US building secret bases for drones in the Horn of Africa and Arabian Peninsula to attack al-Qaeda

By Craig Whitlock and Greg Miller
Washington Post

The Obama administration is assembling a constellation of secret drone bases for counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as part of a newly aggressive campaign to attack al-Qaeda affiliates in Somalia and Yemen, U.S. officials said.

One of the installations is being established in Ethi­o­pia, a U.S. ally in the fight against al-Shabab, the Somali militant group that controls much of that country. Another base is in the Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, where a small fleet of “hunter-killer” drones resumed operations this month after an experimental mission demonstrated that the unmanned aircraft could effectively patrol Somalia from there.

The rapid expansion of the undeclared drone wars is a reflection of the growing alarm with which U.S. officials view the activities of al-Qaeda affiliates in Yemen and Somalia, even as al-Qaeda’s core leadership in Pakistan has been weakened by U.S. counterterrorism operations.

The U.S. government is known to have used drones to carry out lethal attacks in at least six countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. The negotiations that preceded the establishment of the base in the Republic of Seychelles illustrate the efforts the United States is making to broaden the range of its drone weapons.

The island nation of 85,000 people has hosted a small fleet of MQ-9 Reaper drones operated by the U.S. Navy and Air Force since September 2009. U.S. and Seychellois officials have previously acknowledged the drones’ presence but have said that their primary mission was to track pirates in regional waters. But classified U.S. diplomatic cables show that the unmanned aircraft have also conducted counterterrorism missions over Somalia, about 800 miles to the northwest.

The cables, obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, reveal that U.S. officials asked leaders in the Seychelles to keep the counterterrorism missions secret. The Reapers are described by the military as “hunter-killer” drones because they can be equipped with Hellfire missiles and satellite-guided bombs.

To allay concerns among islanders, U.S. officials said they had no plans to arm the Reapers when the mission was announced two years ago. The cables show, however, that U.S. officials were thinking about weaponizing the drones.

The U.S. military also has flown drones over Somalia and Yemen from bases in Djibouti, a tiny African nation at the junction of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. In addition, the CIA is building a secret airstrip in the Arabian Peninsula so it can deploy armed drones over Yemen.

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Afghan peace leader killed in bomb attack ...

The chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council, Burhanuddin Rabbani, has been killed in a bomb attack at his home in Kabul, officials told the BBC.

He was meeting two members of the Taliban at his home at the time of the blast, officials said. It is unclear if they were involved in the attack.

The High Peace Council leads Afghan efforts to negotiate with the Taliban.

BBC:

Mr Rabbani is a former president of Afghanistan and also led the main political opposition in the country.

Unconfirmed reports say he may have been killed by a suicide attacker.

When the peace council was set up, Afghan President Hamid Karzai described it as the greatest hope for the Afghan people and called on the Taliban to seize the opportunity and help bring peace.

But many members of the council are former warlords who spent years fighting the Taliban and their inclusion led to doubts as to whether it could succeed in its mission.

Mr Rabbani recently spoke at a religious conference in Iran and called on Muslim scholars to speak out against suicide attacks.

Pakistani troops battled Taliban militants over downed drone

By Karin Brulliard and Haq Nawaz Khan
Sunday, Sep 18, 2011
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistani troops battled Taliban militants Sunday morning to win control of the remnants of a CIA drone that crashed in the nation’s borderlands, according to Pakistani security officials.

The cause of the crash of the unmanned Predator aircraft, among the drones the CIA uses to fire missiles at Taliban and al-Qaeda hideouts in the rocky region bordering Afghanistan, remained in dispute hours after it was downed in Zangarha village in South Waziristan. A military intelligence official based in the nearest city, Wana, said the drone suffered a mechanical failure. The Pakistani Taliban, a domestic offshoot of the Afghan insurgent organization, said its fighters had shot down the aircraft.

Pakistan’s restive tribal belt is a no-go zone for journalists and outsiders, making it impossible to verify the accounts of the crash. U.S. officials do not publicly acknowledge or discuss the covert drone program, and the CIA declined to comment Sunday on the crash reports. The Pakistani security officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

But if the reports prove true, the crash would be among very few in the seven-year-long history of the drone campaign in Pakistan, and it could risk exposing extremely sensitive technology, including cameras and other sensors used to monitor insurgents. Although the Taliban might have little tactical use for the debris, some of Pakistan’s allies — including Iran and China — might be interested in it.

