For Our Allies, Death From Above

[walerosco]

LAST Friday, I took part in an unusual meeting in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.

The meeting had been organized so that Pashtun tribal elders who lived along the Pakistani-Afghan frontier could meet with Westerners for the first time to offer their perspectives on the shadowy drone war being waged by the Central Intelligence Agency in their region. Twenty men came to air their views; some brought their young sons along to experience this rare interaction with Americans. In all, 60 villagers made the journey.

snip

On the night before the meeting, we had a dinner, to break the ice. During the meal, I met a boy named Tariq Aziz. He was 16. As we ate, the stern, bearded faces all around me slowly melted into smiles. Tariq smiled much sooner; he was too young to boast much facial hair, and too young to have learned to hate.

snip

When it was my turn to speak, I mentioned the official American position: that these were precision strikes and no innocent civilian had been killed in 15 months. My comment was met with snorts of derision.

snip

At the end of the day, Tariq stepped forward. He volunteered to gather proof if it would help to protect his family from future harm. We told him to think about it some more before moving forward; if he carried a camera he might attract the hostility of the extremists.

But the militants never had the chance to harm him. On Monday, he was killed by a C.I.A. drone strike, along with his 12-year-old cousin, Waheed Khan. The two of them had been dispatched, with Tariq driving, to pick up their aunt and bring her home to the village of Norak, when their short lives were ended by a Hellfire missile.

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Please read the whole article at link below. I did a very bad job cutting and pasting this very short article. Also to the mods, this is not an anti Libyan war article so please don't delete it. Thanks

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/opinion/in-pakistan-drones-kill-our-innocent-allies.html?_r=3

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Recommend. n/t

[LiberalEsto]

2. K&R

[n2doc]

3. And if you haven't seen it, an article on just how loose the 'rules of engagement' are

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2241579

[Prometheus Bound]

4. Just for the record, I don't believe that any anti-Libyan war articles have been deleted.

I read every article on DU related to Libya and to my knowledge they're all still here.

[walerosco]

5. send me a private message and I will show u

the last Libyan war post that was deleted.