Pakistan's way of giving the U.S. the finger?
I'm glad anytime innocent people who never did anything to us aren't going to be slaughtered, readers.
I'm happy any time the guns quit firing, no matter what the reason..
"Copter Crash Kills 7 Pakistani Army Officers" by SALMAN MASOOD
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Seven Pakistani Army officers were killed Wednesday when their helicopter crashed in the restive South Waziristan tribal region straddling the border with Afghanistan, military officials said.
A technical fault caused the crash, military officials said. The dead officers included a major general who was involved in operations against militants in the region and two brigadier generals.
Why does the Times under-report this, readers?
"As the cease-fire was declared, the army announced that eight soldiers — including three generals — were killed Wednesday when their U.S.-supplied Bell 411 helicopter crashed in South Waziristan."
U.S-supplied and THREE generals dead, huh?
Why didn't the Times tell us that, readers?
The Pakistani military has been battling tribal extremists sympathetic to the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the country’s northwestern semiautonomous tribal areas.
Fighting has been intense in South Waziristan, home to the militant leader Baitullah Mehsud. Pakistani officials have blamed Mr. Mehsud for several suicide attacks on military installations and personnel across the country in recent months, and consider him the prime suspect in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, a former prime minister. The Central Intelligence Agency has concluded that Mr. Mehsud directed Ms. Bhutto’s assassins.
There they go again.
The stock paragraph that is now the received wisdom regarding Bhutto's death.
In fact, she disappeared from any media concern as fast as they killed her!
That COVER STORY STINKS, readers!
If you were reading my Pakistan labels, you would find that Mehsud has denied involvement and the Pakistani government routinely blames him for everything -- without any proof!
In the past three days, a lull in fighting has occurred in South Waziristan, and on Wednesday tribal militants there announced a unilateral cease-fire with the Pakistani military on the orders of Mr. Mehsud, local news media reported.
Oh, the tribals did it UNILATERALLY, huh?
The BARBARIANS! Stopping fighting!
WTF?!
A representative of Mr. Mehsud was quoted as saying that the militants had decided to announce a cease-fire after the military limited its operations in the region. The army had no comment.
Hamid Nawaz Khan, a retired lieutenant general who is Pakistan’s caretaker interior minister, said in a news briefing that militants in the northwestern tribal areas and in Swat, a scenic area outside of the tribal areas to the north, had been weakened by the military operation.
“They are on the run,” Mr. Khan said. He said security forces were consolidating their position in the Swat region and taking focused action against the militants.
I wonder how many innocents were killed or forced to flee.
Times?
Mr. Khan said militants had asked for dialogue in the past. He said a jirga, or a council of tribal elders and leaders, was expected to be formed soon for talks with militants in the tribal areas.
But another Pakistani official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with government rules, said the government and Mr. Mehsud’s representatives had secret talks four days ago in Razmak in North Waziristan.
The military helicopter went down at 2:40 p.m. near Tanai in South Waziristan, an army statement said. The helicopter crashed five minutes after takeoff, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity under government rules. Maj. Gen. Javed Sultan, who was among the dead, was the senior officer in charge of Kohat, outside the tribal areas. He was promoted last year, and had been the military attaché in the Pakistani Embassy in New Delhi.
Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the new army chief, expressed in a statement his condolences over the crash and said he “appreciated the valor and spirit of all martyred officers who were leading from the front as per true traditions of Pakistan Army.”
Yup, gotta go to the web to get the fallout:
"Thousands of civilians have been displaced by the fighting in the border region, and many are sheltering in open areas in the towns of Dera Ismail Khan and Tank, just outside South Waziristan, during a bitter winter."
Oh, reader!
How can you EVER TRUST the New York Times again?!
After this LYING and OBFUSCATIONS?
