A Somali government soldier takes position during a brief exchange of
fire with Shabab militants in Mogadishu. The militants are also engaged
in fighting with Kenyan troops in southern Somalia.
(Farah Abdi Warsameh, Associated Press / November 15, 2011)
Sociologia Defesa e Relações Internacionais /// Sociology Defense and International Relations
A página disponibiliza conjuntos temáticos de hiperligações para alguns dos temas que serão abordados no blogue nos seus dossiês. As hiperligações serão as mais diversas: para blogues, sítios ou simplesmente para textos interessantes sobre o tema que estejam disponíveis em livre acesso. O seu objectivo é o de seleccionar e sistematizar informação relevante existente na Internet, bem como auxiliar os leitores em temas que possam querer aprofundar.
Autor: Luís Galego
segunda-feira, 21 de novembro de 2011
Women’s Service with the Revolutionary Army
http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume7/nov08/women_revarmy.cfm
by Kaia Danyluk. Kaia [ graduate of the College and William and Mary and former member of the interpretive staff at the Military Encampment.]
domingo, 20 de novembro de 2011
A MULHER E AS FORÇAS ARMADAS
A MULHER E AS FORÇAS ARMADAS
Igualdade de Oportunidades na Profissão Castrense
Igualdade de Oportunidades na Profissão Castrense
By João Afonso Bento Soares
sábado, 19 de novembro de 2011
Costly Aircraft Suggests Cuts Won’t Be Easy
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
sexta-feira, 18 de novembro de 2011
Cidadania e Dia da Defesa Nacional
No discurso quotidiano, a cidadania é entendida como sinónimo de "nacionalidade", referindo-se ao estatuto legal das pessoas enquanto membro de um país em particular. Ser cidadão implica ter certos direitos e responsabilidades. Nos contextos filosóficos, a cidadania refere-se a um ideal normativo substancial de pertença e participação numa comunidade política. Ser um cidadão, neste sentido, é ser reconhecido como membro pleno e igual na sociedade, com o direito de participar no processo político. Como tal, trata-se de um ideal distintamente democrático.
As
teorias da cidadania são relevantes porque as instituições democráticas
desmoronar-se-ão se os cidadãos carecerem de certos valores, tais como o
espírito cívico. De facto, muitas democracias sofrem com a apatia por
parte dos eleitores e a saúde de uma democracia depende não apenas da
estrutura das suas instituições mas também do empenho dos seus cidadãos,
do seu desejo de participação na vida pública (cf. Will Kymlicka, "Citizenship", in E. Craig [org.], Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy [London: Routledge, 1998]).
O Dia da Defesa Nacional (DDN) presta
importante contributo em matéria de cidadania na medida em que visa
essencialmente sensibilizar os jovens para as questões da Defesa
Nacional bem como divulga o papel dos
diferentes ramos do nosso sistema de Forças Armadas enquanto elementos
estruturantes da identidade de Portugal e a quem incumbe a defesa
militar da República. Não podemos esquecer que, nos termos
constitucionais, compete à Defesa Nacional assegurar a defesa do Estado,
a defesa da Nação como ela existe, enquanto compósito de um povo num
território, com uma língua, uma cultura e uma dada espessura histórica.
Não podem existir dúvidas sobre a necessidade das Forças Armadas, porque
não se admitem Estados indefesos. Existe hoje uma multiplicidade de riscos e ameaças os quais impõem respostas exigentes, num quadro político, estratégico e militar bastante diferente daquele que conhecíamos há duas ou há três décadas atrás. Tal obriga a que os Estados mantenham o empenhamento das suas capacidades de defesa em diversos teatros de operações. Entre
essas novas ameaças estão o terrorismo, a proliferação de armas de
destruição maciça e o crime organizado transnacional, que representam,
também, novos riscos para a liberdade e a segurança das populações, a
que deveremos acrescentar a desestruturação de certos Estados, a
ausência de condições mínimas de sobrevivência e estabilidade para
conjuntos alargados de populações, catástrofes naturais, alterações
climáticas, entre outras. É
neste contexto, caracterizado por um ambiente sem fronteiras físicas,
com actores desconhecidos e de proveniência incerta, que a defesa dos
interesses nacionais assume grande relevo.
