A Predator UAV may have recently killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man.
Today, according to Pakistani military sources, U.S. aircraft attacked a compound known to be frequented by high-level al Qaeda operatives. Pakistani officials tell ABC News that al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, may have been among them.U.S. intelligence for the last few days indicated that Zawahiri might have been in the location or about to arrive, although there is still no confirmation from U.S. officials that he was among the victims.
If it's confirmed it's good news, not least because Pakistan is cooperating so well with us.
Update:
Oh well, it looks like Zawahiri wasn't there.
Ayman al-Zawahiri -- Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in the al Qaeda terrorist network -- was not killed in a CIA airstrike on a remote Pakistani village, according to a Pakistani intelligence official.U.S. sources said al-Zawahiri was the target of Friday's strike and initially reported that he may have been among the 18 people killed. ...
Friday morning's strike killed eight men, five women and five children, Pakistani intelligence sources told CNN. Three homes were targeted. ...
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Pakistan's information minister, said that the U.S. ambassador, Ryan Crocker, is to be summoned and a strong protest will be made.
"While this act is highly condemnable, we have been for a long time been striving to rid all our tribal areas of foreign intruders who have been responsible for all the violence and misery in the region. This situation has to be brought to an end."
He added that it "is also the responsibility of the people in the areas to fully co-operate.'"
It is very unfortunate if we killed a bunch of innocents, but I doubt we did. Even if we didn't get Zawahiri, we probably got some other terrorists. The deaths of the women and children are on their hands. If the terrorists consider themselves to be soldiers, they shouldn't hide among civilians.
"The deaths of the women and children are on their hands. If the terrorists consider themselves to be soldiers, they shouldn't hide among civilians."
That's actually a really good point. I had not thought about that before. Civilian casualties are almost inevitable when you think about how those guys operate. That's where the "no difference between terrorists and those who harbor them" really starts making sense. Personally, I don't think this was is entirely justified, but given that war was declared on those people, that's the way it has to go.
And a smaller detail (which is what got me writing this comment in the first place): I don't think Predators carry weapons heavy enough to bomb a house with - just a vehicle. The Predator A can carry only Hellfires. The Predator B does carry larger laser-guided bombs (like the GBU-12 and possibly the GBU-38/39 JDAM) but I don't think it's operational yet. So it's possible that the UAV was there just for recon and laser-targeting.