According to the Washington Post,
At least 20 people were killed in northwest Pakistan near the border of Afghanistan on Friday in two suspected U.S. missile strikes, marking the first such attack in Pakistan's tribal areas since President Obama's inauguration.
The precision strike leveled a compound, which was owned by local tribal elder Khalil Malik, killing at least 10 suspected militants, including five foreign nationals, according to the Pakistani security official. The site of the attack is about 30 miles east of the Afghan border.
The second strike occurred about three hours later near the tribal capital of Wana in South Waziristan, according to a Pakistani political official in the area. A U.S. drone fired two missiles at a compound in the small village of Gangikhel, a little less than 20 miles from the border with Afghanistan. Few details of that attack were available, but local residents said at least 10 were killed and two injured.
Are there any children, women, and other innocent people among the deaths? What crimes have those people committed to deserve the death penalty? Who is to judge?
President Obama is right to order the closure of the Guantanamo bay detention camp. However, killing people via remote control without even a trial is much worse than what has been done in Guantanamo Bay.
Targeted assassination has been used by the Israeli government against the Palestinians for decades. Evidently, it has not worked. President Obama has said that reaching out to the Muslim world is one of the top priorities of his presidency. Is this the right way to reach out to the Muslim world?