É
imperioso que os jovens conheçam o papel que vem sendo desempenhado na
difusão da cultura da defesa junto dos cidadãos, da sociedade e das
instituições. Assim, há que apresentar-lhes o processo de transformação
das Forças Armadas, a passar de um paradigma territorial para um
paradigma “expedicionário”, acompanhado de um processo de modernização
das suas infra-estruturas, equipamentos e recursos humanos. Importa
também dar a conhecer o largo espectro de missões que já hoje define o
essencial das nossas Forças Armadas, capazes de assegurar a defesa da
República e a integridade do território; aptas em assegurar as linhas
gerais de política externa do país, em particular, a cooperação
técnico-militar. O DDN afirma-se, assim, como uma oportunidade para
motivar os jovens para a importância desta realidade e dos novos
conceitos e perspectivas da Defesa Nacional. É devida a todos os jovens
esta informação de modo a compreenderem o sentido da transformação que
estamos a viver na política de Defesa Nacional. Nestes termos, sentirão,
estamos certos, que Defesa Nacional não é uma palavra em vão.
A
participação neste dia possibilita o contacto efectivo entre os jovens e
os diversos ramos das Forças Armadas. Estes programas fazem com que
militares especialmente preparados para o efeito ministrem palestras e
coordenem exercícios práticos com os jovens. Não restam dúvidas que essa
proximidade com a instituição militar não se esgota num dia mas como dizia
Aristóteles “um bom começo é metade de tudo”. Importante é igualmente
que se apercebam que não há sociedade civil divorciada de uma sociedade
militar.
A
participação das mulheres no DDN também foi um marco importante para
que se cumpra a igualdade de direitos e deveres, sem distinção de
género. A presença feminina, por si só, transformou a imagem das Forças
Armadas e não obstante as mulheres serem ainda uma minoria, a sua
presença provocou algumas alterações do ponto de vista dos quadros de
interacção nas unidades militares, e seguramente tem contribuído para
transformar a percepção social das Forças Armadas, dando origem a
alterações importantes, que têm a ver com a diversificação das missões.
Salienta-se ainda que, de acordo com vários estudos, a presença de
mulheres em missões humanitárias e de paz tem-se revelado um elemento
positivo, nomeadamente na interacção com as populações locais, o que nos
leva a concluir que efectivamente não fazia sentido a ausência de
mulheres no DDN (a propósito de mulheres e forças armadas ver diversa e excelente documentação da socióloga Helena Carreiras).
Os
diversos estudos efectuados permitem também concluir que o DDN é uma
actividade bem conseguida, um contributo inestimável que todos devemos
reconhecer; o programa levado a efeito é rico na sua diversidade e vasto
na abrangência de temas de grande relevo, estando a atingir os seus
objectivos e constituindo uma forma dos jovens – rapazes e raparigas –
terem acesso a informações que, de outra maneira, dificilmente
conseguiriam. É importante que todos participem e possam ter voz sobre
estas matérias, uma vez que se tem verificado, ao longo dos tempos e
principalmente nas sociedades ocidentais, uma certa distância das
questões da defesa. É ainda necessário que a política de defesa não seja
encarada apenas como um assunto dos militares ou do departamento
governamental sito no Restelo. É um assunto da sociedade. E que a
sociedade precisa de sentir como tal.
Promover
e incrementar o convívio da instituição militar com a juventude é
primordial, porque, na essência, a cidadania e a Defesa Nacional são
valores a que não podemos renunciar pelo que o DDN assume um papel
inequívoco neste processo de mudança. Assim revelamos sentido de dever
cívico. E provamos sentido de serviço público.
Luís Galego
La sûreté doit être améliorée sur les réacteurs nucléaires français
Aucune des installations nucléaires françaises ne présente de risque justifiant sa fermeture. Mais leur sûreté doit être"évaluations complémentaires de sûreté" (stress tests) demandées aux exploitants, à la fois par l'Europe et par le gouvernement, après l'accident de Fukushima. renforcée sans délai. Telle est, en substance, la conclusion du rapport de 500 pages rendu public le 17 novembre par l'Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire (IRSN), à la suite des
Certes, l'IRSN souligne que "les installations dont l'exploitation est autorisée en France peuvent être légitimement considérées comme sûres". Le président de l'Autorité de sûreté nucléaire (ASN), André-Claude Lacoste, ajoute : "Si nous avions jugé qu'il y avait un danger imminent sur une installation, nous aurions demandé son arrêt." Pour autant, le diagnostic dressé par la centaine d'experts qui ont rédigé ce rapport est loin d'être totalement rassurant. Cela, sans même se placer
dans l'hypothèse d'une catastrophe naturelle (séisme, inondation ou
tempête) d'une ampleur exceptionnelle, face à laquelle les tests
visaient à déterminer, en priorité, la résistance des 58 réacteurs en activité d'EDF, ainsi que de l'EPR en construction à Flamanville (Manche).
