U.S. Drone Strike Kills 9 Pakistani Militants On The Afghan Border

US Air Force (Source: Reuters)

Reuters: U.S. drone strike kills nine Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan

(Reuters) - A U.S. drone strike killed at least nine Pakistani militants in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province early Tuesday, intelligence officials said, part of an intensifying drone campaign against Pakistani militants in Afghanistan.

Tuesday's drone strike was near the site of fierce fighting on the Pakistani side of the border in recent days. Fighter jets have been pounding positions in the Tirah Valley in the Khyber region, and the military says it has killed scores of militants. At least seven soldiers have also been killed.

Update #1: US drone strike kills nine Pakistani militants in Afghanistan -- AFP
Update #2: 9 suspected militants killed in US drone strike near Afghan border -- Express Tribune

WNU Editor: It looks the U.S. is coordinating with Pakistan in targeting militants fleeing from the Pakistani army offensive on their side of the border.

U.S. Drone Strikes Continue In Yemen

The Guardian: US drone strike in Yemen kills four suspected al-Qaida operatives

The latest crisis in Yemen has plunged the impoverished country deeper into turmoil and pushed it closer to fracturing along sectarian and tribal lines

WNU Editor: Goodbye to the old boss .... hello to the new boss ... and nothing really changes.

More News On U.S. Drone Strikes Continuing In Yemen

Suspected U.S. drone strike kills al Qaeda militants in Yemen -- Reuters
Yemen drone strike kills four al Qaeda suspects -- AFP
US drones kill 4 AQAP fighters in southern Yemen -- Long War Journal
U.S. drone strike kills 4 Al Qaeda operatives -- AP
Yemenis say US drone strike kills 4 al-Qaida operatives -- Washington Times
Drone Strike in Yemen Kills 4 Al-Qaida Fighters -- VOA

U.S. Drone Strikes Continue In Yemen

Graffiti on one of the walls in the capital of Yemen, Sanaa. Screenshot from RT video

New York Times: C.I.A. Strike, First Since Yemen Upheaval, Kills 3 Qaeda Fighters, Officials Say

WNU Editor: This must have been a very high-valued target for the U.S. to launch such an attack in the middle of the turmoil that is rocking Yemen.

More News On A New U.S. Drone Strike In Yemen

Air strike in Yemen suggests U.S. drone war survives leader's downfall -- Reuters
US Drone Strikes Resume in Yemen Despite Turmoil -- ABC News/AP
Drone targets 'Qaeda' in crisis-hit Yemen -- AFP
U.S. Drone Strike Kills Two Suspected Militants in Yemen -- WSJ
US drone strike in Yemen kills 3 -- Al Jazeera
Suspected US Drone Strikes On Al Qaeda In Yemen Continue After President Hadi's Resignation -- IBTimes

Being A Drone Spotter For Pakistan Must Be The Most Dangerlous Job In The World

Supporters of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa Islamic organization hold placards and party flags as they shout slogans during a protest against U.S. drone attacks in the Pakistani tribal region, in Peshawar November 29, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Fayaz Aziz/Files

Obama’s Deadly Informants: The Drone Spotters of Pakistan -- Umar Farooq and Syed Fakhar Kakakhel, Daily Beast

Identifying targets for the lethal American drone attacks in Pakistan was always dangerous. Then al Qaeda created its own strike force to target the informants.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Half a dozen men sit on the floor in a grimy rented storefront in the crowded Khyber Bazaar. A bottle of locally brewed liquor chills in a water cooler in the corner, a Pepsi bottle next to it for mixing. A Bollywood soundtrack plays in the background. It’s a farewell party for Allah Noor, who has spent the last five years identifying targets in rural Pakistan for U.S. drone strikes.

Noor, as we’ll call him, is tall and wiry. Now in his early thirties, his cheeks are sunken from smoking too much hash. He hasn’t slept in the same place two nights in a row ever since a U.S. drone killed Maulvi Nazir, his former boss, on Jan. 2, 2013. “After that,” he says, “I realized the government is playing a double game.”

“Sometimes I hide in Karachi, or in Rawalpindi, or Hyderabad, or other places. Now I have a visa for the UAE, and I fly out at 9 a.m. tomorrow.” If he doesn’t escape Waziristan soon, there may be a price on Noor’s head.

Read more ....

My Comment: I know that life is cheap in some parts of the world .... but a few hundred dollars for pointing out a target for a U.S. drone strike ....  now that is really cheap.

The CIA Is 'Paying Off Relatives Of Those Accidentally Killed In Drone Strikes'

People gather at the site of a drone strike on the road between the Yafe and Radfan districts of the southern Yemeni province of Lahj in this August 11, 2013 file photo.

Credit: REUTERS/Stringer/Files

Bags Of Cash For Families Of The Innocent: How The CIA Is 'Paying Off Relatives Of Those Killed In Botched Drone Strikes' -- Daily Mail

* Faisal bin Ali Jaber, 56, has two relatives killed in 2013 U.S. drone strike
* Took his case to Washington where he spoke with Obama aides
* Several months later he was handed blue plastic bag containing $100,000
* Given cash by Yemen officials who said it was from the U.S. government

The U.S. government is making covert cash payments to compensate the families of innocent civilians killed in drone strikes, it has been claimed.

Faisal bin Ali Jaber, a Yemeni man whose nephew and brother-in-law were killed in a drone strike in 2013, says he was given $100,000 'hush money' after taking his case to Washington.

Mr Jaber says he was given the freshly minted bills in a blue plastic bag by officials at the Yemeni National Security Bureau (NSB), who told him the money was from the U.S. Government.

Read more ....

More News On The CIA 'Paying Off Relatives Of Those Accidentally Killed In Drone Strikes'

Secret Cash Pays for U.S. Drone Mistakes -- The Intercept
US paid family of Yemen drone-strike victim $100K, rights group says -- Al Jazeera
After an errant drone strike in Yemen, a trail of secret meetings and U.S. cash -- Yahoo News

Women Are Playing A Major Role In The CIA's Drone Program

The CIA's Real Drone Queens -- Toby Harnden, Real Clear Politics

When President Barack Obama went to the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to be briefed on drone operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, he was taken aback by the number of female spies directing the agency’s secret killing programme.

A week later, the CIA’s top expert on Pakistan was summoned to the Oval Office. She was strikingly attractive in her stiletto heels. “You don’t look like a Pakistan expert,” the president told her, breaking into a grin.

Obama was mistaken: the expert was typical of the new generation of CIA officers. Many are women in their thirties with a decade or more of experience in hunting down terrorists and vaporising them with Hellfire missiles.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Here is an interesting photo essay on women who have served in the CIA.

Relatives And Victims Of A U.S. Military Drone Strike In Yemen Get More Than $1 Million

Yemeni Victims Of U.S. Military Drone Strike Get More Than $1 Million In Compensation -- Washington Post

The Yemeni government paid the families of those killed or injured in a U.S. drone strike last year more than $1 million, according to documents that provide new details on secret condolence payments seen as evidence that civilians with no ties to al-Qaeda were among the casualties.

The documents, which are signed by Yemeni court officials and victims’ relatives, record payouts designed to quell anger over a U.S. strike that hit vehicles in a wedding party and prompted a suspension of the U.S. military’s authority to carry out drone attacks on a dangerous al-Qaeda affiliate.

The records reveal payments that are many times larger than Yemeni officials acknowledged after the strike. The $1 million-plus figure also exceeds the total amount distributed by the U.S. military for errant strikes in Afghanistan over an entire year.

Read more ....

My Comment: This is as close as you will get to an admission that someone screwed up bad.