Clinton faces Pakistani anger at Drone attacks
(Yahoo News) ISLAMABAD – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton came face-to-face Friday with Pakistanis' simmering anger over U.S. aerial drones firing missiles in their country. She drew back slightly from her blunt remarks suggesting Pakistani officials know where terrorists are hiding.In a series of public appearances on the final day of a three-day visit, Clinton was pressed repeatedly by Pakistani civilians and journalists about the secret U.S. program that uses drones to launch missiles to kill terrorists.But she refused to discuss the drone strikes along the porous border area with Afghanistan that have killed key terror leaders but also scores of civilians.
In this image taken from Pakistan's Geo TV, shows visiting U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton, 2nd right, during an interview broadcast live in Islamabad, Pakistan on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009, with several prominent female TV anchors, before a predominantly female audience of several hundred. One member of the audience said the Predator attacks amount to "executions without trial" for those killed.
A day earlier she was more explicit in her skepticism, telling a Pakistani journalist in Lahore: "I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to. Maybe that's the case. Maybe they're not gettable. I don't know."
A top Pakistan official insisted Friday his country is fighting back against militants and also urging the world to do more against the rise of terrorism.
"There was a time when the world was telling us to do more," Interior Minister Rehman Malik acknowledged, speaking Friday alongside Clinton at a police training center.
"We have decided to fight back," he said. Malik did not explicitly refer to Clinton's comments, but his words appeared intended to counter what she said.
Late Thursday, Pakistani army officers displayed two passports seized from a suspected terror hideout in South Waziristan and believed linked to terror operatives.
Asked repeatedly Friday about the U.S. use of drones, a subject which involves highly classified CIA operations and is rarely acknowledged in public by American officials, Clinton said only that "there is a war going on." She added that the Obama administration is committed to helping Pakistan defeat the insurgents.
Clinton said she could not comment on "any particular tactic or technology" used in the war against extremist groups in the area.
The use of the drone aircraft, armed with guided missiles, is credited by U.S. officials with eliminating a growing number of senior terrorist group leaders this year who had used the tribal lands of Pakistan as a haven beyond the reach of U.S. ground forces in Afghanistan.
During an interview with Clinton broadcast live in Pakistan with several prominent female TV anchors, before a predominantly female audience of several hundred, one member of the audience said the Predator attacks amount to "executions without trial" for those killed.
Another asked Clinton how she would define terrorism.
"Is it the killing of people in drone attacks?" she asked. That woman then asked if Clinton considers drone attacks and bombings like the one that killed more than 100 civilians in the city of Peshawar earlier this week to both be acts of terrorism.
"No, I do not," Clinton replied.
Another man told her bluntly: "Please forgive me, but I would like to say we've been fighting your war."
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