Thousands flee bomb attacks by US drones

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6036512.ece

April 5, 2009

AMERICAN drone attacks on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan are causing a massive humanitarian emergency, Pakistani officials claimed after a new attack yesterday killed 13 people.

The dead and injured included foreign militants, but women and children were also killed when two missiles hit a house in the village of Data Khel, near the Afghan border, according to local officials.

As many as 1m people have fled their homes in the Tribal Areas to escape attacks by the unmanned spy planes as well as bombings by the Pakistani army. In Bajaur agency entire villages have been flattened by Pakistani troops under growing American pressure to act against Al-Qaeda militants, who have made the area their base.

Kacha Garhi is one of 11 tented camps across Pakistan’s frontier province once used by Afghan refugees and now inhabited by hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis made homeless in their own land.

eom

:sarcasm:

those two countries?

slightly damaged a "Change We Can Believe In" T-Shirt stand.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7980534.stm
<snip>
"The troop surge will fail to achieve greater overall security and stability unless the military prioritise the protection of Afghan civilians," Matt Waldman, head of policy for Oxfam International on Afghanistan, said.


"Despite taking steps to reduce civilian casualties, and repeated calls for restraint, too many military operations by foreign troops involve excessive force, loss of life and damage to property.

"This is causing anger, fear and resentment among Afghans, and is steadily eroding popular support for the international presence."

Hey! A bomblet packed with flowers dropped from each drone would
give 'us' the photographic evidence 'we' need to assure 'us' that 'we'
are doing the right thing.

Hearts and Minds (1974)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071604/