[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/11/09/art.amanpour.writer.jpg caption="Sr. Writer Tom Evans"]
In today’s AMANPOUR., we will be examining the U.S. use of armed drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan to attack Taliban and Al Qaeda targets. Are the drone attacks effective at killing terrorist leaders or are they counterproductive because of the number of civilians who have also been killed? And are the strikes a legitimate form of warfare even when conducted by the CIA or are they targeted assassinations as critics assert? There is also some other news on Afghanistan to tell you about this morning. Here are my perspectives on that and other stories making headlines this morning.
Tom Evans; Sr. Writer, AMANPOUR.
AFGHANISTAN – Has U.S. President Barack Obama finally made a decision on a troop increase?
– White House says an Obama announcement will come “within days”
– W.H.: president has all the information he wants and needs to make his decision
– U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has asked for as many as 40,000 additional troops
– But call for big troop increase has met with strong opposition in some quarters of the Obama Admin., reportedly including Vice President Joe Biden and the U.S. ambassador in Kabul
QUESTION: Will the U.S. Congress and public support any increase in U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan, if that’s what President Obama proposes?
IRAQ/BRITAIN – Will sweeping British investigation into 2003 invasion shed new light on run-up to the war?
– British investigation, likely to be the most exhaustive on Iraq in any country so far, begins in London amid charges the war was unjustified and illegal
– Among most prominent witnesses will be former British Prime Minister Tony Blair who will be asked whether he secretly authorized British participation in the war a year before the U.K. parliament backed military action
– Inquiry begins amid newspaper reports that the U.K. was ill-prepared for war and American-British military relations during the conflict were often more strained than previously acknowledged
– Daily Telegraph: British commanders found their U.S. counterparts resistant to a dialogue to the point of “arrogance”; one British officer quoted as saying relationship with Americans was like “dealing with martians”
QUESTION: Will the Iraq inquiry, and the revelations about tense military relations, damage the U.S.-British alliance even as the two countries fight together in Afghanistan?
PHILIPPINES – how bad can the political violence get after the massacre of dozens of people?
– Search teams discover almost 50 bodies after gruesome massacre which the government calls the worst pre-election violence in the country’s history
– Government declares a state of emergency after the killings of a group of people who were traveling in a convoy to file election papers for a gubernatorial candidate in Maguindanao province
– The gubernatorial candidate, whose wife was among the victims, accuses gunmen loyal to a rival political clan of carrying out the killings
– At least 20 journalists believed to be among those killed, which if confirmed would make it the largest single massacre of journalists ever
QUESTION: Has the national government in Manila been turning a blind eye to powerful provincial warlords with heavily armed militias because of their ability to deliver votes and political favors?