![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2FlHivth-x0/UNr2yjANz_I/AAAAAAAAZto/CvYNjUCL0Rc/s400/Drone-Strike.jpg")
Posted on 04/06/2013 4:50:13 PM PDT by haffast
Nek Muhammad knew he was being followed.
On a hot day in June 2004, the Pashtun tribesman was lounging inside a mud compound in South Waziristan, speaking by satellite phone to one of the many reporters who regularly interviewed him on how he had fought and humbled Pakistan’s army in the country’s western mountains. He asked one of his followers about the strange, metallic bird hovering above him.
Less than 24 hours later, a missile tore through the compound, severing Muhammad’s left leg and killing him and several others, including two boys, ages 10 and 16. A Pakistani military spokesman was quick to claim responsibility for the attack, saying that Pakistani forces had fired at the compound.
That was a lie.
Muhammad and his followers had been killed by the CIA, the first time it had deployed a Predator drone in Pakistan to carry out a “targeted killing.”
The target was not a top operative of al-Qaida, but a Pakistani ally of the Taliban who led a tribal rebellion and was marked by Pakistan as an enemy of the state.
In a secret deal, the CIA had agreed to kill him in exchange for access to airspace it had long sought so it could use drones to hunt down its own enemies.
snip
John E. McLaughlin, then the CIA’s deputy director and who the 9/11 commission reported had raised concerns about the CIA being in charge of the Predator, said: “You can’t underestimate the cultural change that comes with gaining lethal authority.
snip
“It is a big deal. You start thinking about things differently,” he added. But after the Sept. 11 attacks, these concerns about the use of the CIA to kill were quickly swept aside.
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
Don't you love it when libs "get" what they want? At least Bush's evil rendition prisons were closed.
The old unintended consequence rule...snicker.
"The use of armed drones to kill terrorism suspects began during the George W. Bush administration, and nearly 400 strikes have occurred since Obama took office in January 2009. "
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/drone-use-remains-cloaked-despite-obamas-pledge-for-more-transparency/2013/04/06/352163d8-9e1d-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html?wprss=rss_world
And not a one at Benghazi.
The only thing Obama has done that I agree with is step up the drone war in Pakistan and Yemen.
... and that was done under Bush in 2004.
Ditto!
the same hypocrites who whined like little b!tches about Gitmo for almost 8 years when GWB was in office...now; too busy pushing for illegals and gay marriage to worry about Gitmo detainees...
Without Bush, Obama wouldn’t have been possible. I hold the Connecticut Cowboy as liable as the media and idiotic/paid-by-welfare voters for our current situation.
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