tagged w/ Drone Aircraft
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By David Edwards
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said on Monday that President Barack Obama should have ordered an “air strike” on Iran after they recently captured a U.S. drone.
Earlier on Monday, President Barack Obama had explained that U.S. officials asked Iran to return the RQ-170 Sentinel surveillance drone.
“The right response to that would have been to go in immediately after it had gone down and destroy it,” Cheney told CNN’s Erin Burnett. “You can do that from the air. You can do that with a quick air strike, and in effect make it impossible for them to benefit from having captured that drone.”
“I was told that the president had three options on his desk. He rejected all of them,” the former vice president added.
“They all involved sending somebody in to try to recover it, or if you can’t do that, admittedly that would be a difficult operation, you certainly could have gone in and destroyed it on the ground with an air strike.”
For their part, Iran has called on the U.S. to apologize, saying the U.S. broke international laws by violating their airspace.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/13/cheney-calls-for-air-strike-on-iran-over-captured-drone/
Watch this video from CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront, broadcast Dec. 12, 2011.
"He's Back!!!!!"By David Edwards
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said... more
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A U.S. offer to supply Pakistan with its own fleet of surveillance drone aircraft delighted Islamabad a year ago but now threatens to turn into another source of friction between the two nations.
The offer was made by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates during a trip to Islamabad in January 2010 but talks have failed to gain traction, with Pakistan privately voicing concern about what it says are exorbitant prices and a snail-pace delivery timeline.
http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/reuters/National/76576A U.S. offer to supply Pakistan with its own fleet of surveillance drone aircraft... more
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Israel's air force has unveiled a fleet of unmanned aircraft that its says are able to reach the Gulf, putting Iran within range.
The Heron TP drones, which have a wingspan the size of a Boeing 737 passenger jet, were presented to the media on Sunday, as Israel pushes for international action against the Islamic republic over its nuclear programme.
The aircraft, developed by the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, can fly at least 20 consecutive hours and be used for surveillance or launching a missile attack.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2010/02/2010221181347325634.htmlIsrael's air force has unveiled a fleet of unmanned aircraft that its says are... more
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As we’ve noted here before, U.S. drone strikes on Pakistani soil have been an extremely touchy issue for Islamabad. As part of an elaborate diplomatic charade, Pakistani officials have been quick to denounce drone strikes, complaining of civilian casualties and violations of their sovereignty. The main fear is that the drone campaign could undermine support for the government.
The response to this latest strike, then, is telling. Sullivan writes that the latest series of strikes, which claimed as many as 80 lives, “went unremarked upon by Pakistani officials for almost 24 hours.”
When the agency reached out to Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry for comment, it received a boilerplate answer: “Pakistan’s consistent position is that drone attacks are a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and must be stopped.”
As our own David Hambling observed yesterday, such a massive number of casualties — at a funeral, no less — could have the potential for serious blowback. So why the deafening silence from the authorities?
Part of it could have to do with the target of the drone strike, which was reportedly aimed at Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban. While Mehsud managed to evade the strike, the Pakistani authorities over the past several weeks have begun preparations for an offensive against the group. And around the same time as the drone strike, Pakistani newspapers reported the arrest of some of the Taliban leader’s fundraisers in Karachi.As we’ve noted here before, U.S. drone strikes on Pakistani soil have been an... more
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A seven-day-old baby has been killed during a bungled US army raid to seize an al Qaeda-linked terrorist in Afghanistan.
The boy died alongside four other innocent civilians, including two children, who were shot dead by US forces during the night-time raid.
The shootings came amid ongoing anger in Afghanistan and Pakistan over the numbers of innocent civilians killed by US forces during raids, air strikes and missile attacks by unmanned drones.
*more at link*A seven-day-old baby has been killed during a bungled US army raid to seize an al... more
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ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Missiles from a suspected U.S. drone aircraft killed up to 20 militants in a Pakistani region on the Afghan border on Monday, officials said, hours before Afghan and Pakistani tribal and political leaders met to discuss peace.
Violence has surged in both Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent months, raising fears about the future for both countries at the heart of the U.S.-led global campaign against militancy.
The violence has strained ties between U.S. allies Afghanistan and Pakistan, with Afghanistan complaining Pakistan has not done enough to stop Taliban fighters infiltrating from sanctuaries in its northwestern Pashtun lands.
Deteriorating Afghan security has frustrated the United States and led to a string of U.S. strikes on militant targets in Pakistan, angering Islamabad, which says the attacks bolster support for Islamist militants.
The violence in Pakistan has also unnerved investors and exacerbated an economic crisis which is expected to force the country to seek International Monetary Fund help within days.
The latest suspected U.S. missile strikes were on two houses in the town of Shakai in South Waziristan, in a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.
"They were very accurate. The missiles struck rooms where the guests were having dinner. None survived," a militant said by telephone. "We've recovered 20 bodies," said the militant, who declined to be identified.
The Pentagon said it had no information on the drone strike.
Mehsud is Pakistan's most notorious militant commander, blamed for a string of suicide bomb attacks in Pakistan and the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto last year.
He also supports Taliban militants battling U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.
Pakistan officials said a low-level Pakistani Taliban commander who had links with veteran Afghan militant commander Jalaluddin Haqqani was killed in the strike.
Also killed were some foreign militants who had attended the funeral of a younger brother of Mehsud, Yahya Mehsud, an intelligence official said.
The younger Mehsud, who was not a member of his brother's militant group, was shot by unidentified gunmen at the weekend.
(More at Link)ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Missiles from a suspected U.S. drone aircraft killed up to 20... more
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