CIA's drone campaign in Pakistan has killed dozens
of civilians who had gone to help rescue victims or
were attending funerals (All Hail the Assassin in Chief!)

A media report reveals that the administration of President Barack Obama has fabricated lies and misled the American public about its ongoing controversial drone war.

Leaked intelligence files uncovered by McClatchy Newspapers showed that during 2006-2008 and 2010-2011, the CIA’s Predator and Reaper assassination drones targeted and killed senior leaders of al-Qaeda and allied groups, as well as hundreds of suspected lower-level Afghani, Pakistani and unidentified militants who posed no immediate threat to the US. The US newspaper noted that Washington secretly conducted drone strikes on suspected insurgents who were not listed on any US terrorist list, on alleged organizations that did not exist at the time of 9/11, and on unidentified individuals described as “other militants” and “foreign fighters”. The report also added that many civilians including women and children were also killed in the deadly strikes.

A report by the Washington-based New America Foundation said that there have been 350 US drone strikes since 2004, most of them during President Obama's terms in office. The foundation has put the death toll between 1,963 and 3,293, with 261 to 305 civilians killed. According to the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, between 2,627 and 3,457 people have been killed by US drones in Pakistan since 2004, including between 475 and nearly 900 civilians.

Daily Mail: Pentagon officials 'don't know MOST of the people who are killed in their drone strikes'

Ben Emmerson, UN special rapporteur, says they violate Pakistani sovereignty. - The US drone war in Pakistan is illegal because it violates Pakistani sovereignty, according to the head of a United Nations team investigating civilian casualties from drone strikes. Ben Emmerson, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, secretly visited Pakistan with a team of investigators and found that Pakistani authorities do not consent to drone strikes on their territory, contrary to claims made by US officials.

Alex Lantier: UN says US drone war in Pakistan violates international law

Amid US threats to impose sanctions on his country, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari joined Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a ceremony breaking ground on construction of the Pakistani portion of a planned Iran-Pakistan pipeline on Monday. With national elections due in May, Zardari and his ruling Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) will seek to gain electoral advantage by using the pipeline to posture as being independent from Washington. Iran sees the project as a way to counter the crippling economic sanctions the US has imposed on it, based on unsubstantiated allegations that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Pakistan faces a shortfall of 2 billion cubic of natural gas feet per day and a serious energy crisis, which has seen mass electricity riots in Lahore and other cities. Pakistan is in the dark for up to six hours a day—resulting in the loss of export revenue, the closure of tens of thousands of factories, and the loss of millions of jobs.

PressTV: Pakistan’s FM downplays US threats over gas project with Iran - Addressing a press conference on Thursday, the Pakistani minister expressed confidence that the United States would never impose sanctions on Pakistan because of the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project. Khar pointed to the importance of Pakistan’s relations with Iran and added that the completion of the gas pipeline project would be a harbinger of good news for peace and cooperation. The remarks came after the US Department of State on March 11 threatened Pakistan with sanctions if Islamabad went through with its multi-billion-dollar project with Iran.

[Via: LandDestroyerReport] - Quetta, the capital of Pakistanfs southwest Baluchistan province, bordering both US-occupied Afghanistan as well as Iran, was the site of a grisly market bombing that has killed over 80 people. According to reports, the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for the attack. Billed as a gSunni extremist group,h it instead fits the pattern of global terrorism sponsored by the US, Israel, and their Arab partners Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The terrorist Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group was in fact created, according to the BBC, to counter Iranfs Islamic Revolution in the 1980Œs, and is still active today. Considering the openly admitted US-Israeli-Saudi plot to use Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups across the Middle East to counter Iranfs influence, it begs the question whether these same interests are funding terrorism in Pakistan to not only counter Iranian-sympathetic Pakistani communities, but to undermine and destabilize Pakistan itself.

As the US military continues to court scrutiny regarding drone use, the Air Force has stopped sharing information on the number of drone strikes in Afghanistan. Going one step further, it has removed those statistics from prior reports on its website. - The Air Force's Central Command began keeping track of drone weapon releases in October 2012, according to the Air Force Times. The move was described at that time as a bid to “provide more detailed information on [drone] ops in Afghanistan,” said Central Command spokeswoman Capt. Kim Bender, the magazine reports. Statistics were recorded as part of the policy for November, December and January. But when February's numbers were published on March 7, there was only a blank space where the drone statistics were normally placed.

