Drone strikes in Pakistan had 12.5 per cent accuracy.

Although these are surgical strikes according to the official spin the surgeon strikes the wrong victim about seven out of eight times. In the US everyone gets excited if a doctor takes off the wrong leg just once but at least that doctor did not kill his victim. It seems to cause little fuss not only that the drone is judge and executioner without any trial but that innocent people are often killed. What on earth is wrong with people. Imagine if authorities used drones within the USA to target criminals and as a result killed 7 inn0cent people for every criminal eliminate. Drone attacks would never begin yet alone be increased. This is from presstv.

In Pakistan, more civilians fall victim to US drones


The civilian mortalities from US missile attacks on the Pakistani soil in 2009 indicate a threefold increase in compared to the previous year.

Using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones to carry out the attacks, the US Central Intelligence Agency, in cooperation with the Pentagon, are responsible for more than 700 civilian deaths in Pakistan this year, reports say.

In 2008, there were 32 strikes that killed about 240 people, according to Reuters. The attacks in 2009, meanwhile, had a mere 12.5 percent accuracy in targeting the supposed militants in Pakistan's northwestern tribal area, raising questions about the efficiency of the method.

The attacks, believed to be initiated from airbases located inside Pakistan's territory, have also played a strong role in the growing anti-American sentiment in Pakistan.

The CIA is accused of ignoring legal and moral principles in its running of deadly operations against civilians on a sovereign soil.

Meanwhile, in Washington, the attacks are hailed as a 'surgical' counterinsurgency tool. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmoud Qureshi recently condemned the attacks as "counterproductive and unhelpful."

The latest round of the attacks left some seven people dead in the northwestern area of North Waziristan over the past two days.

Business and Labour concerned about coming Federal Cuts.

Conservatives will always use deficit reduction as a rationale for cutting entitlement spending. Many business groups however often applaud such cuts. In the case of St. John's it probably worries because it may receive considerable help from Ottawa. Milton Friedman the former guru of free market ideology claimed that contrary to many conservatives deficits could be positive because they provide a justification for cutting out government entitlement programs. We are likely to see this in coming years whether Harper stays in power or Ignatieff miraculously gets elected. This is from vocm.

Business and Labour Concerned Federal Cuts Coming



The St. John's Board of Trade is raising concerns after recent comments from the Prime Minister. Stephen Harper has indicated the federal deficit will decrease because there will be a reduction in growth in spending. Board of Trade Chair Bruce Templeton says the federal government's track record isn't comforting. He says in less than 10 years, the federal government's expenses will have increased by almost a third. Templeton says that it looks like the federal government will have to cut programs and services just to balance budgets and he's concerned how that will affect this province.



The Public Service Alliance of Canada says it is quite concerned that federal government jobs could be cut if the Conservatives form a majority government in the next election. Spokesman Larry Welsh says government is currently running a significant deficit and he fears that could spell trouble.