Winning "Hearts and Minds"

Is anyone else getting tired of the CIA's mistakes? Acting on information that Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri stayed in a border village, the CIA (reportedly) used an armed Predator Drone to missle-strike him. Well, he wasn't there--or isn't accounted for among the dead, at least.

And now Pakistan Condemns Purported CIA Airstrike:

Pakistan on Saturday condemned a purported CIA airstrike on a border village that officials said unsuccessfully targeted al-Qaida's second-in-command, and said it was protesting to the U.S. Embassy over the attack that killed at least 17 people.

Thousands of local tribesmen, chanting "God is Great," demonstrated against the attack, claiming the victims were local villagers without terrorist links and had never hosted Ayman al-Zawahri.


In this television image from Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera, Osama bin Laden, right, listens as his top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri speaks at an undisclosed location, in this image made from undated video tape broadcast by the station on April 15, 2002. A pre-dawn airstrike killed at least 17 people in a remote Pakistani tribal area Friday, Jan. 13, 2006, and U.S. networks said American jets were targeting a suspected al-Qaida hideout that may have been frequented by high-level operatives, possibly the terror group's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri. There was no confirmation from either the Pakistani or U.S. government. (AP Photo/Al-Jazeera/APTN, File)
In this television image from Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera, Osama bin Laden, right, listens as his top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri speaks at an undisclosed location, in this image made from undated video tape broadcast by the station on April 15, 2002. A pre-dawn airstrike killed at least 17 people in a remote Pakistani tribal area Friday, Jan. 13, 2006, and U.S. networks said American jets were targeting a suspected al-Qaida hideout that may have been frequented by high-level operatives, possibly the terror group's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri. There was no confirmation from either the Pakistani or U.S. government. (AP Photo/Al-Jazeera/APTN, File) (Tel - AP)

Two senior Pakistani officials told The Associated Press that the CIA acted on incorrect information in launching the attack early Friday in the northwestern village of Damadola, near the Afghan border.

Citing unidentified American intelligence officials, U.S. news networks reported that CIA-operated Predator drone aircraft carried out the missile strike because al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, was thought to be at a compound in the village or about to arrive.

"Their information was wrong, and our investigations conclude that they acted on a false information," said a senior Pakistani intelligence official with direct knowledge of Pakistan's investigations into the attack.

His account was confirmed by a senior government official who said al-Zawahri "was not there." Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity.

Washington had no comment on the reports that the attack was aimed at al-Zawahri, who has a $25 million U.S. government bounty on his head. Like bin Laden, he is believed to have been hiding along the rugged Pakistan-Afghan frontier since the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Pakistan says it does not allow Afghan or the 20,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan to cross the border in pursuit of Taliban and al-Qaida believed to be hiding there. The war on terror is opposed by many in this Islamic nation of 150 million people.

Islamabad has little control over it's northwest frontier with Afghanistan. The tribes there supported the Taliban--the militia had emerged from schools that still operate there--and would most likely hide refugees from the new Afghan government. Thus, while any strike against a sovereign nation constitutes a diplomatic offense, Pakistan protests too much. Considering the influence of islamofascists in the government's intelligence service, and the scandal of their top nuclear scientist operating a black-market with Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, Islamobad is not in the position to play the victim. Their alliance with the US in the GWOT has produced mixed fruit at best.

However, it is troubling that the CIA once more receives--and then acts--on faulty intelligence. If the US can't trust the intelligence that she secures, then our efforts to ensure our security will result in further missteps like this. We can't defend ourselves blind. The Administration had better find a way to make the US intelligence community functional again.

On the other hand, the air strike might not be a total loss. The Counterterrorism Blog reports that high figures in Al Qaeda may be among the dead:

ABC News:

"Villagers described seeing an unmanned plane circling the area for the last few days and then bombs falling in the early morning darkness. Eighteen people were killed, according to the villagers who said women and children were among the fatalities. But Pakistani officials tell ABC News that five of those killed were high-level al Qaeda figures, and their bodies are now undergoing forensic tests for positive identification."

MSNBC:

"CIA-operated unmanned drones were believed to have been used in the attack on Damadola village, across the border from Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. sources said." This effort has developed over the past few days as intel has indicated his presence in Damadola, a small village near the Afghan border.