China took over management on Monday of Pakistan's Gwadar port, en route to key Hormuz Straits oil shipping lanes, in a move which has prompted nerves in India about its fellow Asian giant's growing strategic clout. - China financed more than 80 percent of the $248 million development cost of the port on the Arabian Sea, as part of a plan to open up an energy and trade corridor from the Gulf, across Pakistan to western China. When complete, the port could be used by the Chinese Navy, analysts say, and Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony told reporters on February 6 that Chinese control of the port was "a matter of concern." Indian policy-makers are wary of a string of strategically located ports being built by Chinese companies in its neighborhood, as India beefs up its military clout to compete. China has also funded ports in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, and Chittagong in Bangladesh, both India's neighbors.

Sampath Perera: Pakistan transfers strategic Gwadar port to China
The Nation/AWIP: Take note CIA: Gwadar Port control transferred to China!

US War Criminal Obama awarded the "Presidential Medal of Freedom" to Jewish War Criminal Peres last June. Now Obama will receive a medal of "presidential honor" on his upcoming visit to the Zionist entity. Peres received his medal for Cast Lead and Pillar of Cloud and Obama will receive his for helping Peres murder people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. - Very honorable indeed!

Barack Obama will become the first serving U.S. president to receive Israel's presidential medal, from his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres on a visit to the Jewish state next month, Peres's office said on Monday.

"President Obama has made a unique and meaningful contribution to strengthening the state of Israel and the security of its people," it said in a statement. "Barack Obama is a true friend of the state of Israel and has been since the beginning of his public life. As president of the United States he has stood beside Israel in times of crisis," it added. Israel's presidential medal of distinction is awarded to individuals or organizations who have contributed to "Israeli society" and "Israel's image" in the world. The White House has not announced specific dates for the Obama visit, his first to Zionist entity Occupying Palestine, as president. [Zionist] media reports and a Palestinian official have said that it will run from March 20-22 and take in talks with both [Zionist] and Palestinian leaders [stooges] in Jerusalem and Ramallah. The White House has kept expectations deliberately low, saying Obama has no plans to use the trip to push new proposals to break the more than two-year deadlock in [the so-called] peace talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that his talks with Obama would focus on Iran's nuclear program [not on Israel's], the conflict in [war on] Syria and long-stalled "peace talks" with the Palestinians.

Facing growing pressure to lift the secrecy around targeted killings overseas, the Obama administration is considering shifting more of the CIA’s covert drone program to the Pentagon, which operates under legal guidelines that could allow more public disclosure in some cases. John Brennan, whom President Barack Obama has nominated to run the CIA, favors moving most drone killing operations to the military, current and former U.S. officials say. As White House counterterrorism adviser for the last four years, Brennan has overseen the steady increase in targeted killings of suspected militants and [CIA's] al-Qaida operatives.

The Bureau: Naming the Dead: Bureau announces new drones project
The Bureau: Obama terror drones: CIA tactics in Pakistan include targeting rescuers and funerals

More than 300 Hazaras including labors and students were killed in today’s terrorist attack, a witness from Quetta city of Pakistan said.

Kabul Press: Bloody attack on Hazaras in Quetta: at least 50 killed and more than 200 injured
The Frontier Post: Karzai condemn deadly bombing in Quetta city of Pakistan
The Nation: Hazaras hold off mass burial till military acts
Pakistan Daily Times: Shias refuse to bury dead; demand military takeover
Jason Ditz: At Least 84 Killed in Quetta Bombing Targeting Pakistan’s Shi’ites

The US-Saudi Global Terror Network. Baluchistan, Pakistan - long target of Western geopolitical interests, terror wave coincides with Gwadar Port handover to China. - Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's southwest Baluchistan province, bordering both US-occupied Afghanistan as well as Iran, was the site of a grisly market bombing that has killed over 80 people. According to reports, the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for the attack. Billed as a "Sunni extremist group," it instead fits the pattern of global terrorism sponsored by the US, Israel, and their Arab partners Saudi Arabia and Qatar. ■ The terrorist Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group was in fact created, according to the BBC, to counter Iran's Islamic Revolution in the 1980's, and is still active today. Considering the openly admitted US-Israeli-Saudi plot to use Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups across the Middle East to counter Iran's influence, it begs the question whether these same interests are funding terrorism in Pakistan to not only counter Iranian-sympathetic Pakistani communities, but to undermine and destabilize Pakistan itself. ■ While the United States is close allies with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, it is well established that the chief financier of extremist militant groups for the past 3 decades, including Al Qaeda, are in fact Saudi Arabia and Qatar. While Qatari state-owned propaganda like Al Jazeera apply a veneer of progressive pro-democracy to its narratives, Qatar itself is involved in arming, funding, and even providing direct military support for sectarian extremists from northern Mali, to Libya, to Syria and beyond.

