[Peace-discuss] Obama widens the war

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Now if Pakistan set off bombs in, say, Ft. Dix, NJ -- an undoubted militant 
hideout -- killing at least seven people and wounding an as yet unknown number 
of others, and if it was the third Pakistani strike in New Jersey this month, 
there would be calls for retaliation here.  The USG realizes there will be such 
calls in Pakistan -- a further justification for US military involvement.]


	US Drone Strike Kills Seven in North Waziristan
	Key Haqqani Faction Town Was Also Hit in September
	by Jason Ditz, August 20, 2009

US drones fired missiles at the North Waziristan town on Darpa Kheil, just 
outside of Miramshah, killing at least seven people and wounding an as-yet 
unknown number of others. The town is the home of a major religious school set 
up by the Haqqani family, and has been a target of US strikes in the past.

In early September of last year the US struck the religious school, killing at 
least 23, many of them civilians. Today’s strike hit what officials called a 
“suspected militant hideout,” but the identity of any of the slain people is not 
yet known.

The Haqqani family is led by the elderly Jalaluddin Haqqani, a veteran of the 
US-back mujahideen which opposed the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan who later 
became an opponent of the US occupation of Afghanistan. The family has been in 
the news is recent months when it was reported that they had “bought” a US 
soldier who had been kidnapped in Afghanistan by Taliban forces.

The attack is also the third US strike on North Waziristan this month, at a time 
when the Pakistani government is trying to prevent their military offensive in 
South Waziristan spilling over into the restive north.

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/08/20/us-drone-strike-kills-three-in-north-waziristan/