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Suspected US Drone Strikes Kill 18 in Pakistan Monday, June 6th, 2011 at 4:00 pm UTC Posted 13 minutes ago Pakistani intelligence officials say three U.S. drone strikes have killed at least 18 militants in the country's northwest tribal region. All of Monday's strikes were in South Waziristan, near the Afghan border. Officials say missiles hit a compound, an Islamic seminary and a vehicle near the main town of Wana. Foreign militants, including Arabs and Uzbeks, were said to be among those killed. The attacks come just days after the reported death of senior al-Qaida operative Ilyas Kashmiri in a...

The leading English-language newspaper, Dawn, and its Web site on Friday began publishing a selection of more than 4,000 American diplomatic cables obtained from WikiLeaks that are devoted to Pakistan, opening a window onto the American-Pakistani relationship and domestic politics never before seen here. The cables, which were reviewed and in some cases reported on by The New York Times last year, include a request from the head of the Pakistani Army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, for American surveillance drones to fly over South Waziristan, where the army was fighting the Taliban. The request by General Kayani referred only to...

A US drone attacked a Saudi Al-Qaeda leader in southern Yemen on Thursday, but missed and killed two local Al-Qaeda members, a security source and witnesses told AFP. The drone had targeted the Saudi as he drove to the home of local Al-Qaeda men, the security source said, asking not to be identified. When the two local Qaeda men rushed out in their own car, they were hit and killed by the drone. The security source did not specify that the unmanned aircraft was American and there was no official word from the Yemeni authorities on who carried out the...

CORPUS CHRISTI — One $30 million unmanned aerial vehicle is not enough to patrol 1,200 miles of border between Texas and Mexico, according to a group of South Texas lawmakers. Three members of the Texas congressional delegation, including U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, on Wednesday met with state and federal officials at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi to push for additional unmanned flight operations in South Texas. Flanked by U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and Michael McCaul, R-Katy, Farenthold stood beside the nose of the menacing — but unarmed — Predator B drone and said Texas is a prime...

Even though the Whitehouse insists that we are not at war with Libya its actions prove otherwise. With the promise of the U.S. not taking a lead role in this “kinetic action” the President authorized the use of predator drones to fly missions in Libya. The biggest shock of the week is the reporting that the White House hasn’t taken sides in the Libyan conflict. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton must have not received the Memo yet. Although the first official missions where canceled because of weather, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced the use of armed drones began Thursday,...

The United States will supply Pakistan with 85 small surveillance drones, amid rising tensions between the two countries over aerial attacks that have left hundreds dead. The plan, announced by a US official speaking on condition of anonymity, is part of the US military aid to Pakistan in 2011 which is estimated to be nearly USD 3 billion, a Press TV correspondent reported on Friday. The short-range surveillance aircraft called “Raven,” is produced by the US-based AeroVironment Company. It weighs 1.9 kg (4.2 lb) and is launched by hand and powered by an electric motor. Raven drones can be either...

The United States is using armed Predator drones in Libya to target Moammar Gadhafi's forces with the approval of President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday. The unmanned aircraft, already used to target militants along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, will allow for precise attacks against Gadhafi's forces, Gates told a news conference in Washington, D.C. "He (Obama) has approved the use of armed Predators," Gates said. The first two Predators, which carry Hellfire missiles and can stay in the air for 24 hours, headed to Libya on Thursday but had to turn back due to bad weather,...

President Obama has authorized the use of aerial drone strikes in Libya to aid rebels fighting to oust dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Thursday. Gates stressed that even though the United States will begin using the armed Predator drones in Libya, American soldiers will not be deployed to the country. He said the Libyan people will have to remove Gadhafi themselves, though the U.S. "can provide them with some cover from the air." The announcement falls in line with the Obama administration's pledge to not put American boots on the ground to remove Gadhafi from power....

U.S. military forces will still be able to target al Qaeda terrorists in mountainous Southwest Asia with remotely piloted drones based in Afghanistan should Pakistan’s government deny the use of its territory to launch attacks. Col. Dean Bushey, deputy director of the Army’s Joint Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence, told an international-relations conference Wednesday that U.S. Reaper and Predator aircraft could still reach the “mountainous regions” of Pakistan without being based in that country. “Our assets from Afghanistan have a long enough flight time to do it,” he told the conference, sponsored by the International Institute for Strategic Studies....

