US And Pakistan Locked In A "Drone Marriage"

http://www.opednews.com/articles/US-And-Pakistan-Locked-In-by-Pepe-Escobar-Drone-Wars_Obama_Pakistan_Sharia-131024-873.html



Pakistani protesters shout anti-US slogans during a demonstration in Karachi on October 23, 2013, against US drone attacks in the Pakistani tribal region.

US And Pakistan Locked In A "Drone Marriage"
OpEdNews Op Eds 10/24/2013 at 22:34:11
By Pepe Escobar

~snip~

Double tap and hang five

Just before the Obama-Sharif summit, Amnesty International released a devastating report not only questioning the trademark Obama administration legalese supporting the drone attacks on Pakistan's tribal areas, but also stating the obvious; those responsible -- from joystick operators in the Nevada desert to the White House -- may have to stand trial for war crimes.

And this is not even the most damning report already published. Compare it to the September 2012 joint investigation by Stanford Law School and the New York University School of Law, Living Under Drones, which concluded that only 2% of those incinerated by a Hellfire missile were "terrorists." Many were victims of the dreaded "double tap" -- the second strike that invariably kills scores of civilian onlookers and rescue workers.

Miram Shah, in the Pakistani tribal areas, only 16 kilometers from the Afghan border, qualifies as the drone capital of the world. In Miram Shah, Hellfire missiles have incinerated, among others, a bakery, a school for girls and a foreign currency market. The Pakistani Army disabled the local cell network, and the Taliban closed Internet cafes; too many young guns watching porn. The Obama administration maintains the Hellfire feast is "surgical" and "contained" -- and has killed "dozens" of al-Qaeda and Taliban. To Sharif, Obama at best admitted "mistakes were made."

Sharif, in principle, holds a strong position in Pakistan's National Assembly, mostly representing the powerful, heavily populated Punjab (which, incidentally, most of the Pakistani Army comes from). He has called an "all parties conference" to try to solve Pakistan's terrorism dilemma. That implies talking to the Taliban.