In May, a U.S. helicopter crashed during the American commando raid that killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in the northwestern Pakistani city of Abbottabad, and U.S. officials later said they suspected, but had not confirmed, that Pakistan gave the Chinese access to the largely destroyed helicopter. Pakistani officials denied doing so.

John Pike, a weapons expert at Globalsecurity.org, said that the drone crash Sunday could have exposed sensitive systems but that it would be difficult for adversaries to use the wreckage to replicate technology or adopt surveillance countermeasures. While the Chinese, for example, have sought to develop drone platforms and might gain insight from the downed U.S. aircraft, they already have a general understanding of drone capabilities. The downed copter, by contrast, used previously undisclosed stealth technologies.

“I don’t think the Chinese can do much more with it than the Taliban,” Pike said.

Drone strikes, which have skyrocketed during the Obama administration, are a growing source of tension between the United States and Pakistan, long-wary allies whose relationship has worsened this year. For years, the Pakistani government has allowed the program to continue while publicly protesting it and asking the United States to share its drone technology. But the Pakistani government’s tacit support for the drone campaign has waned as public outrage over it rises.

According to two Pakistani security officials, the drone crashed Sunday near a military base and Taliban militants quickly attempted to seize the debris. But the officials said Pakistani troops confronted the fighters and were able to collect the drone remnants after a clash lasting nearly four hours. Three militants were killed and two soldiers were injured in the fighting, an official from the paramilitary Frontier Corps said.

A Pakistani Taliban spokesman who identified himself as Saifullah Sayab said in a phone interview that 25 fighters used an antiaircraft gun to shoot down the drone. The Pakistani army deployed a gunship helicopter to repel the Taliban, he said.

brulliardk@washpost.com

Khan is a special correspondent. Staff writer Greg Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

Chicken Little was right - NASA satellite coming home - could hit you!

WASHINGTON - (AP) -- U.S. space officials say they expect a dead satellite to fall to Earth in about a week.

NASA has been watching the 6-ton satellite closely. On Friday officials moved up their prediction for its arrival to Sept. 23, give or take a day.

NASA scientists have calculated the satellite will break into 26 pieces as it gets closer to Earth. The odds of it hitting someone anywhere on the planet are 1 in 3,200. The heaviest piece to hit the ground will be about 350 pounds, but no one has ever been hit by falling space junk in the past.

NASA expects to give the public more detailed information early next week. For now, all continents except Antarctica could be hit by satellite debris.

Davis Monthan AFB locked down - threat unclear.

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona was placed under lockdown because of a "potential security situation" Friday.

T/Sgt. James Russell Martin of the base media relations office said, "There was an unconfirmed spotting of a man with a weapon" and the base went into "crisis action mode, locking down the base for the safety and security of the people on Davis-Monthan."

Martin said, "No shots have been fired and no one has been hurt."

He said the suspicious man reportedly had run into an engineering building on the base.

Just after 2 p.m. The Tucson Police Bomb Squad and Pima County Regional SWAT Team made their way on to the base.

The Arizona Republic reports an armed civilian has barricaded himself in a room. Authorities and a SWAT team is negotiating with the man.

No one was being allowed in or out of the sprawling base on the southeast corner of Tucson.

"Security is going to be in place until base leadership feels the situation is under control," Martin said. "We're just going to make sure we maintain heightened security until we feel everything is safe and secure."

Davis-Monthan is one of Tucson's largest employer and up to 8,500 people are on the base at any one time.

Several news media outlets quoted people on the base as saying a "shooter" had been found and contained. Those reports could not be confirmed.

Tucson Fire spokeswoman Trish Tracy said the agency sent two ambulances and two fire trucks to the base.

An ambulance was seen leaving the base about 12:35 p.m., but officials said that had "nothing to do with the security situation."

"A member of our community is pregnant and she is being taken to the hospital," the base said.

Ron Barber, a member of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' staff, told KPNX Channel 12 in Phoenix that he became aware of the lockdown as he left the base about 10 a.m. after a function for Giffords, who is recovering from an assassination attempt in January.

Barber said, "We were all lined up to get out of the base. I just got there as they were closing the gates. Everything was really calm. Air Force personnel were going about their business in a very professional manner."

Barber said he was not told what was going on, but was allowed to leave.

Davis-Monthan is adjacent to the Pima Air and Space Museum and the "boneyard" for old military and government airplanes that is a popular destination for aviation enthusiasts.