Responses
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying it protested to US Ambassador Ryan Crocker over the "loss of innocent civilian lives." The Pakistani government angrily denounced the attack. Pakistan's Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed called the attack "highly condemnable" and said the government wanted "to assure the people we will not allow such incidents to recur." Tension remained high throughout tribal areas. Angry Pakistanis protested against the strike, claiming it was illegal, and that the attack that killed innocent civilians. Thousands of tribesmen staged protests and a mob set fire to the office of Associated Development Construction, an ostensibly non-governmental organisation funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, in a sign of increasing frustration over a recent series of suspected US attacks along Pakistan's frontier with Afghanistan. On Sunday January 15, tens of thousands of Pakistanis took part in anti-US protests across the country. The largest demonstration was held in the city of Karachi where protesters chanted "Death to America" and "Stop bombing innocent people". Hundreds of riot police were deployed to control the crowds. A leader in the coalition of Islamic groups that organised the nationwide protests demanded that General Musharraf step down.
Also on January 15, US politicians expressed regret over the deaths caused by the attack but said the airstrike was justified. "It's terrible when innocent people are killed; we regret that," said US Senator John McCain. "We apologize, but I can't tell you that we wouldn't do the same thing again. We have to do what we think is necessary to take out al Qaeda, particularly the top operatives. This guy has been more visible than Osama bin Laden lately." Senator Evan Bayh blamed the Pakistani government for being unable to control the frontier, rhetorically asking "Now, it's a regrettable situation, but what else are we supposed to do? It's like the Wild, Wild West out there. The Pakistani border (with Afghanistan) is a real problem."
George W. Bush provided written legal authority to the CIA to hunt down and kill people designated as enemy combatant "high-value targets" without seeking further approval each time the agency is about to stage an operation. The CIA believes it possesses all the necessary approvals within its "counterterror" center in Langley, Virginia to fire missiles anywhere in the world, including Pakistan, when a high-value al-Qaida target is spotted. The agency doesn't require further clearance from the White House, local governments, or the CIA director to kill an al-Qaida operative. The purpose of this expanded authority is to expedite rapid action in case a targeted killing opportunity is time-sensitive. On January 30, a video showing al-Zawahri wearing white robes and a white turban, said the January 13th airstrike killed "innocents" and said the United States had ignored an offer from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden for a truce.
Read more about this topic: Damadola Airstrike
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