Par rapport au "référentiel de sûreté" en vigueur – c'est-à-dire aux aléas naturels considérés lors de la conception des centrales –, "un certain nombre d'écarts de conformité ont été relevés",
note l'IRSN. Exemple : l'insuffisance des réserves d'eau destinées à
l'alimentation de secours des générateurs de vapeur. Ou encore l'absence
de prise en compte du risque sismique pour des systèmes de ventilation
des générateurs électriques de secours, ainsi que pour les systèmes
d'ancrage de certains tuyaux. "Il ne s'agit pas de défauts majeurs, mais de facteurs de fragilisation en cas d'un accident qu'il faut corriger rapidement", estime Jacques Repussard, directeur général de l'IRSN.
METTRE EN PLACE UNE "DÉFENSE RENFORCÉE"
Ce n'est pas tout. "Sur certains sites, les référentiels de
sûreté ne sont pas en concordance avec les connaissances actuelles sur
les risques naturels", poursuit M. Repussard. Autrement dit, les
normes de sécurité appliquées vis-à-vis des séismes et des inondations
sont obsolètes et il faut les "faire évoluer sans tarder".
Sept sites nucléaires sont plus particulièrement visés. Pour le
risque de tremblement de terre, Fessenheim (Haut-Rhin), Bugey (Ain) et
Civaux (Vienne). Pour le risque de crue, Fessenheim à nouveau, le
Tricastin (Drôme et Vaucluse), Cruas (Ardèche), Chinon (Indre-et-Loire)
et Saint-Laurent (Loir-et-Cher). Pour les centrales de Fessenheim et du
Tricastin, l'ASN avait déjà demandé à EDF, en juillet, d'"examiner les conséquences de la rupture des digues du Grand Canal d'Alsace et du canal de Donzère".
Qu'en serait-il, alors, en cas de catastrophe dépassant en intensité
les marges de sécurité retenues lors de la construction des réacteurs ?
La réponse est simple : leur sauvegarde n'est pas garantie. "Il n'est pas possible d'évaluer avec un degré de confiance suffisant la robustesse des installations pour ces niveaux d'aléas", juge l'IRSN. Ses experts préconisent donc de mettre en œuvre une "défense renforcée""noyau dur" assurant les fonctions vitales de sûreté des réacteurs. des équipements cruciaux, ceux qui forment le
"DES INVESTISSEMENTS MASSIFS" SONT NÉCESSAIRES
Parmi les équipements à sécuriser
figurent les salles de contrôle, où se trouvent les opérateurs.
Aujourd'hui, elles ne résisteraient pas à un séisme, ni à un accident –
tel qu'une explosion dans une usine chimique – survenant sur un site
industriel voisin.
Les réacteurs les plus exposés à ce risque sont ceux du Tricastin, de
Gravelines (Nord) et de Saint-Alban (Isère). Autres composants
vulnérables, les "filtres à sable" empêchant les rejets de
produits de fission en cas de fusion du cœur d'un réacteur, ou encore
les réservoirs de fioul des générateurs de secours. Ni les uns ni les
autres ne sont actuellement "parasismiques".
Cette exigence de protection renforcée vaut aussi pour l'EPR de
Flamanville, indique l'IRSN. La mise en conformité du parc avec ces
nouvelles normes "va prendre des années", prévient le président de l'ASN. Et elle nécessitera "des investissements massifs".
Toutefois, ce n'est qu'après la remise de son propre rapport au
gouvernement français et à la Commission européenne, début 2012, que
l'Autorité de sûreté fera des prescriptions aux exploitants.
