US Air Strikes in the Heart of Pakistan?

Three suspect houses were demolished by a US air strike in the Bajur tribal region of Pakistan. If this is true it marks an incident where US forces have struck in the heart of Pakistan. It is likely that a lot of weight was given to the intelligence report that indicated the target. The ‘blowback’ to the Musharraf regime was fierce and predictable.

“Yesterday some of the results of the strike were very clear: three ruined houses, mud-brick rubble scattered across the steeply terraced fields, the bodies of livestock lying where thrown by the airblast, a row of newly dug graves in the village cemetery and torn green and red embroidered blankets flapping in the chilly wind. Four children were among the 18 villagers who died in the brutally sudden attack on their homes”, the Guardian observes.”
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,16937,1686918,00.html

The village lies in the semi-autonomous Bajur tribal region around 120 miles northwest of Islamabad.

The eyes in the sky can see you.“The upgraded Predator, the MQ-9 Hunter/Killer, has been operational in the Balkans since April 2001. In March 2005, the USAF awarded a further contract for the System Design & Development (SDD) of MQ-9. 15 MQ-9 have been ordered and eight delivered to the USAF. The Predator B has an operational ceiling of 50,000ft and a maximum internal payload of 800lb and external payload of over 3,000lb. Predator B has been flight tested with Hellfire II anti-armour missiles and can carry up to 14 missiles.”http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/predator/
If it can see you, it can kill you. Up to 14 missiles. That is a lot of ‘Hellfire’.

“Thousands of local men marched in a series of protests yesterday, one crowd attacking the office of a US-funded aid group. In another incident, police were forced to fire tear gas to disperse as many as 400 protesters chanting anti-American slogans and waving banners condemning the Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf.”

Pakistan announced it would file a formal protest with the Americans. Skeptics will observe that Musharraf is cooperating fully with the Americans while crying foul for consumption at home. This is a dangerous tight-rope for the regime and only time will tell whether the Pakistani’s at large are, in the famous words of George W. Bush, ‘with us or with the terrorists’.

Meanwhile, on the home front, the issue of domestic spying is heating up.
“Bush has pointed to a congressional resolution passed after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that authorized him to use force in the fight against terrorism as allowing him to order the program. The program authorized eavesdropping of international phone calls and e- mails of people deemed a terror risk.
[…]
"I thought they were wrong," Specter said on ABC's "This Week." "There still may be different collateral powers under wartime situations. That is a knotty question."
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/15/D8F568PO0.html

Senatorial hearings will be on-going at the precise moment that the UNSC is reviewing the Iran nuclear issue. Arlen Specter noted in general terms that the hearings may conclude with a criminal prosecution or impeachment.

What is a greater state, one that protects its’ own or one that feeds on its’ own? It is difficult to say at this time that the one who would prosecute its’ chief executive during war time could survive the impending holocaust.

But for the moment, ‘the Great Satan own the Heavens’.