Pakistan has privately demanded the Central Intelligence Agency suspend drone strikes against militants on its territory, one of the U.S.'s most effective weapons against al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, officials said. Pakistan has also asked the U.S. to reduce the number of U.S. intelligence and Special Operations personnel in the country, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials. The U.S. strategy in the war in Afghanistan hinges on going after militants taking refuge in Pakistan. The breakdown in intelligence cooperation has cast a pall over U.S.-Pakistani relations, with some officials in both countries saying intelligence ties are at their lowest point...

The big focus of the Obama administration in the last week has been, in President Obama's words, "to stop the violence against civilians." That's in Libya, of course, where Moammar Gadhafi was threatening to quell a rebellion based in Benghazi. In this context, it's particularly striking to read the news from the ACLU -- which has been waging a legal battle to wring information from the government about American drone strikes -- that the military doesn't even keep a tally of civilian deaths caused by drones: The Department of Defense has confirmed that it does not compile statistics about the...

With Air Force's new drone, 'we can see everything'By Ellen Nakashima and Craig Whitlock Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, January 2, 2011; 12:09 AM In ancient times, Gorgon was a mythical Greek creature whose unblinking eyes turned to stone those who beheld them. In modern times, Gorgon may be one of the military's most valuable new tools. This winter, the Air Force is set to deploy to Afghanistan what it says is a revolutionary airborne surveillance system called Gorgon Stare, which will be able to transmit live video images of physical movement across an entire town. The system, made up...

In June, Philip Alston, the independent U.N. investigator on extrajudicial killings, urged the United States to lay out rules and safeguards, publish figures on civilian casualties and prove it has tried other ways to capture or incapacitate suspects without killing them.

The CIA has recalled it top officer from Pakistan after his cover was blown and his life threatened. The alleged name of the CIA's station chief in Islamabad was revealed by a Pakistani man, Kareem Khan, who has threatened to sue the intelligence agency over the death of his son and brother in a U.S. missile strike. Khan and his lawyers told a news conference in November that they would seek a $500 million payment for his family members' deaths and warned they may sue CIA director Leon Panetta, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and the man they identified as...

U.S. envoys met with Pakistani leaders on Tuesday to ensure that the $7.5 billion that President Obama plans to send their way over the next five years will be used to achieve common goals in the fight against extremism. But according to a Pakistani newspaper, regional envoy Richard Holbrooke and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen came up empty-handed and received a "rude shock" when a proposal for joint operations against al Qaeda and Taliban forces in the volatile tribal regions was rejected.

Peace groups outside the main gate of Beale Air Force Base today will protest the use of remote-controlled drone aircraft. They are calling on military personnel at the base to resist war and the use of the drones. "If we can't stop our government from continuing these costly, endless and immoral occupations, our only other option is to encourage military personnel to become war resisters," stated a press release from CodePINK Bay Area.

Western defense experts surprised to see 25+ new Chinese drones on display at Air Show China 2010...WJ600 jet-powered drone: And just what does that say for our military intelligence, anyway... must have been sleeping: ________________________________________________________ China is ramping up production of unmanned aerial vehicles in an apparent bid to catch up with the U.S. and Israel in developing technology that is considered the future of military aviation. Western defense officials and experts were surprised to see more than 25 different Chinese models of the unmanned aircraft, known as UAVs, on display at this week's Zhuhai air show in this southern...

<p>Has Chelsea become so trendy even Martians are scouting for co-ops?</p> <p>A silvery vision of a dozen balloon-like dots hovering in yesterday's clear-blue sky over West 23rd Street in Manhattan had thousands speculating the mysterious objects might be UFOs.</p> <p>Callers began phoning the NYPD and Federal Aviation Administration at 1:30 p.m. with reports of the strange, silver objects high in the sky.</p>

Here's an example of the administration looking for the campaign '08 love back, then demanding it and then lying about how much love there is... From the White House Poll Reporter - Nia-Malika Henderson of the Washington Post Sunday 10/10/10 in Philadelphia: "POTUS got on stage at about 5pm after Biden introduced him, and urged thecrowd to chant the president's name. Remarks will go out soon, but Obamatouched on similar themes from previous speeches. Obama said that he wasglad to "see this crowd fired up.""I've got to make sure you stay fired up.".

The photos showing NATO supply trucks being set ablaze by insurgents in Paki stan should send a chill up the spine of every American. So should the State Department's travel-alert warning on yet another Pakistan-inspired terror threat. President Obama's Pakistan policy is going up in smoke, just like those NATO trucks. The bitter irony is that even as Obama is trying to get out of the war in Afghanistan, he may be heading us into one in Pakistan. Consider: * In 2009, we launched 45 Predator drone attacks into Pakistan. In 2010, we may almost triple that number, with 22...