By Deepal Jayasekera
13 June 2008

The US government and military have rebuffed Pakistani government
protests over Tuesday night’s aerial bombardment of a Pakistani
security checkpoint in the Mohmand region in the Federally Administered
Tribal Area (FATA). Ostensibly aimed at pro-Taliban insurgents,
the US attack, which was carried out by two F-15s and a B-1 bomber,
killed 11 Pakistani Frontier Corps troops, including a major,
and injured 10, including 3 civilians.

The Pakistani government termed the attack “completely
unprovoked and cowardly,” adding that it “hit at the
very basis” of US-Pakistani cooperation in the “war
on terror.” Pakistani military spokesman Major General Athar
Abbas rejected Pentagon claims that Islamabad had been informed
in advance of a US-Afghan operation in the area. “We believe
it was a deliberate act of aggression,” he declared

The Bush administration and Pentagon have responded with a
chorus of statements justifying the attack.

Admiral Michael Mullen, the head of the US Armed Forces’
Joint Chiefs of Staff, defended the attack mounted by Afghan forces
with US air support along the Afghan-Pakistani border Tuesday
might saying it went according to the “book”. “Every
indication I have is that this operation was executed in accordance
with procedures—by the book— that’s what I know
now”.

While the State Department did express, in formulaic fashion,
“regrets” over the “reported loss of Pakistani
life,” Washington continues to insist it has no confirmation
that US warplanes bombed a Pakistani military checkpoint. White
House National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said US officials
“have not been able to corroborate” that American bombs
killed Pakistani troops. “Should it be true, obviously we
would be very saddened by that loss”

On Thursday the Pentagon released video footage meant to substantiate
its claim that the US launched air strikes to attack “anti-Afghan
government insurgents” who had engaged Afghan forces.

The grainy footage, reputedly taken from the air by a surveillance
drone, is a patent piece of propaganda. Less than two minutes
long, it reputedly shows a small group of 5 to 7 insurgents poised
on the Pakistani-Afghan border. They are hit by US “precision-guided
munitions” after allegedly firing at Afghan troops in Afghanistan’s
eastern Kunar province. An unnamed Pentagon propagandist narrates
the video. Near the end of the brief footage he declares, “It
is clear there are no structures or [Pakistani] outposts in the
impact area.”

During the video, two bombs are seen to strike and a third,
the narrator explains, was dropped beyond the range of the drone’s
camera. The US military, however, admits to dropping a dozen or
more explosives, most of them 500-pound bombs. Nothing is said
of the nine or more other bombs.

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