The Nation: Gwadar Port control goes to China today
The Nation/AWIP: Take note CIA: Gwadar Port control transferred to China!

'It's been over 200 children so far. These are war crimes.' - Princeton professor Cornel West says President Obama is a "war criminal." West, the prominent black academic and activist who has consistently been a harsh Obama critic, took issue with the White House's covert drone program, saying that "the chickens are coming home to roost." "We've been talking about this for a good while, the immorality of drones, dropping bombs on innocent people," West said on his "Smiley & West" radio show with Tavis Smiley. "It's been over 200 children so far," West said. "These are war crimes."

"Let us not be deceived: Nixon, Bush, Obama, they're war criminals," West said. "They have killed innocent people in the name of the struggle for freedom, but they're suspending the law, very much like Wall Street criminals. The law is suspended for them, but the law applies for the rest of us."

Pulse: Obama kills over 700 Pakistanis in 44 drone strikes in 2009 - The Pakistani daily Dawn — a pro-US paper not known for its antiwar stance — reports that US drones killed over 700 civilians in 44 bombings since Obama took office in January 2009. Of the 44 attacks, only five succeeded in hitting their target. In other words, Obama has surpassed his predecessor’s murderous record in Pakistan.

AWIP: US Drones Killed 894 in Tiny Pakistan Agency - Though it is only a fraction of the overall drone war against the nation, the Peshawar High Court today heard details on the impact of the US drone strikes against the North Waziristan Agency, from the tiny area’s agent. In the past five years, 147 distinct US attacks have killed 894 people, including 35 women and 24 children. The vast majority of the other victims were local tribesmen, with only 46 foreigners among the slain, and not all of them confirmed to be militants. Well over 200 people, again overwhelmingly civilians, were wounded in the attacks.

Though it is only a fraction of the overall drone war against the nation, the Peshawar High Court today heard details on the impact of the US drone strikes against the North Waziristan Agency, from the tiny area’s agent. In the past five years, 147 distinct US attacks have killed 894 people, including 35 women and 24 children. The vast majority of the other victims were local tribesmen, with only 46 foreigners among the slain, and not all of them confirmed to be militants. Well over 200 people, again overwhelmingly civilians, were wounded in the attacks.

PressTV: US drone operators, cyber troops to get distinguished medal: Pentagon

At least five persons were killed when US drone targeted a house located at Spinwam of North Waziristan on Wednesday, Geo News reported. Sources said that the house was set at fire, as six missiles were fired from the drone.

PressTV: Secret US assassination drone base in Saudi Arabia exposed - The existence of a previously secret US assassination drone base in Saudi Arabia has come to light amid President Barack Obama’s bid to install his counterterrorism adviser and architect of his covert targeted-killing policy, John Brennan, as the next CIA director. CIA terror drones flown out of a secret American base in Saudi Arabia were used to carry out the “only strike intentionally targeting a US citizen” to kill Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16-year-old son in a 2011 attack in Yemen, The Washington Post reports on Wednesday.

Gwadar Port is a warm-water, deep-sea port situated on
the Arabian Sea at Gwadar in Balochistan province of
Pakistan. (Wikipedia)

Besides giving approval to Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2012-15, the federal cabinet gave formal go-ahead to Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project and handing over of Gwadar Port management from Port of Singapore to a Chinese company.

Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said the cabinet had accorded approval to handing over of Gwadar Port management from Port of Singapore to China Overseas Holding to make the port operational for the collective betterment of the people of Balochistan.To a question, he said it was the decision of Port of Singapore which was earlier tasked to make the port functional and the federal cabinet had just accorded approval to the deal.“Both the companies have settled their deal,” Kaira said, without giving a timetable for the transfer. Kaira said that Singapore’s PSA International could not develop or operate Gwadar ‘as desired’ and said he hoped that under new management the port would soon contribute to country’s flagging economy.“The Chinese will make more investment to make the project operational,” Kaira said.Kaira said the cabinet had also given formal approval to the Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project and also allocated funds for the project while a four-member committee, headed by the federal finance minister, had been constituted to monitor progress on the project.

