School bombing exposes Obama’s secret war inside Pakistan

[alienlovechild 75]

This one hit home for me as SFC Sluss-Tiller and I served together in Germany. He was a good guy and a good soldier. He'll get be greatly missed. RIP.

THE discovery of three American soldiers among the dead in a suicide bombing at the opening of a girls’ school in the northwestern Pakistan town of Dir last week reignited the fears of many Pakistanis that Washington was set on invading their country.

US airstrikes in Pakistan, launched from unmanned drones, are now averaging three a week, triple the number last year. “We're quietly seeing a geographical shift,” an intelligence officer said.

For the past month drones have pounded the tribal region of North Waziristan in apparent retaliation for the murder of seven CIA officers in Afghanistan by a Jordanian suicide bomber working with the Pakistani Taliban.

The discovery of the dead US soldiers revealed that America’s shadowy war in Pakistan not only involves drones but also small cadres of special operations soldiers.

Pakistan’s foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, insisted that US troops were in Pakistan only to provide counter-insurgency training for the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force operating in the tribal areas.

Other sources said there were about 200 US military inside the country. “I’m not sure you could just call it training,” one official said. “They are hardly behind the wire if they are on trips to schools in Dir.”

The three US soldiers, who have been described variously as special operations forces and civil affairs troops, were killed when their convoy was bombed as it travelled to the re-opening of the school. It had been rebuilt with US aid after being bombed by the Taliban last year.

Three schoolgirls, two villagers and a Pakistani soldier were also killed in the attack, for which the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility. More than 100 were wounded, mostly schoolgirls.

It was officially reported that the device was a remote-controlled bomb. It has now emerged that a suicide bomber rammed into the vehicle carrying the Americans. This suggests the bomber had inside information. “This attack was too perfect: they lay in wait for the convoy to pass and knew exactly which vehicle to hit,” a US military officer said.

One of those killed was Sergeant Matthew Sluss-Tiller, 35, the father of a three-year-old daughter. His mother, Jane Blankenship, said her son had been in Pakistan on a civil affairs mission and had grown a beard for it.

One official suggested the “trainers” may be used to pick up intelligence on drone targets, particularly because the CIA did not trust its counterparts from the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence service that has close links to the Taliban.

The Americans insist the drone attacks have been a success, picking off the second and third tier of Al-Qaeda’s leadership. In August they killed Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban. They recently claimed to have killed his successor, Hakimullah Mehsud, but Pakistan’s foreign minister said this had not been confirmed.

To the irritation of Washington, Islamabad has kept up a pretence that drone attacks are carried out without its approval, even though the aircraft are based in Pakistan.

Among the Pakistani public, there has been outcry at the attacks. Surveys constantly show that Pakistanis consider the US a greater threat than the Taliban, despite 3,021 Pakistani deaths in terrorist attacks last year.

If the drones are controversial, the presence of US soldiers on Pakistani soil is far more so. Despite a $1.5 billion (£959m) aid programme, Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, had to fly into Pakistan two weeks ago to reassure its military leadership. “Let me say definitively the US does not covet a single inch of Pakistani soil,” he told Pakistan’s National Defence University.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle7017929.ece

[scandal 951]

For the fallen American servicemen, doing their duty to protect our nation and paying the ultimate sacrifice.

ALC - my condolences to you on the loss of your friend and comrade in arms.

For the innocent civilians, particularly the schoolchildren, injured and killed in cold blood by their fellow countrymen and coreligionists. Their loss is senseless, but does show yet again the callous hatred in the hearts of these terrorists who think nothing of killing Muslim schoolgirls in the name of "Islam".

I am glad that the US is keeping up the fight, keeping up the pressure. It's unfortunate that the Pakistani government, military and people need to be brought kicking and screaming into a fight against this perilous threat within their midst. One would have hoped they would recognize that threat and be ecstatic for the outside support to defeat it. Nonetheless, with or without their blessing, the US will do what it must, and it's good we have the iron will of the Administration and the military to stay the course in Afghanistan/Pakistan.

[Danno 1,228]

For the fallen American servicemen, doing their duty to protect our nation and paying the ultimate sacrifice.

ALC - my condolences to you on the loss of your friend and comrade in arms.

For the innocent civilians, particularly the schoolchildren, injured and killed in cold blood by their fellow countrymen and coreligionists. Their loss is senseless, but does show yet again the callous hatred in the hearts of these terrorists who think nothing of killing Muslim schoolgirls in the name of "Islam".

I am glad that the US is keeping up the fight, keeping up the pressure. It's unfortunate that the Pakistani government, military and people need to be brought kicking and screaming into a fight against this perilous threat within their midst. One would have hoped they would recognize that threat and be ecstatic for the outside support to defeat it. Nonetheless, with or without their blessing, the US will do what it must, and it's good we have the iron will of the Administration and the military to stay the course in Afghanistan/Pakistan.

Yeah, what he said.

If our enemies feel they can hide behind a boarder line, we will be fighting with one hand tied behind our back.