at those believed to be terrorists connected with Al Qaeda.
US officials acknowledge that there have been some incidents in which civilians were killed as the result of drone strikes, but the impression left is that there are few such civilian deaths.
Full Story: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2013/0309/Rand-Paul-filibuster-What-about-civilian-drone-casualties-in-PakistanSen. Rand Paul filibustered over the hypothetical drone targeting of American... more
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Pilotless drones gather enemy intelligence and blow up suspected terrorists abroad. It sounds great; American enemies are destroyed without risking military lives.
But America’s shift to drone-based warfare and surveillance should arouse concern. The Justice Department released a justification to take out American citizens without charges or trial. Federal agencies look to expand permits for drones in U.S. airspace. Smuggler Han Solo put it best in the original Star Wars: “I got a bad feeling about this.”Pilotless drones gather enemy intelligence and blow up suspected terrorists abroad. It... more
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srpr
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3 months ago
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- With President Barack Obama's first term characterized by strained relations between Pakistan and the U.S., more than nine in 10 Pakistanis (92%) disapprove of U.S. leadership and 4% approve, the lowest approval rating Pakistanis have ever given.
Pakistanis' approval of the leadership of their ostensible ally, the United States, has historically been quite low. However, perceptions began to change, albeit modestly, through much of Obama's first term. As recently as May 2011, 27% of Pakistanis approved of U.S. leadership, the apex of support. Noticeably, approval declined after the May 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden, carried out by the U.S. military without the assistance of the Pakistani military -- an event that many Pakistanis viewed as a blatant disregard for Pakistani sovereignty.
These findings are based on a survey conducted from Sept. 30-Oct. 16, 2012, in Pakistan. The survey directly followed massive demonstrations against the release of an anti-Muslim film made in the U.S.
Concurrently, Pakistanis now more than at any other time in the past three years feel threatened by interaction with the West, according to a May 12-June 6, 2012, survey. A majority (55%) say interaction between Muslim and Western societies is "more of a threat," up significantly from 39% in 2011. This sharp increase is observed at a time of heightened Pakistani concerns regarding U.S. encroachment on Pakistani sovereignty, including an intensified number of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, as well as the aforementioned May 2011 killing of bin Laden by the United States military. Thirty-one percent instead see interaction between Muslim and Western societies as "more of a benefit," and the other 13% are unsure.
Full Sdtory: http://www.gallup.com/poll/160439/2012-pakistani-disapproval-leadership-soars.aspxWASHINGTON, D.C. -- With President Barack Obama's first term characterized by... more
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This year we saw the first India - Pakistan social media summit in Karachi. We also saw Indian and Bangladeshi hackers caught up in cyber wars, which started as a protest against border killings by Indian Border Security Forces.This year we saw the first India - Pakistan social media summit in Karachi. We also... more
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The president likes children right? He surrounds himself with them constantly to help bolster his political agenda.
When it comes to children who get in the way of his political agenda, however, it’s a different story.
Here is a visual of the hundreds of children that have been murdered in US drone strikes on Pakistan and Yemen, ordered by the president during his first term.
Their ages range from just 1 year old to 19 years of age:
The information was complied by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which estimates that there have been approximately 399 to 500 strikes to-date. The research group has found that around three thousand individuals have been killed by these drones, many of them innocent civilians. In Pakistan alone, 891 civilians have been killed by U.S. drones since 2004.
