Video: Apache gunship engages in “robust debate” with Taliban

An instant classic of warporn courtesy of Fox News. Between this and yesterday’s brilliantly ruthless two-step drone attack on Baitullah Mehsud’s gang, The One’s racking up quite a Taliban body count. Here’s to catching some very big fish:

Yesterday’s follow-on Predator attack at a funeral for a Taliban commander targeted senior Pakistani and Afghan leaders of the group. The death toll in the attack has jumped to 83, and two Taliban commanders were rumored to have been killed, although one commander targeted confirmed he was alive and an aide to another said the leader was not killed.

Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud; Qari Hussain Mehsud, a senior commander in Baitullah’s network; and Mullah Sangeen Zadran, a field commander in the Haqqani Network in Afghanistan, were targeted in the Predator attack in Pakistan’s lawless tribal agency of South Waziristan.

The attack took place in the Ladha region as scores of Taliban leaders and fighters were attending the funeral of Khwaz Ali Mehsud, a mid-level commander in Baitullah’s network. The initial attack on the funeral procession was followed up with strikes on Taliban vehicles as they attempted to flee the attack site.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, things are taking a turn. An uptick in attacks was expected as the U.S. started pulling out of the cities — Maliki even warned the public recently to anticipate new terror aimed at undermining confidence in the Iraqi army — but it’s disturbing to think more Shiites might have died in Baghdad today from violence than in Tehran, the massacre in Baharestan Square notwithstanding. Presumably some Wahhabi outfit is the culprit, but after the past two weeks, I wouldn’t put anything past Iran. Not that I ever did before, but they need a distraction for the media right now and “Baghdad burning again” fits the bill nicely. Stay tuned.

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