From the BBC. (And in FT, too.)
Tribal leaders in the Pakistani region of North Waziristan have vowed revenge against the US after drones killed more than 40 people near the Afghan border.
Says a friend: Meeting of elders attacked about 10 days ago; 40 dead. Disgusting, I had to share as it has received almost no coverage here. My friend's right. Most of the media are overseas. More BBC:
Thursday's drone strike [March 17] is thought to have killed more civilians than any other such attack since 2006.
Officials say two drones were involved. One missile was fired at a car carrying suspected militants. Three more missiles were then fired at the moving vehicle, hitting it and the nearby tribal meeting, or jirga.
At least four militants in the vehicles were killed, local officials said. Most of the rest who died were elders, local traders and members of the tribal police.
"The world should try and find out how many of the 40-odd people killed in the drone attack were members of al-Qaeda," the elders said in their statement following the attack near North Waziristan's regional capital, Miranshah. "It was just a jirga being held under local customs in which the prominent elders of Datta Khel sub-division, and common people were participating to resolve a dispute..."
The saviors of Libya! They wouldn’t do this, would they?
$110 billion a year for Murder USA’s campaign in Afghanistan. Don’t tell me Congress is serious about cutting the deficit.
Here is an insightful analysis/background story on why that drone strike occurred:
Shaukat Qadir: How the Pentagon supervised Raymond Davis’ release and how the CIA took its revenge
RE: “Here is an insightful analysis/background story” – bijou
MY REPLY: See excerpts below.
RE: “American media bury story of drone attack that killed 40 in Pakistan, inc’g many tribal elders” – Weiss
ALSO SEE: How the Pentagon Supervised Raymond Davis’ Release and How the CIA Took Its Revenge, By Shaukat Qadir, Counterpunch, 03/22/11
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to counterpunch.org
Worth reading, eh?
The Dark Side…
“Given their record of pretty consistent accuracy for over two years, during which, never more than a total of twenty people have been killed, the majority being militants,
Other than the statements put out by the US, UK and Afghan-puppet forces, which are by their origin immediately suspect, I know of no evidence that could be used to support that last part (in bold) of the statement quoted above.
None whatsoever.
Even Obama had to lie about his diplomatic status, seeking immunity from trial for Davis!
There is no even about Obama’s lies.
Here’s some even moar useful info :Pakistan army chief Kayani in US drone outburst
[NB: Note how the BBC refers to Pakistan Military daring to voice objections to it's citizens being murdered by Obama as an 'Outburst']
It was an outburst. “Allies” are supposed to keep their mouths shut and their heads down until the US wants to shift blame onto them. Then they say “Yes, it wos us wot dunnit.”
Interesting piece, worth to think as “what if” ?
Reason for war? Gaddafi wanted to nationalise oil
The Libyan leader proposed the nationalisation of U.S. oil companies, as well as those of UK, Germany, Spain, Norway, Canada and Italy in 2009.
On January 25, 2009, Muammar Al Gaddafi announced that his country was studying the nationalisation of foreign companies due to lower oil prices.
“The oil-exporting countries should opt for nationalisation because of the rapid fall in oil prices. We must put the issue on the table and discuss it seriously,” said Gaddafi.
“Oil should be owned by the State at this time, so we could better control prices by the increase or decrease in production,” said the Libyan leader.
link to english.pravda.ru
Remember that in Iran 1953 happened just this….
Teeny difference. Mossadegh was elected. His overthrow was the end of Iranian democracy. Qadhaafi isn’t elected. His overthrow just might* be a step towards Libyan democracy.
And, if the Libyans are lucky, the new government might nationalisse the oil anyway.
(*Touch wood, cross fingers, bow three times to the moon)
British economic journalists David Blundy and Andrew Lycett observed the following about LIBYA:
“The young people are well dressed, well fed and well educated.
“Libyans now earn more per capita than the British.
“The disparity in annual incomes… is smaller than in most countries.
“Libya’s wealth has been fairly spread throughout society.
“Every Libyan gets free, and often excellent, education, medical and health services.
“New colleges and hospitals are impressive by any international standard.
“All Libyans have a house or a flat, a car and most have televisions, video recorders and telephones.
“Compared with most citizens of the Third World countries, and with many in the First World, Libyans have it very good indeed.”
link to philstar.com
So tell me, what’s so great about ‘Democracy’ anyhoo?
As far as I can see ‘Democracy’ usually just means that it takes less money to bribe the people responsible for making the decisions which will give you what you want
ALL of the nations involved in the Rape of Iraq and the Rape of Afghanistan are so-called ‘Democracies’ . . . . . . .
The tragic irony is that by European liberal standards, even the BBC fails to do a proper job of covering the US occupation of Afghanistan — at least in the eyes of M.P. George Galloway, a person whose judgment I trust.
Well, of course. Great Britain is up to their elbows in Afghanistan, too. The United States has already threatened to withhold intelligence sharing on terrorism if UK courts ever dare to follow up on torture and abuse by the US.
I find BBC Worldwide painful to listen to when the talk about the US, actually. The American commentators they seem to dig up are invariably extremist neocons. I have a sneaking suspicion they like to portray the US as Great Britain’s loony backwards cousin over there.