Again, those dead children are:
Name | Age | Gender
PAKISTAN
Noor Aziz | 8 | male
Abdul Wasit | 17 | male
Noor Syed | 8 | male
Wajid Noor | 9 | male
Syed Wali Shah | 7 | male
Ayeesha | 3 | female
Qari Alamzeb | 14| male
Shoaib | 8 | male
Hayatullah KhaMohammad | 16 | male
Tariq Aziz | 16 | male
Sanaullah Jan | 17 | male
Maezol Khan | 8 | female
Nasir Khan | male
Naeem Khan | male
Naeemullah | male
Mohammad Tahir | 16 | male
Azizul Wahab | 15 | male
Fazal Wahab | 16 | male
Ziauddin | 16 | male
Mohammad Yunus | 16 | male
Fazal Hakim | 19 | male
Ilyas | 13 | male
Sohail | 7 | male
Asadullah | 9 | male
khalilullah | 9 | male
Noor Mohammad | 8 | male
Khalid | 12 | male
Saifullah | 9 | male
Mashooq Jan | 15 | male
Nawab | 17 | male
Sultanat Khan | 16 | male
Ziaur Rahman | 13 | male
Noor Mohammad | 15 | male
Mohammad Yaas Khan | 16 | male
Qari Alamzeb | 14 | male
Ziaur Rahman | 17 | male
Abdullah | 18 | male
Ikramullah Zada | 17 | male
Inayatur Rehman | 16 | male
Shahbuddin | 15 | male
Yahya Khan | 16 |male
Rahatullah |17 | male
Mohammad Salim | 11 | male
Shahjehan | 15 | male
Gul Sher Khan | 15 | male
Bakht Muneer | 14 | male
Numair | 14 | male
Mashooq Khan | 16 | male
Ihsanullah | 16 | male
Luqman | 12 | male
Jannatullah | 13 | male
Ismail | 12 | male
Taseel Khan | 18 | male
Zaheeruddin | 16 | male
Qari Ishaq | 19 | male
Jamshed Khan | 14 | male
Alam Nabi | 11 | male
Qari Abdul Karim | 19 | male
Rahmatullah | 14 | male
Abdus Samad | 17 | male
Siraj | 16 | male
Saeedullah | 17 | male
Abdul Waris | 16 | male
Darvesh | 13 | male
Ameer Said | 15 | male
Shaukat | 14 | male
Inayatur Rahman | 17 | male
Salman | 12 | male
Fazal Wahab | 18 | male
Baacha Rahman | 13 | male
Wali-ur-Rahman | 17 | male
Iftikhar | 17 | male
Inayatullah | 15 | male
Mashooq Khan | 16 | male
Ihsanullah | 16 | male
Luqman | 12 | male
Jannatullah | 13 | male
Ismail | 12 | male
Abdul Waris | 16 | male
Darvesh | 13 | male
Ameer Said | 15 | male
Shaukat | 14 | male
Inayatur Rahman | 17 | male
Adnan | 16 | male
Najibullah | 13 | male
Naeemullah | 17 | male
Hizbullah | 10 | male
Kitab Gul | 12 | male
Wilayat Khan | 11 | male
Zabihullah | 16 | male
Shehzad Gul | 11 | male
Shabir | 15 | male
Qari Sharifullah | 17 | male
Shafiullah | 16 | male
Nimatullah | 14 | male
Shakirullah | 16 | male
Talha | 8 | male
YEMEN
Afrah Ali Mohammed Nasser | 9 | female
Zayda Ali Mohammed Nasser | 7 | female
Hoda Ali Mohammed Nasser | 5 | female
Sheikha Ali Mohammed Nasser | 4 | female
Ibrahim Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 13 | male
Asmaa Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 9 | male
Salma Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 4 | female
Fatima Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 3 | female
Khadije Ali Mokbel Louqye | 1 | female
Hanaa Ali Mokbel Louqye | 6 | female
Mohammed Ali Mokbel Salem Louqye | 4 | male
Jawass Mokbel Salem Louqye | 15 | female
Maryam Hussein Abdullah Awad | 2 | female
Shafiq Hussein Abdullah Awad | 1 | female
Sheikha Nasser Mahdi Ahmad Bouh | 3 | female
Maha Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 12 | male
Soumaya Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 9 | female
Shafika Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 4 | female
Shafiq Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 2 | male
Mabrook Mouqbal Al Qadari | 13 | male
Daolah Nasser 10 years | 10 | female
AbedalGhani Mohammed Mabkhout | 12 | male
Abdel- Rahman Anwar al Awlaki | 16 | male
Abdel-Rahman al-Awlaki | 17 | male
Nasser Salim | 19
Steve Watson
Infowars.com
Jan 24, 2013
more at link...The president likes children right? He surrounds himself with them constantly to help... more
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ISLAMABAD — Leaders in Pakistan are outraged at reported U.S. plans to continue controversial drone strikes against suspected al-Qaida-linked sanctuaries on Pakistani soil. They are calling it "close to a perpetual war," and say it is exactly opposite to what President Barack Obama stated in his inaugural speech on Monday.
