Warfare continues to become more professional and dehumanized every day.

The purpose of Extraordinary Edition is being revisited for winter, headed into 2013. U.S. foreign policy, Central Asia and the Middle East remain key focal points. Economics and culture on your front doorstep are coming into focus here.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Forty Civilians to One Al Qaeda Target in Pakistan War

From Democracynow.org Feb. 2, 2010

Report: US Drone Attacks Killed 123 Civilians in January

In other news from Pakistan, the US is being accused of killing dozens of civilians in a record twelve drone attacks last month. The Pakistani newspaper The News is reporting the US botched ten of the attacks, killing 123 civilians and just three al-Qaeda leaders—a ratio of forty-one to one.

**How is this ongoing effort, run by the U.S. Military JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) and alleged to be staffed largely by civilians under the employ of private contractors such as the coroporation formerly known as Blackwater, Inc. helping the U.S. effort in Afghanistan? Presumably, the U.S. and NATO are fighting to bring democratic process to the people of Afghanistan. What is it about Pakistan that must be kept low profile in the American press according to efforts by the U.S. government to hide operations that are not subject to international laws the same as they would be if the armed drone flight operations were run by U.S. Military personnel? What do American citizens have to say about Pakistani children, women and non-combatant civilian males being killed by U.S. missles fired remotely from a forward operating base? Why would such activity not reflect upon public opinion toward the U.S. overseas? Why wouldn't a congressional committee convene over these civilian deaths?**

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