Yesterday, a CIA drone launched missiles in northwest Pakistan, killing about 40 people, including everyone present at a meeting of tribal elders with Taliban representatives to settle a dispute over access to a chromite mine. According to a CIA spokesperson, the second deadly CIA attack in a row, following the killing of three civilians on the streets of Lahore, came because “they didn’t have permission to make peace with anyone. They were doing it entirely on their own, without US help, and we feel there’s a need for US involvement in the process.”
Journalists asked CIA Director Leon Panetta how the US attack on a peaceful gathering differs, fundamentally, from a suicide bombing. Panetta told reporters, “nobody committed suicide. That’s the difference. I think you know that.” Later this week, the CIA is expected to stop a group of fruit market vendors from coming to an agreement on the price of pomegranates using, according to the same source, “a joystick located in Langley.”