U.S. drone strikes on targets in Pakistani regions along the border with Afghanistan remain highly controversial and are deeply unpopular in Pakistan.
The Washington Post reported last week that U.S. officials have nearly completed a counterterrorism manual that would establish stringent rules for lethal "targeted-killing operations" through Obama's second term.
However, the newspaper quoted unnamed officials as saying that before the CIA is asked to comply with the new counterterrorism guidelines, the agency would be allowed to continue sending unmanned drones to fire missiles at suspected al-Qaida, as well Taliban, targets in Pakistan for at least another year.
Full Story: http://www.voanews.com/content/pakistan_unhappy_over_reports_us_drone_strikes_will_continue/1588925.htmlISLAMABAD — Leaders in Pakistan are outraged at reported U.S. plans to continue... more
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Judge Napolitano comments on how Obama hasn’t hesitated to kill foreign and American innocent children with his drone program.
http://youtu.be/DK92Rc2DwI0Judge Napolitano comments on how Obama hasn’t hesitated to kill foreign and... more
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Once more tragedy befalls America. But this time the tragedy is even more bitter due to the fact that such a large number of young children were involved. A gunman, identified as Adam Lanza, shot and killed 26 people, 20 of them children – all between the ages of 5 and 10 – at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on the 14th of December. ------ A study in The Lancet, the journal of the British Medical Association, reported that up to 576,000 Iraqi children may have died since the end of the first Gulf War as a result of the sanctions imposed by the Security Council. UNICEF, in 1999, estimated that at least 500,000 children died who would have otherwise normally lived had it not been for the sanctions in place. The Security Council, led by the United States, rejected numerous appeals by Iraq to lift the sanctions.
http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/recent-news/43083-do-arabs-cry-for-their-children-too
video ---- Fallujah: A Lost Generation? by Iraqi filmmaker Furat Alani investigates the dramatic increase in cancers, birth defects, and infant mortality since the second siege of Fallujah, Iraq,in 2004 and its human rights implications. Mr. Alani interviews Fallujah residents, doctors, veterans, and weapons experts to shed light on the cause of this health crisis. More specifically, he explores the possibility that weapons used by the U.S. in 2004 are the cause, including white phosphorous, depleted uranium, and anti-personel theromobaric weapons.Once more tragedy befalls America. But this time the tragedy is even more bitter due... more
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worrg
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added this
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5 months ago
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Pakistan has suspended mobile phone services in major cities, a move officials say is necessary to prevent terror attacks from marring Shia Muslim processions.
"All the blasts that occurred within the last 15 days were mobile-phone based," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters on Friday.
Mobile and wireless phone services were temporarily blocked in the commercial capital Karachi, the southwestern city of Quetta and in parts of the capital.
The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) said the suspension was likely to continue until Ashura, the climax of the month of Muharram, on Sunday.
"The wireless phone service will most likely be suspended for the next two days just the way it was today," Akhlaq Hussain, a director of PTA, told AFP.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced the phone suspension earlier, saying it was intended to "ensure security during and after the Muharram processions".
Malik said he had received a request from the government in Punjab province, Pakistan's most populous, to suspend mobile phone communications in 14 cities for two days.
