Almost silently the un-manned U.S. "Predator" aircraft flew in low over the neighborhood rooftops yesterday, bombing three homes in Pakistan and killing 17 people.
Hundreds of miles away, in an air-conditioned trailer, the U.S. pilot stared at a color monitor and flew the aircraft by remote control.
The breathless headlines in U.S. media said we were pretty sure we'd gotten the "#2 al-Qaeda."
Hours later the foreign press revealed that Ayman al-Zawahri, the target of the attack, was nowhere near the site. "Their information was wrong, and our investigations conclude that they acted on a false information," said a senior Pakistani official, "He was never there. This is what we know after a detailed probe."
Meanwhile, U.S. media reported that in Iraq insurgents shot down a U.S. helicopter killing two Americans. Not reported were the facts that these two bring the total number of U.S. dead to 34 so far this month and 2,214 since the U.S. invasion. And no mention was made of the estimated 27,814 Iraqis who have been killed during the U.S. war.
But today is a new day in the suburbs and it's going to be sunny and warm. A good day to drive the SUV to the gas station.
Today in Pakistan more than 8,000 tribesmen staged a protest to condemn the airstrike, which one speaker described as "open terrorism" and an intelligence official said that more than 30 were killed in the air attack but that the remains of some bodies had "quickly been removed" after the strike.
Maybe get a car wash too. That magnetic "Support Our Troops" ribbon is getting a little hard to read through all the grime.
al-Qaeda No 2 not at US air strike site - MidDay (India)
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