Hakimullah Mehsud drone strike: 'Death of peace efforts'.

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

Pakistan's interior minister has said the death of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud has destroyed the country's nascent peace process.

"This is not just the killing of one person, it's the death of all peace efforts," Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said.

Pakistan's security forces have been put on high alert following the US drone strike on Friday.

It came a day before a government delegation had been due to fly to North Waziristan to meet Mehsud.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24787637

[dtom67]

1. I heard that the ashtrays were full on Buck McKeon's yacht ....

and he needs a new one.

Better order more Drones .....



More proof that our country is under the control of the biggest assholes on the Planet.

[bemildred]

2. Or the biggest fools. Both really. nt

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. See ya in Times Square!

The Pakistani Taliban never really had a bone to pick with us--they were pissed off at their government. But we kept droning their leaders, so they blew up some CIA guys, so we kept droning their leaders, so they tried to blow up Times Square, so we kept droning their leaders...

This seems like a good way to ensure that the war on terror goes on forever.

And who cares that the Pakistani Taliban were about to engage in peace talks with the government? Not us. When those bombs start exploding again, we can say that we helped.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Their safe haven will become Afghanistan

and the US will be able to sfa about it come next spring.

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. Sfa?

Shit for anything?

[dipsydoodle]

6. No

Sweet fuck all. English acronym.

[Lasher]

7. I thought it meant Sweet Fanny Adams

I should have looked it up.

[dipsydoodle]

8. That too

but I've not heard that expression for years.

Note here since you mentioned it :

It wasn't until later that 'sweet Fanny Adams' came to mean 'nothing'. The term 'fuck all' has long been with us with that meaning, although how long isn't clear as politeness caused it not to be recorded in print until the 20th century. It surely dates back to at least the early 19th century. The coincidence of Fanny Adams' initials caused F.A. or 'Fanny Adams' to be used as a euphemism for 'fuck all'. Walter Downing, an Australian soldier who fought in Europe in the First World War, wrote an glossary of WWI soldier's slang called Digger Dialects in 1919. He is the first to record the link between F.A. (meaning 'fuck all') and Fanny Adams:

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/sweet-fanny-adams.html

[Comrade Grumpy]

11. Live and learn n/t

[kardonb]

18. peace

LOL , thy don't WANT peace . Their whole raison-d'etre is war , killing , and general upheaval . Leave the g-d damn countries to their own devises , and hit wasting lives , money , and effort on tim . They are NOT worth it !

[Jerry442]

10. Drone warfare is like crack cocaine.

Whatever else it does, it's guaranteed to create a need for more.

[BillyRibs]

20. Now why do you

suppose many of us who (most of us were called right here on DU) called this an endless war when bush started it, Obama continued it. some times I Hate being right.

[cosmicone]

9. "Sky is falling" according to Pakistan as always

unless a) US gives billions in aid to the military to buy hardware to attack India and b) Pakistan can carry out terrorist acts willy-nilly in India and elsewhere without any protests from the US.

The reality is that if we keep killing leaders, the organization cannot execute anything and thus eventually dies. How many candidates want to lead the Taliban now, knowing that their ass will be painted with a target for another hellfire missile?

Mehsud was staying in fortified grounds where they had even restricted all traffic but we still got him. Yay for us. This must put fear of untold proportions in their reptilian brains. There is simply no way to communicate or do anything except person to person without being intercepted, located by satellites, watched and missiled. It must be pretty hard to be a terrorist there.

Go drones!

[samsingh]

12. agreed

[Ash_F]

14. Pakistan is trying to put down a rebellion and the US is helping them.

What 'Pakistan' are you talking about? You don't seem to have any idea what you are talking about.

[Posteritatis]

15. He really, really, really, really, really hates anything to do with Pakistan. (nt)

[Ash_F]

22. Right but which Pakistan?

The Punjabi or the Pashtun? Or maybe the Baloch? The Saraiki? The Sindhi?

I'm so confused!