Les conclusions et les recommandations de l'IRSN vont évidemment peser dans le débat en cours sur l'avenir de la filière nucléaire française. Ancien porte-parole du réseau Sortir du nucléaire et ancien candidat à la primaire d'Europe Ecologie-Les Verts, Stéphane Lhomme, président de l'Observatoire du nucléaire, s'étonne d'un rapport qui "se
prononce pour la continuation de l'exploitation de tous les réacteurs…
tout en reconnaissant que leur sûreté est gravement défaillante".
Pierre Le Hir
Kenya sees military operation in Somalia as necessity/For Kenyans, the threat that Somali kidnappers pose to the tourism industry justifies the invasion. Critics, however, see a long war ahead, a risky venture of more value to the U.S. than to Kenya.
In the month since Kenya invaded southern Somalia, one government official has urged negotiations with Al Qaeda-linked
militants the army is attacking there. Another ruled out talks. A
spokesman said the incursion was months in the planning. The army
commander said the decision took just days.
There is greater accord among
officials that the country's first foreign war in its nearly 50-year
history is likely to be a long slog, and among critics that Operation
Linda Nchi, or Protect the Nation, is a risky venture of more value to
the U.S. than to Kenya.
Somalia, the critics say, has a long history of burning those who think they can fix it.
There
are obvious benefits to Kenya if it can quiet its northern neighbor.
Kenya has long been troubled by sporadic attacks and a flow of weapons
and trained militants from across the border. This year, kidnappers from
Somalia seized four foreigners for ransom, a black eye for Kenya's
vital tourist industry.
Then, there are the humanitarian issues:
Half a million Somalis, regarded here as both a threat and a burden,
have fled famine for the giant Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya. If
the extremist Shabab militia, which regards relief organizations with
suspicion, were chased out, aid could flow directly into the
famine-stricken region.
Despite the dangers, many Kenyans are willing to support the war.
"This
is a country where there is no law, no order, and these guys keep
disturbing Kenya," said Daniel Mulum, a 30-year-old accountant. "With
the military there, we fight them directly."
Paul Muite, a
prominent lawyer and opposition candidate in next year's presidential
election, said Kenyans were frustrated that Somali kidnappers could
threaten the tourism industry. That was the immediate justification for
the invasion.
"Kenyan public opinion was agreed that something had to be done," he said.
The
war has created some new celebrities. The operation commander, Maj.
Gen. Leonard Ngondi, has gone from leading peacekeeping missions to
fighting Kenya's enemies. Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir, the military
spokesman, has become Kenya's overnight Twitter king with more than
6,500 followers.
Photojournalist Maxwell Agwanda, more comfortable
with fashion, models and wildlife, found himself surrounded at one
point by young fighters brandishing assault rifles.
"When we went
there, we saw how serious it is. We saw people with bullets in their
legs. There are no rubber bullets there," he said, shuddering.
The fighting has not been without casualties, mistakes and warnings about its future course.
Kenya's
first dead soldier was buried quietly, largely out of public view,
apparently to avoid drawing too much attention. Five others were killed
in a helicopter crash in Kenya that was related to the Somalia campaign.
The
aid organization Doctors without Borders reported that the Kenyan
military bombed a camp for displaced Somalis, killing five and injuring
dozens, including 31 children. Kenya denied attacking the camp.
Chirchir also called attention to a YouTube
video of a burning boat, alleging that 18 Shabab militants were killed.
It turned out that troops had shot up a boat full of Kenyan fishermen,
killing eight of them.
Critics contend that the invasion might
make matters worse, not better. Even if they are defeated, analysts say,
Shabab fighters are likely to melt back into old clan militias and
return to the kind of warfare that has torn Somalia apart in the last
two decades.
And regardless of whether the invasion strengthens
Somalia's transitional government, many Somalis don't trust it. Created
through years of clan negotiations, the government is protected by
African Union soldiers and militias who retain loyalty to warlords.
The
invasion is also complicating efforts to reach 3 million people trying
to survive the famine in southern Somalia. Officials fear three-quarters
of a million Somalis could die in coming months if aid organizations
cannot reach them.
By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times
November 18, 2011
Haiti president backs off new army plan, appoints commission to study how to replace UN forces
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti’s president on Friday put off a controversial
plan to restore the country’s disbanded military until a commission can be
formed to study how best a new army can replace the U.N. peacekeeping force.
President Michel Martelly said he was appointing a civilian commission that
over the course of 40 days will identify the goals of a new military
force.
