[Peace-discuss] Obama killing Pakistani civilians at 8 times Bush's rate

[C. G. Estabrook]

[This is forwarded from Doug Henwood's excellent LBO list: "700 in Obama's first 
year, vs. an average of 82 a year in 2006 & 2007. Not clear from these reports 
what the 2008 average was, but it's clearly lower."]

	Obama killing Pakistani civilians at 8 times Bush's rate
	Over 700 killed in 44 drone strikes in 2009
	Saturday, 02 Jan, 2010


PESHAWAR: Of the 44 predator strikes carried out by US drones in the tribal 
areas of Pakistan over the past 12 months, only five were able to hit their 
actual targets, killing five key Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, but at the cost 
of over 700 innocent civilians.



According to the statistics compiled by Pakistani authorities, the 
Afghanistan-based US drones killed 708 people in 44 predator attacks targeting 
the tribal areas between January 1 and December 31, 2009.



For each Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist killed by US drones, 140 innocent 
Pakistanis also had to die. Over 90 per cent of those killed in the deadly 
missile strikes were civilians, claim authorities.



The success percentage for the drone hits during 2009 was hardly 11 per cent. On 
average, 58 civilians were killed in these attacks every month, 12 persons every 
week and almost two people every day. Most of the attacks were carried out on 
the basis of human intelligence, reportedly provided by the Pakistani and Afghan 
tribesmen, who are spying for the US-led allied forces in Afghanistan.



Of the five successful predator attacks carried out in 2009, the first one came 
on January 1, which reportedly killed two senior al-Qaeda leaders – Usama al-Kin 
and Sheikh Ahmed Salim – both wanted by the American Federal Bureau of 
Investigation (FBI). Kin was the chief operational commander of Al-Qaeda in 
Pakistan and had replaced Abu Faraj Al Libi after his arrest in 2004.



The second successful drone attack was conducted on August 5 in South Waziristan 
that killed the most wanted fugitive chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan 
Baitullah Mehsud along with his wife.



The US State Department had announces a $5million head money for information 
leading to Baitullah, making him the only Pakistani fugitive with the head money 
separately announced by Islamabad and Washington. –DawnNews

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/18-over-700-killed-in-44-drone-strikes-in-2009-am-01