Asif Ali Zardari: Barack Obama should give us drones to fight terror

[T_i_B]

Source: Daily Telegraph

Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani President, has said that Barack Obama should give his country the tools to fight terrorists within its borders, rather than launch bombing raids that violate its sovereignty.

Mr Zardari said that he had made clear that Pakistan was willing to "take out high-value targets on our own". "We welcome the technology and intelligence assistance that will give us the ability to succeed," he said. "President Obama once said that he would act if we weren't willing and able. We certainly are willing and with international support we will become even more able."

His comments came after a rise in the number of US missile attacks, launched by unmanned drones, against suspected terrorists in Pakistan's tribal areas over the past two months.

"I cannot condone violations of our sovereignty, even when they are done by allies and friends," Mr Zardari told The Independent. "We would much prefer that the US shares its intelligence and give us the drones and missiles that will allow us to take care of this problem on our own."



Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/5123339/Asif-Ali-Zardari-Barack-Obama-should-give-us-drones-to-fight-terror.html

[Turborama]

1. OK, let's swap. Your nukes for our drones... Deal?

[Democracyinkind]

2. In a world in which you were running Pakistan, Mr. Zardari, I would agree.

..but since you only control about 50% of your country and those 50% do most certainly not include your intel service and your army, you force me to trust the people I distrust the most to make these decisions.

[Turborama]

3. Good points very well made. Maybe we should be calling him, "As if" from now on...

[Democracyinkind]

4. I'd be very much in favor of that. We could rename Karzai "President of Kabul" while we're at it ...

[Cobalt-60]

5. they can make their own drones

RC model aircraft technology is all they really need.
And a country with their own nukes should be able to manage that.

[Igel]

20. How do you handle the video jitter?

That was the big problem back in the late '70s or early '80s that a friend was working on (yes, the company paying his tuition and bringing him in as an intern, then engineer, had a DOD contract for it). Flying the plane is the easy part; the rough part was the video feed.

It's not easy for long-distance shots; during close ups the jitter would mean that the frame intended to show a 50-yard square patch of dirt randomly picks 50-sq-yard patches out of an area of maybe 300 x 300 yards at whatever the refresh rate is. Even if you just look at still frames, you get nonsense because the lens is moving so quickly.

After they put in as much hardware as they could to mitigate the shaking they still wound up using, IIRC, some very sensitive sensors and servos to compensate.

Is this off-the-shelf technology now?

[Cobalt-60]

23. There are some commercial technolgies that might do

I confess, my expertise is in the easy part.
I do believe there are some commercial technologies that
would at least partially stabilize the video.
The chopper mounted camera tech used at sporting events is an example.
But if we can figure it out, eventually they can too.

[Turborama]

24. Surely that'd be a minor technicality for a country that's been producing highly enriched uranium...

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/pakistan/nuke/">for nearly 30 years?

As you may already know, they've also been able to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction#Infrastructure">separate plutonium since 1981...

[Kalyan]

6. why just drones ...

how about putting US soldiers under Pak ISI command. Few would know the Taliban better than it's creator - ISI. Right!

And when we are it, since Afghanistan & Pakistan occupy 10-15% of US military bandwidth, why doesn't the US military cut & cheque off their defense budget and send it to Pakistan. problem solved. let's deal with others ..

right, Mr. Asif "10%" Zardari?

[SpiralHawk]

7. Drones Vs. Clones

War without honor.

[Bragi]

11. Agreed, great way for cowards to make war /nt

[Soylent Brice]

8. ha ha ha ha ha ha, he heeh hee ho hoo eh.

ah... no.

[nyy1998]

9. Yeah cause they've done a wonderful job with their military

to begin with.

[Bragi]

10. ah yes, drones, the cowardly way to fight... /nt

[ShareTheWoods]

12. Tell it to the Mothers of sons and daughters who are alive and dead

It's a fact there are real bad guys plotting and training to kill many innocents. Removing them from
this world that they infest should be done in the manner that risks the least number of lives.

President Obama agrees with this approach.

[Bragi]

13. Far as I'm concerned...

Sitting in a trailer in Memphis blowing up people and villages on the other side of the world -- some of whom might be bad guys, most of whom aren't -- is a war crime.

It is also immoral and cowardly. I don't care how many assault-cowards lives are spared.

- B

[hugo_from_TN]

16. The soldiers should also get rid of their cowardly body armor

and helmets. Real men would fight bare chested. Also, no more rifles or grenade launchers. Only daggers will be allowed. Plus, anytime a U.S. soldier kills an enemy soldier, we should send over one of ours to be killed. That way the fighting stays 'fair'.

You sir, would make a fine leader!

[Nihil]

14. Hah ... straight from the book of "USA Rah Rah answers"

> Tell it to the Mothers of sons and daughters who are alive and dead

(Complete with the original illiteracy)

Let's guess at your meaning ...

"Tell it to the mothers of sons & daughters who are dead thanks to the
cowardly drones"? Probably not in keeping with your attitude.

"Tell it to the mothers of sons & daughters who are alive and playing
at video games instead of facing their victims"? More likely but you
would probably try to spin it into a more heroic form.

"Tell it to the mothers of sons & daughters who are zombies"? :shrug:

> It's a fact there are real bad guys plotting and training to kill
> many innocents.

True. Many of them fly drones and successfully kill many innocents.
Others simply fly planes, drop bombs, launch missiles and kill many
innocents. Your point was ...?

> Removing them from this world that they infest should be done in
> the manner that risks the least number of lives.

Hmmm ... "removing" the innocents from "this world that they infest"?

> President Obama agrees with this approach.

Ooh ... match-winning ploy there ... or it would be if you believe in
lock-step obedience.

Congratulations! Looks like you joined DU on exactly the right day.

[ShareTheWoods]

18. Thank you for your diagnosis

I suspect your intentions are mostly honorable, but the delivery needs work.

[rcrush]

15. Real bad guys

I would bet that there are more real 'bad guys' plotting and training to kill many innocents right from The Pentagon. How bout we remove those guys?

[ShareTheWoods]

17. You would lose that bet

US military does not target innocents.

[Bragi]

19. For one instance: Fallujah /nt

[Alamuti Lotus]

22. It is indeed a fact; you and the drone controllers rank amongst them

[ohio2007]

21. Have the ISI build their own got dam RC models

jeezus phukin Krist
give us
give us
give us


what did U phux spend $12 billion on ? schoolbooks for all the good girls and boys living in misunderstood Backwaterville?


I don't think so....

Pakistani Taliban said moving closer to capital

‘The day is not far when Islamabad will be in the hands of the mujahideen.’

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/pakistani-taliban-said-moving-closer-to-capital--qs

[ohio2007]

25. Obama’s new strategy sours US-Pakistan ties

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/obamas-new-strategy-sours-us-pakistan-ties--bi



in six months time google earth just may have to update the maps.