Re: Pakistan wants to cut CIA drone strikes, personnel

[Guest guest]

This is a complicated issue.

These attacks are happening in Pashtun tribal areas where there is strong support for Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The tribal area is also split between the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan. This has been so for a long time and they don't have much respect for the border or national laws of either nation.

It is hard to get agents in there because of the support for the bad guys and the tribal culture. Since the media gleefully leaked stories about how we were tracking these people through cell phones, emails, etc., the top bosses have effectively stopped using them, going back to messengers carrying print media or digital chips with messages and such. The US also fixated on electronic information gathering because it was politically easily to put up a satellite than risk getting agents caught and killed in other countries. This has backfired somewhat as our enemies are learning how to get around that.

I'll cut it short by saying it also hurts us because our enemy uses human shields. They know the media won't hold them accountable but all the blame will fall on the US if "civilians" are killed.

In a message dated 4/13/2011 12:40:54 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

Pakistan wants to cut CIA drone strikes, personnel