Mobile phone services in various parts of the northwest, south and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir will also be suspended, he added.
It is the second time Pakistan has shut down mobile networks during the holy month of Muharram, which culminates with Ashura, the holiest day in the Shia Muslim calendar when faithful march to mourn the seventh-century killing of Imam Hussein.
A suicide bomber killed 23 people and wounded 62 others at a Shia procession in Rawalpindi on Thursday, the deadliest bombing in Pakistan for five months.
In December 2009, a suicide bomber killed 43 people in Karachi at a Shia procession to mark Ashura.
Pakistan says 35,000 people have been killed as a result of terrorism since the 9/11 attacks and the 2001 US-led invasion of neighbouring Afghanistan.Pakistan has suspended mobile phone services in major cities, a move officials say is... more
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A map of every reported drone strike in Pakistan.
Critics argue the drone strikes are an overextension of executive power, kill too many civilians, and breed more terrorism. Proponents, including Obama and Romney, say the drone strikes are necessary to prevent terrorism. The CIA recently proposed to expand the strike program into other regions.
Slate published a map, based on data from the New America Foundation, showing the locations and kill estimates of reported drone strikes in Pakistan, where most of the drone strikes occur. Since that map was published, the media have reported 22 more, for a total of 284. The map above includes these additional strikes.
Full Story: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/map_of_the_week/2012/10/drone_strikes_map_shows_pakistan_drone_strikes.single.htmlA map of every reported drone strike in Pakistan.
Critics argue the drone strikes... more
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Real Islamic terrorists, not the fake ones that the FBI rounds up in these provacatuered "domestic terror sting operations."
http://www.rys2sense.com/anti-neocons/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=29219
Terrorism is OK so long as your on OUR payroll and terrorize the targets WE don't like.
Examples the US backs or has backed
The Zia ul-Haq in Pakistan,
The Mujahideen of Afghanistan,
Abu Qurah in Jordan,
The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
MEK (Mujahadeen e-Kalk) in Iraq/Iran
Jundullah South Pakistan
Salafi Jihadist, FSA in Syria and this is a number of groups with GCC and NATO sponsors
And then the US supports the government in the Republic of Yemen despite its election only having one name on the ballot.
Hadi North Yemen, the US claims to be supporting the government in a fight against "al qaeda" the reality this is still the unresolved conflict between North and South Yemen from their civil war from 94. There was even a secession movement as recently as 2007 but all of that history you see is ignored. Why acknowledge the civil war (almost exclusively fought in the South) or a secession movement when it's much easier to just scream Al Qaeda and support the puppets. They love the simplistic GI Joe narrative of we are good they are bad, its us vs Al Qaeda.
After a nearly two year battle led by numerous Republican and Democratic officials, the MEK has been taken off the US State Department’s list of terrorist organizations under the Hillary Clinton and Obama Administration. According to the September 21, 2012 article in the Guardian UK:
“The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, is expected to notify Congress that the MEK will be removed from the terrorism list in the coming days.Real Islamic terrorists, not the fake ones that the FBI rounds up in these... more
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When she was only 11 years old, Malala Yousafzai stood up to the Taliban by giving voice to her dreams. As turbaned Taliban fighters swept through her town in northwestern Pakistan in 2009, the tiny schoolgirl spoke out about her passion for education. She wanted to become a doctor, she said, and became a symbol of defiance against Taliban subjugation.
On Tuesday, masked Taliban gunmen answered Ms. Yousafzai’s courage with bullets, singling out the 14-year-old on a bus filled with terrified schoolchildren and shooting her in the head. Two other girls were also wounded in the attack. All three survived, but on Wednesday a neurologist said Ms. Yousafzai was in critical condition at a hospital in Peshawar, though doctors had been able to remove a bullet. Arrangements have been made to send Ms. Yousafzai abroad for treatment, but she could not be moved for now. The two other wounded girls were reported to be in stable condition.