[cosmicone]

16. The newly elected government is trying to put down the "rebellion"

but both Pakistani Taliban and Afghani Taliban were the creations of Pakistani military and ISI. Originally supported by Musharraf and using active duty Pakistani military to terrorize Afghanistan and control it. They deposed legitimately elected Ahmad Shah Masood and then killed him in the week before 9/11.

The wire for the 9/11 terrorists was sent by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad -- an ISI agent.

Google "Kunduz airlift" and learn how Pakistani military is complicit in creating the terrorist outfits.

[samsingh]

19. the pakistan that gets billions of dollars of US money and still couldn't turn bin laden over

while he was living down the street from a military base. the same Pakistan that has imprisoned the doctor who helped the US.

[Ash_F]

21. Here's a little info about Pakistan for anyone so bold to have an opinion

No offense, but those were some fantastically irrelevant comments by you so let me try to expand your knowledge of the situation so that you are able to make more constructive ones in the future. It is amazing how people can be so emotional about a conflict yet be so ignorant about the basics. You wouldn't be the first. Historically, Americans haven't known the first thing about the wars their leaders have gotten them into.

The US is helping the central Pakistani government put down a couple of different separatist movements by ethnic minorities. One the Northwest by the Pashtun people and one in the Southwest by the Baluch people. This is a problem that goes back to when England made the region a colony under one umbrella. In order to solidify economic control, they(England) violently(after several wars) consolidated power into one ethnic group against the others. This was done all over the world during the colonial era by various European powers. After World War 2, the system fell apart with the general collapse of European power projection leading into the Cold War. Bush later tried this strategy in Iraq.

The Pakistani government doesn't want either group to secede with that valuable territory. If the Pashtuns in the Northwest succeed then the Baluch in the Southwest will soon follow. Then possibly some of the other less volatile ethnic regions who have been calling for independence, such as the Sindhi and Saraiki speaking peoples, could also break off to create independent states.

The problem for the US government is that American businesses have become massively invested in Pakistan over the last 20 years. The loss of so much territory would have a strong financial impact for the international businesses which are involved. And it is not just about Pakistan, other post colonial nations across the world could go through the same thing. In Vietnam they called it 'the 'Domino Effect'. We saw a little bit of this phenomenon in action during the Arab Spring. World leaders are keenly aware of it.

Thus a problem for the rich and powerful, again becomes a problem for US military and the rest of America.

If you dislike the Pakistani government so much, maybe you should lobby congress to stop the drone campaign, because the targets are the leadership of the rebellions.

[samsingh]

25. the money from the US

is diverted into buying arms to be used against India.

[samsingh]

26. which statement did i make that was 'fantastical'?

was bin laden not living in Pakistan?
was he not near a major military base?
did the doctor who helped the US not get imprisoned?

[Playful Piranha]

13. I believe Pakistan supported the strike

Now they are pretending they wanted a peace process. Whether the Taliban believes them or not is a different story.

[Ash_F]

23. I think some in the Pakistani government supported the strike

There are people in Pakistan who have different opinions on how to deal with the rebellion. Some, like this person, seem to favor a less violent approach.

Americans tend to think every other country is homogeneous, but they have arguments over issues just like we do.

[samsingh]

27. some supported the strike, others did not.

it's a split country and a powder keg.

[DeSwiss]

17. K&R

You know why totalitarian, dictatorial and/or any other form of authoritarian control always fails?

- Because they ultimately end up depending upon idiots. Like, here.

[vinny9698]

24. These drone strikes are really helping in the peace process

Any rebellion leader is going to push his troops to keep fighting, since his life is not on the line.
Would the Civil War had lasted as long as it did if drones were have around in those times to target Jeff Davis, Longstreet, Lee, and the rest of the Confederacy leadership? I think not. After Gettysburg and Vicksburg the war was essentially over. The southern leadership knew it was just a matter of time. But they kept fighting, because their lives were not threaten.

[samsingh]

28. does anyone believe the efforts would have led to peace?

no bloody way. it's all a ruse.