Pffffffffttt!
"Details of deadly battle on Afghan-Pakistani border fuzzy" by Candace Rondeaux, Washington Post | June 13, 2008
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The US-led military coalition in Afghanistan released video footage yesterday that appears to show men firing on Afghan troops from a mountain ridge near the country's disputed northeastern border with Pakistan, prompting a US air strike that Pakistan has blamed for the deaths of 11 of its soldiers.
Oh, yeah, forged footage that you can hardly make out and have no idea where it came from... that'll convince them!!!
After Iraq, pfffffftttt!!!!!
The footage, shot by a circling drone, was issued after Pakistani government officials had unleashed a torrent of criticism over the US military operation. Details of the battle, which occurred late Tuesday and has threatened to further destabilize the US-Pakistan alliance, remain in dispute.
Message to Pakistani military: NO TRUCE!!!!
Only a few minutes long, the video shows about six or seven men firing rifles and rocket-propelled grenades at unseen coalition troops from an area overlooking a valley in Afghanistan's Konar Province, about 200 yards from the Pakistani border. The grainy, black-and-white video then shows several bombs being dropped on what the US military says were "anti-Afghan militants" in the area.
According to the video's voice-over, the action took place near a Pakistani military checkpoint on a patch of land that has long been a source of contention between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Neither the checkpoint nor any other structures are visible in the video excerpts, but several people are seen moving cautiously along a mountain ridge.
I wonder how long it took for the Pentagon to cobble this prop piece together.
The voice-over says the coalition forces were on a reconnaissance mission and returned fire as they tried to pull out to a point where a helicopter could remove them.
You mean "kill?"
The air strike occurred after the gunmen fled over the porous border into Pakistan.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said through a spokesman yesterday that he had discussed the operation Wednesday evening with his American counterpart, Ambassador Anne Patterson, and lodged a formal protest.
Translation: All is forgotten!
"It was an unprovoked attack and gross violation of Pakistani borders," said the spokesman, Muhammad Sadiq.
"The senseless use of air power by the coalition forces is totally unacceptable."
I can't argue with that!
US officials in Washington and Islamabad appeared unable to agree on how to respond. Defense Department officials said the attack was legitimate and avoided reference to Pakistani military casualties.
National security adviser Stephen Hadley, speaking to reporters in Rome, said the United States had "not been able to corroborate" the deaths of Pakistani soldiers along the Afghan border.
"It's still not exactly clear what happened," Hadley said. "At this point we're still trying to get to the bottom of what happened. The reports, even from sources within the US government, are conflicting."
Pffftt!!! If it was some "suicidal Al-CIA-Duh" they wouldn't be qualifying it!!!!
Late yesterday, details of the battle and the casualty figures continued to vary widely."
Translation: "Aaaaah, we'll never know." -- Amerikan MSM
You know, like Bhutto's assassination has been forgotten!
