Yes We Can

picked this up from the LA Times

Reporting from Islamabad -- In the first such strikes since the inauguration of President Barack Obama, suspected U.S. missile barrages today killed at least 18 people in the lawless tribal region near the Afghan border, Pakistani officials said.

The two raids suggested that the new U.S. administration intends to press ahead with attacks against Islamic militants in the rural areas, even though the campaign has been politically costly to Pakistan's Western-leaning civilian government. President Obama indicated during the campaign for the White House that he would continue to carry out strikes against "high-value" Al Qaeda and Taliban targets on Pakistani soil, particularly if the Pakistani military were unable or unwilling to act. That declaration ruffled some feathers in Pakistan, where the U.S. raids are extremely unpopular.

Although Pakistani leaders have repeatedly lodged formal diplomatic objections to the American airstrikes, the government is widely believed to have given tacit permission to U.S. forces to carry out such raids -- as long as they do not involve sending ground forces into Pakistani territory.

Pakistani news reports cited security officials as saying that at least five of those killed in today's strikes in the North and South Waziristan tribal agencies -- long known as a haven for Al Qaeda and the Taliban -- were militants. Dozens of such raids have been carried out in the last six months by the Bush administration, killing several important Al Qaeda-linked figures. But scores of Pakistani civilians, including women and children, also died, according to local officials.

The first of today's attacks took place in the North Waziristan village of Zharki, with missiles striking at least two structures, according to security officials. A short time later, a separate strike was reported in South Waziristan. The American military in Afghanistan refused any comment on the raids, but U.S. forces are known to operate unmanned Predator drones from bases on the Afghan side of the border, together with newer Reaper aircraft.

In a sign of simmering antigovernment and antiAmerican sentiment, hundreds of people staged a demonstration here today, demanding a severing of ties with the United States. Also today, new violence hit northwestern Pakistan, where Taliban insurgents have pushed beyond the tribal areas to menace civilians and government troops alike. Two Pakistani soldiers and three civilians were reported killed in bombings in the Swat Valley, a onetime tourist area 100 miles north of the Pakistani capital Islamabad where Taliban militants hold sway despite months of government efforts to dislodge them.