W. G. Tarpley: The Battle for Balochistan: Iran Nabs Top NATO Terrorist with Help from Pakistan

Reko Diq Gold & Coppermine, Pakistan (Balochistan)

Balochistan is a key province in Pakistan that is filled with natural resources as well as a volatile mix of Afghan Taliban leaders, anti-Shiite militants, and ethnic separatists. Why is Balochistan important? - Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province in terms of size, and its smallest in terms of population. The province has always been seen as occupying a geo-strategic position. It has the country’s longest coastline, with a lucrative deep-sea port at Gwadar in the south, and a shared border with Afghanistan and Iran. Balochistan also has extensive tapped and untapped resources, including copper, gold, oil, lead, and zinc. The province has always been seen as a strategic asset, first by the British colonial power who saw it as a buffer zone holding off Afghan and Russian forces. Today, it is a key source of gas and minerals for Pakistanis across the country, and seen as a strategic transport route.

As Barack Obama renews his lease on the White House for another four years, his administration is debating how best to respond to a growing internal and public controversy over his first term’s non-battlefield counter-terrorist weapon of choice: armed drones.

For months, senior administration officials have reportedly been haggling over the terms of a so-called “playbook” for the use of drones against suspected terrorists that will provide detailed rules for who will be included on so-called “kill lists”, under what circumstances drones can be used to kill them, and what agency can do the killing. The debate has also included whether or not – and to what extent – the government should make those rules, and the legal justifications that purportedly underlie them, public. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which operates the drone programme in Pakistan and shares responsibility for drone operations with Pentagon forces in Yemen, has reportedly argued for greater leeway in carrying out strikes. Since 9/11 September 2001, U.S. forces have conducted some 425 targeted killings – all but a few through drone strikes — in at least three countries – Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. Altogether, they are believed to have killed more than 3,000 people – more than the 9/11 death toll itself. [The date 9/11 is irrelevant. People in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia had nothing to do with 9/11. The towers were demolished. It was an inside job.]

DronesWatch: List of children killed by drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen

Rare video of speech by Aafia Siddiqui in Houston 1991. Topic : "Women in Islam". Hakim Olajuan (famous basketball player) and Jamal Badawi in audience. Video by Zia Farooqi.

Supporters Demand Justice for Aafia Siddiqui
Aafia Siddiqui: Victimized by American Depravity
Aafia Siddiqui: Victimized by American Injustice
Important New Information on Aafia Siddiqui's Case
Aafia Siddiqui Sentenced: A Grievous Miscarriage of Justice

US President Barack Obama’s rule book for institutionalizing assassination drones in different countries is reportedly nearing completion but it still "authorizes" the CIA to freely continue attacks in Pakistan. The classified manual, called a counter terrorism “playbook,” sets out stringent rules with regard to US targeted killings, but it incorporates a carve-out that would allow the CIA to continue bombing suspected militants in Pakistan for “less than two years but more than one,” the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

PressTV: US assassination drones kill 8 people in central Yemen
PressTV: US assassination drone kills 5 in northeastern Afghanistan
Woods/Lamb/BIJ: Obama terror drones: CIA tactics in Pakistan include targeting rescuers and funerals

Major bombings tore through the Balochistan Provincial capital city of Quetta and the Swat Valley city of Mingora today, destroying a Quetta pool hall and a marketplace and killing at least 125 people, wounding well over 200 others. - The bombings at the pool hall caused the bulk of the casualties, with a pair of bombs timed to go off in succession, with the second coming 10 minutes after the first and killing large numbers of rescuers. 92 were killed in these bombings. The attacks were claimed by the "United Baloch Army" [CIA outfit], a secessionist group in Pakistani Balochistan. The target in Mingora was in a Shi’ite dominated neighborhood, and it is assumed the attackers were one of the sectarian factions active in the area. Secessionist groups have become increasingly active in recent months in Balochistan, with anger soaring over military operations in the region which have caused massive civilian casualties.