A Taliban spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, confirmed by phone Tuesday that Ms. Yousafzai had been the target, calling her crusade for education rights an “obscenity.” Mr. Ehsan added that if she survived, the militants would certainly try to kill her again. “Let this be a lesson.” That Ms. Yousafzai’s voice could be deemed a threat to the Taliban, that they could see the young schoolgirl’s death as desirable and justifiable, is being seen as evidence of both the militants’ brutality and her courage.
Ms. Yousafzai first came to public attention in 2009, when the Pakistani Taliban swept through Swat, a picturesque valley once famed for its music, tolerance and honeymoon destinations. Her father ran one of the last schools to defy Taliban orders to end female education. As an 11-year-old, Malala wrote an anonymous blog documenting her experiences for the BBC. Later, she was the focus of documentaries by “The New York Times” and other media outlets. “I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taliban,” she wrote in one blog post titled “I Am Afraid.”
A government reward of more than $100,000 has been announced by the provincial information minister for information leading to the arrest of Malala’s attackers. “Whoever has done it is not a human and does not have a human soul,” he said. Across the rest of the country, Pakistanis reacted with outrage to the attack on Malala, whose eloquent and determined advocacy of education for girls had made her a powerful symbol of resistance to Taliban ideology.
This piece includes color photographs, a video and a documentary short film.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/taliban-shoots-pakistani-schoolgirl-advocate-of-education-for-girls/When she was only 11 years old, Malala Yousafzai stood up to the Taliban by giving... more
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Femen’s Topless Protest Tactics Hit Paris
Anti-Austerity Protests Take 56 Cities in Spain
Islamists shoot in air to disperse protest by Timbuktu women
Thousands of Greek protesters tell Merkel she is an Asshole
Code Pink joins Pakistani political party in anti-drone protestFemen’s Topless Protest Tactics Hit Paris
Anti-Austerity Protests Take 56... more
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Pakistani security forces blocked a convoy carrying thousands of Pakistanis and a small contingent of U.S. anti-war activists from entering a lawless tribal region along the border with Afghanistan on Sunday to protest American drone strikes.
The group, led by cricket-star-turned-politician Imran Khan, was turned back just miles from the border of South Waziristan. Khan, leader of the Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was briefly detained. He was later released and sent back toward Tank district along with the protesters.
Pakistan's military and the civilian government publicly complain that the U.S. strikes - aimed at remnants of al-Qaida and the Taliban - infringe the country's sovereignty and cause civilian casualties. Yet the government has taken little concrete action against the strikes.
Khan, who blames the government for allowing the U.S. to operate in the country, had planned to lead the protest from the capital into South Waziristan, a tribal area frequently hit by the drone strikes.
But authorities blocked the protesters' path with shipping containers on the highway. After several delays the army told protesters it was unsafe to be on the road after dark and they turned back.
"The drones are inhumane," Khan said, donning a white turban as he stood on a vehicle in the town of Tank, surrounded by thousands of protesters.
"Are these people not humans? These humans have names. Drone attacks are a violation of human rights," he said.
Government officials and PTI leaders said a large number of security personnel were deployed on the Tank-Jandola road.
The PTI workers said when their convoy led by Khan entered South Waziristan, the soldiers stopped his vehicle and took it away.
"Imran Khan's vehicle was leading a motorcade of peace march toward his last destination Kotkai in South Waziristan after crossing over several barricades set up by the government to stop them from proceeding towards Waziristan. The security forces took him into custody and later freed him and returned all participants of the peace march to Tank," a PTI activist, Hussain Shah, told NBC News by telephone.
Senior PTI leader Shah Mahud Qureshi said the military officials told protesters that the road toward Kotkai, in South Waziristan, is dilapidated and it would be better for them to go back.
"We decided to peacefully return and organize (a) rally in Tank," the party leader said.
More at the linkPakistani security forces blocked a convoy carrying thousands of Pakistanis and a... more
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