The restoration of the military was one of Martelly’s campaign promises but
drew immediate opposition from foreign diplomats and other critics, who said the
country would be better off beefing up its underfunded and undermanned national
police force.
“This decision does not question our first and constant determination to
strengthen the National Police,” Martelly said during a speech in the capital’s
central plaza to mark a battle that led to independence from France in 1804.
But, he also said, “I’m telling you today that the dignity of the Haitian people
is coming with the creation of the armed forces.”
Martelly told his audience of diplomats, government officials and supporters
that the new military force would combat smuggling and patrol parts of Haiti
where he said terrorists are a constant threat. He did not elaborate on what he
meant by terrorists, who have not been known to pose a threat in Haiti.
A government official had said earlier that Martelly would use the national
speech to issue a decree creating the new military. Besides the issue of cost,
some critics have expressed alarm at restoring a military that had been
notorious for abuses before it was disbanded in 1995 under former President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Martelly also urged former soldiers who were dismissed in “humiliating
conditions” to “bury grudges” and he apologized to Haitians who suffered at the
hands of the army.
Some critics have also questioned whether Haiti needs a new army as it still
struggles to recover from the January 2010 earthquake and a cholera epidemic
that’s given the country the highest infection rate in the world.
But many in Haiti welcome the military’s restoration as a source of potential
jobs amid deep poverty — and as a point of national pride. The idea resonates in
a country where Martelly and other politicians have denounced the U.N.
peacekeeping force that has helped keep order since Aristide’s ouster in
2004.
“You can’t talk about the withdrawal (of the U.N. force) if you don’t have a
plan for your own army,” Martelly told a crowd of about 100 supporters who
interrupted his speech at times to chant, “Long live the army.”
Martelly said a decree will be announced on Monday that will name members of
the commission. During its 40-day mandate, the panel will define the mission of
the army in meetings with business and religious leaders, lawmakers, attorneys,
political parties and grassroots groups.
The commission will be required to present its findings on Jan. 1, Haiti’s
independence day.
Georges Michel, a defense adviser in the Interior Ministry, said the
commission was a necessary step to ensure the army becomes a reality.
“The reinstatement of the army will be done but it will be done properly and
according to rules and procedures,” Michel said after the ceremony. “The
president will not tolerate or condone anything anarchic.”
There seemed to have been high hopes among the men who showed up in downtown
Port-au-Prince to learn more about Martelly’s effort to restore the army. But
they were dashed as the president announced that he would form a commission.
“It’s a speech to put people to sleep,” Jonel Jean-Juste, 38, a sometime
student who said he had viewed the army as a job opportunity. “Putting together
a commission is not going to bring the army back.”
One diplomat who attended the morning ceremony, Spanish Ambassador Manuel
Hernandez Ruigomez, said he welcomed the commission.
“It’s a very good idea to consider the commission and see what the country
really wants,” Hernandez said.
For months, former soldiers from the disbanded army have led training
exercises for hundreds of men and a few women who are eager to serve their
country or secure a full-time job. The presence of the hopeful soldiers, dressed
in camouflage and heavy boots, has raised concerns among some international
officials that they could be used as private militias.
Samson Chery, a former sergeant who runs a group in the Port-au-Prince
metropolitan area, withheld judgment on the new commission.
“We won’t criticize the president,” Chery said by telephone. “We are waiting
for Jan. 1 for the report of commission.”
Scott Olsen, Occupy Oakland's soldier for peace/After what happened to Scott, we have a right to be angry that our tax dollars go on tear gas instead of schools and healthcare
I want you to picture Scott Olsen. Not bloodied
like the pictures you've seen, but healthy and smiling. Several weeks ago, I
held a banner with Scott up at Fleet Week, talking to active duty Marines and
Navy and JROTC cadets about trauma and war. The banner read "Every day 32
veterans attempt suicide. 18 succeed." Scott had been participating in Iraq Veterans Against
the War's Operation Recovery campaign to end the deployment of traumatised
troops, towards a larger goal of ending the deployments of all US troops.
Two tours in Iraq convinced Scott the war was
unjust, and he became a peace activist. On the evening of 25 October, as the
police evicted Occupy Oakland, he was
hit in the head allegedly by a projectile fired by another kind of occupying
army. The OPD functions as a military force in Oakland's low-income
neighborhoods. This isn't the first time the Oakland Police Department has been
accused of using excessive force. They have a record
of shooting people of color with seeming impunity.