Farrukh Saleem: CIA carving out new role
Ahmed Rayyan: CIA using Afghan refugees to destabilize Balochistan
The News: CIA, RAW complicit in Balochistan unrest, says Noorani
Michel Chossudovsky: The Destabilization of Pakistan (30 December 2007)

A U.S. assassination drone killed eight people in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, three intelligence sources said, the latest in a series of drone attacks that come as a retired U.S. general warns their overuse may threaten American foreign policy goals. - A foreign tactical trainer for al-Qaeda was reportedly [allegedly] among those killed in the latest strike, although "reports" differed on his nationality. Some intelligence officials said he was from Somalia but others said he was from the United Arab Emirates. Three others were also injured in the attack on Haiderkhel village, about 30 kms (19 miles) east of the provincial capital of Miranshah in North Waziristan, a region along the Afghan border that is a key stronghold of the Taliban.

Jason Ditz: US Drones Pound Pakistan: 25 Killed in Two Days
John Glaser: Two Former US Officials Criticize Obama’s Counter-Productive Drone War

A suspected U.S. drone strike killed 17 people and wounded three Sunday in Pakistan's volatile tribal region, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The strike occurred in Babar Ziarat, which borders the Pakistani provinces of North and South Waziristan, near the Afghan border, the officials said. Those killed and injured in the strike were believed to be "militants", the "officials" said [?]. The attack follows two suspected U.S. drone strikes in the same area last week that killed 15 people, including a Taliban commander with ties to the Pakistani military. Taliban commander Mullah Nazir, also known as Maulvi Nazir Wazir, was killed in a strike in South Waziristan, "officials" said.

Jason Ditz: US Drones Attack South Waziristan: 17 Killed

In 2012,the US also chose to loosen the bonds of secrecy on its 10-year-old drone targeted killing programme. A number of senior officials went on the record about aspects of the covert war. But details of those killed – still a highly contentious issue – remain classified. The year also saw a number of significant legal challenges to the campaign, most of them ultimately unsuccessful. UN experts also announced a study into possible war crimes, partly in response to a Bureau/Sunday Times investigation.

Living Under Drones
Drones: Instruments of State Terror
America’s Scandalous Drone War Goes Unmentioned in the Campaign

Marking the first US drone attacks of 2013, the Obama administration ordered two separate missile bombardments in Pakistan and Yemen on Wednesday and Thursday.

The latest attacks demonstrate that the drawdown of US-led occupying forces in Afghanistan will be accompanied by an expansion of illegal drone operations across the Middle East. At least 16 people were reported killed, all alleged Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, though details of each incident are still emerging and Washington routinely covers up the killing of civilians in drone strikes. ■ Yesterday, another two drone missiles struck North Waziristan, killing four more alleged Taliban militants, reportedly including two Uzbek nationals, as they were travelling in a car. Multiple sources report that a second round of drone missiles was fired when people nearby attempted to recover the bodies, though it is not known if more people were killed or injured as a result. ■ On the same day as the atrocity in North Waziristan, three alleged members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula were killed while travelling in a car in Redaa, in the southern Yemeni province of Al Bayda. Redaa is where a US drone strike killed 11 civilians, including three children, on September 2. ■ President Barack Obama in fact bears responsibility for the continued bloodletting in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. While Washington is currently in a de facto alliance with Al Qaeda-connected militia groups fighting against the Syrian government, the so-called “war on terror” remains the pretext for its military operations across the Middle East.

PressTV: Saudi warplanes attacked Yemen for US
Al-Manar: Yemen Arrests Israeli for Mossad Links

The United States government has argued in court that current and former officials of Pakistan’s intelligence service should be immune from prosecution in connection with the 2008 Mumbai attacks. At least 166 people, including 6 Americans, were killed and scores more were injured when members of Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba stormed downtown Mumbai, India, taking the city hostage between November 26 and 29, 2008. The Indian government has openly accused Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI) of complicity in the attack, which has been described as the most sophisticated international terrorist strike anywhere in the world during the last decade.

Wayne Madsen: Xe cells conducting false flag terrorist attacks in Pakistan

At least four people have been killed in a US assassination drone attack in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region, reports say. - The incident occurred on Friday afternoon when missiles from a US unmanned aerial vehicle leveled a house in Hesokhel village of Mir Ali district in North Waziristan. Many others were also injured in the latest US attack on Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt which lies along the Afghan border. In neighboring South Waziristan region, a US drone crashed in Wana district on Thursday night while it was reportedly on a targeted killing mission.