Roadkill Journal

Three days after the brutal attack by CIA drones and/or planes on the Pakistani village of Damadola, reports are perking in that illuminate the reasons for the strike.

Initial reports claimed there were no terrorists present in a village that denied any terrorist involvement:

“The drone, the CIA and a botched attempt to kill bin Laden's deputy”

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,16937,1686918,00.html

Almost immediately, however, we had two other versions:

FoxNews linked AP to bring us the assurances of the Pakistani government:

“Pakistan: Four Foreign Terrorists Killed in U.S. Airstrike”

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,181867,00.html

According to a statement by the chief official in the Bajur region where the Damadola is located, "Four or five foreign terrorists have been killed in this missile attack whose dead bodies have been taken away by their companions to hide the real reason of the attack…It is regrettable that 18 local people lost their lives in the attack, but this fact also cannot be denied, that 10-12 foreign extremists had been invited on a dinner."

Reuters reported pretty much the same thing:

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20060115/2006-01-15T195927Z_01_N13223063_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-SECURITY-PAKISTAN-ZAWAHRI-DC.html

The “official” line from both local and National governments in Pakistan is there were terrorists at a gathering to which Ayman al-Zawahiri was invited – but the big fish didn’t bite…

Now ABC News brings another update:

“U.S. Strike Killed Al Qaeda Bomb Maker”

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1517986

Pakistani authorities claim to have confirmation that Abu Khabab al-Masri, Al Qaeda’s foremost chemist, was present at a dinner meeting hours before the attack. The inference is he was one of the “four or five” persons killed by the strike.

There are still no reports of physical evidence substantiating any of these claims.

And interestingly – very interestingly – there hasn’t been a peep out of US officials pertaining to the matter… What CIA???

“If you, or any of your IM force fuck up badly, we will forget you were ever born…”

Oh well. It can’t be undone. If the reports are true, we can take “unwarranted” off the expletive list.

Leave cruel, incompetent, and brutal overkill on it.

You know, using missiles the Israelis routinely pick off terrorists in cars with a precision so devastating they could save the ears for trophies. The Saudis have done it too. With our technology…

Put it all together. There were reports Damadola was under surveillance. All of the “kill” reports are based on before the fact information. They claim they knew somebody was coming, even if it was sketchy who.

I reject the suggestion this information couldn’t have been put to a better use.

They could have killed them on the road – they would have proof of the cause then. They could have been captured: Why not paratroops in the wee hours? Territorial violation is territorial violation… Paratroops would have prevented escapes and might have been a little more discriminating in their targets.

Instead, they waited until 3AM and threw a million or two dollars worth of smart bombs at a house, killed some kids, and left the world wondering if it was a case of regrettable necessity or a drone operator smoking opium…

While mothers buried their babies…

The bombs were smarter than the operators, I think. More human too.

Unforgivable.