A Marine at the protest who was trained in crowd
control detailed how riot police in Oakland fired on protesters in ways that are
prohibited under our notoriously brutal rules of engagements in Iraq and
Afghanistan. That puts Scott's injury into perspective, and many veterans have
exposed the senseless violence and war crimes occurring in these occupations.
The Oakland Police Department (plus reinforcement police shipped in from around
the state) are forbidden from firing tear gas canisters anywhere at a human body
and deny responsibility for Olsen's injury. But the
OPD is now subject of a Oakland's Citizens' Police Review Board
investigation into protesters' allegations that Scott was shot with a tear
gas canister or other projectile fired by police .
Our friend Scott's skull was fractured, causing his
brain to swell dangerously. All day, I could not stop thinking about another
friend of ours, also from Oakland – Tristan Anderson. Tristan was also
struck in the head with a tear gas canister, in the spring of 2009 in the
West Bank, at a peaceful demonstration of Palestinians resisting the militarised
annexation of their village's land. Tristan survived and is back in California
with us, although he is still recovering from his life-endangering,
life-changing injuries. Several Palestinians have been killed by these same tear
gas canisters. "Less lethal" ammunition, these days, is a game of statistics.
The ammunition allegedly involved in both Scott's
and Tristan's cases is manufactured
by a Wyoming-based company called Defense Tech. Our tax dollars paid for
both. Oakland claims it doesn't even have the money for its schools and
libraries. We've heard the helicopters alone cost $833 an hour. How many
hundreds of thousands of dollars were robbed from public services and city
infrastructure in Oakland on 25 October, when 500 riot cops busted up Occupy
Oakland for supposed "sanitation concerns", and then gassed and beat people for
hours later that night? Priorities?
US taxpayers fund $3bn per year in military aid alone to Israel. We paid for
the tear gas canister deaths of Bassem and Jawaher Abu Rahme, two of the unarmed
Palestinians in Bil'in, the village where Tristan was almost killed. We paid for
Scott Olsen to go to Iraq and participate in an occupation which he and many
veterans have concluded is unjust, criminal and based on lies – then once he got
home, we paid for the police tear gas ammunition to break up the protest in
which he was so gravely injured.
Those war funds trickle up to the 1%, to companies that profit from war,
including Defense Tech. We need not only to implement progressive taxation and
stop corporate welfare, including the egregious bank bailouts, but we must
redirect our taxed funds. That is why Scott Olsen was out on the streets, struck
down while standing peacefully beside another antiwar veteran and fellow member
of IVAW and Veterans for Peace. He was demonstrating with 2,000 community
members of Occupy Oakland, defending this experiment in direct democracy,
self-governance and equitable distribution.
Scott believes in the importance of the 99% Movement. He's spent most of the
last few weeks at Occupy SF, while holding down his day job. He, like many
military veterans, is seeking pathways to building true community safety. We
need to stand together to show that violence will not break the powerful spirit
of this movement. We need to defend the rights of veterans and everyone who has
experienced trauma to heal from it. We need to stand for everyone's right to
safety, to free assembly, for our right to build kitchens and community gardens,
for our tax dollars to finally stop going to wars and start going to schools and
healthcare.
Scott has mountains of medical bills that his community is quickly coming
together to help with; otherwise, he will be yet another American sunk in
endless medical debt.
Our struggle against the 1% here, while we are the 1% globally, is something
our comrades around the world have been watching and waiting for. Now, they are
cheering us on – because they need us to triumph. We seek to end US empire and a
transition to a different set of values. We do this in honor of Scott, of other
victims of police violence and military occupations, and of the economic
violence of the 1%.
• Clare Bayard is an activist with Occupy Oakland
Pakistan: U.S. Strike Is Said to Kill Taliban Militants
At least 16 suspected Taliban insurgents were killed in a flurry of strikes by
American drone-launched missiles in the northwestern tribal region of South
Waziristan, officials and local news media reported on Wednesday. The rugged,
mountainous region has been a stronghold of Taliban insurgents and the Mehsud
tribe. The drone strike followed a missile attack hours earlier on Taliban
militants in neighboring North Waziristan. At least six local fighters were
killed, officials said.
By SALMAN MASOOD
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