Also yes. I’ve had the opportunity to listen to George Galloway twice now. I strenuously agree with you about his sense of justice and I’ll add that the man has a fantastic sense of compassion as well. He’s been instrumental in the few aid convoys that have reached Gaza in defiance of Israel’s stranglehold and intent to starve the Gazans out (literally as well as figuratively)
“I have a sneaking suspicion they like to portray the US as Great Britain’s loony backwards cousin over there.”
The British like to think of themselves as the US’s older and much more socially sophisticated cousin
Avi:
The British state is at war in Afghanistan.
The BBC is the State Propaganda wing
Seriously, what did you expect – that the British State’s official story-teller would suddenly starts telling the truth? (“Today some British men were paid by the Gov’t to murder an innocent family in Afghanistan They did so because some Companies want to control mineral rights in that part of Afghanistan)”)
I am amazed that the BBC has some sort of a reputation for truth, especially when the British Gov’t is at war, which it usually is, somewhere on the planet,or at least it has been for everyday of my life anyway – I guess that shows the power of it’s propaganda, eh?
Anyone that expects truth from the BBC, especially when the British State is often involved in the murders it reports on, is deluded
14 June 2010 – BBC: US team found huge potential mineral wealth
Avi for years it has been common knowledge that Afghanistan has much wealth in rare mineral deposits
So note the date of the report, and note that the BBC is in effect colluding with the attempt to pretend that this new ‘find’ is a complete surprise to all and sundry
This link is from 2007 and comes from the BRITISH Geological survey – so at least 3 yrs before that ‘news’ story I linked above, the British Gov’t was well-aware that there were large rare-mineral deposits in Afghanistan – link to bgs.ac.uk
link to wired.com
One retired senior U.S official is calling the government’s mineral announcement “pretty silly,” Politico is reporting. “When I was living in Kabul in the early 1970s the [U.S. government], the Russians, the World Bank, the U.N. and others were all highly focused on the wide range of Afghan mineral deposits. Cheap ways of moving the ore to ocean ports has always been the limiting factor.”
At least two American geologists have been advising the Pentagon on Afghanistan’s wealth of mineral resources for years. Bonita Chamberlin, a geologist who spent 25 years working in Afghanistan, “identified 91 minerals, metals and gems at 1,407 potential mining sites,” the Los Angeles Times reported in 2001. In 1995, she even co-wrote a book, “Gemstones in Afghanistan,” on the topic. And Chamberlin worked directly with the Pentagon, after they commissioned her to report on sandstone and limestone caves mere weeks after 9/11.
“I am quite surprised that the military is announcing this as some ‘new’ and ’surprising” discovery,’ she told Danger Room in an e-mail. “This is NOT new. Perhaps this also hints at the real reason why we would be so intent on this war.”
And Jack Shroder, a geologist at the University of Nebraska, told the Associated Press in 2001 that mineral deposits in Afghanistan were so rich, they could be vital in rebuilding the country. He’s collaborated with Pentagon officials since the 1970s, when he worked on mapping the country. In 2002, Shroder was approached by several American companies who hoped to start mining the area.
++++++++++++++++++
link to blogs.reuters.com
The curious thing is this is not the first time Afghanistan’s mineral riches have been discovered. Back in January 1984, the chief engineer of the Afghan Geological Survey Department published a report saying the country had reserves of a wide variety of mineral resources, including iron, chrome, copper, silver, gold, barite sulfur, talc, magnesium, mica marble and lapis lazuli. The Afghan Chamber of Commerce has details of the report here. The Afghan government in the mid 1980s was preparing to develop a number of the mineral resources on a large scale with Soviet technical assistance, the chamber said. But the Russians left in 1989 and Afghanistan descended into a war which has, more or less, continued since then.The report also mentions abundant reserves of natural gas, so don’t be surprised if that too resurfaces as another silver lining in Afghanistan’s cloudy sky.
Even the U.S. military itself has known about Afghanistan’s mineral riches for years, the military-focused Danger Room blog pointed out. Here’s a 2007 report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the navy which says “Afghanistan has significant amounts of undiscovered non fuel mineral resources,” including ”large quantities of accessible iron and copper [and] abundant deposits of colored stones and gemstones, including emerald, ruby [and] sapphire.”
Politico is quoting a retired U.S. official as saying the latest announcement sounded a bit silly to old timers. “When I was living in Kabul in the early 1970’s the [U.S. government], the Russians, the World Bank, the UN and others were all highly focused on the wide range of Afghan mineral deposits. Cheap ways of moving the ore to ocean ports has always been the limiting factor,” the offiicial said.
So why is so much being made out of this particular find ? Blake Hounshell at Foreign Policy says the timing of the “discovery” is interesting. It comes when the Obama administration is struggling to combat the perception that the Afghan campaign has made little progress despite the deployment of thousands of additional troops. The drive to oust the Taliban from their spiritual home of Kandahar in the south is stalling and two top Afghan security officials, widely respected for their integrity, have quit with one of them saying President Hamid Karzai had lost faith in the ability of western forces to defeat the Taliban. Then comes a report that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence is deeply involved with the Afghan Taliban despite heated denials to the contrary.
In short things are not looking good for the United States which makes the timing of the Pentagon report about Afghanistan’s hidden wealth suspicious, he says.