Al Qaeda #3 Killed in Pakistan

On the one hand, the CIA leaks like a sieve to damage the Bush administration. On the other hand, the CIA uses a Predator to wipe out a top terrorist:

Al-Qaeda’s third-ranking leader has been killed by a missile fired by an American drone in Pakistan, near the Afghan border, NBC television news reported yesterday.

Egyptian-born Abu Hamza Rabia, who is said to head al-Qaeda’s international operations, was among five people killed in a blast at a house where they were hiding in North Waziristan on Thursday. President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan confirmed Rabia’s death yesterday.

Quoting unnamed officials, NBC said Rabia was killed by a missile launched from an unmanned Predator drone controlled by the US Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA would not comment. Tribal witnesses in Pakistan said a “hail of missiles” struck the mud house in the village of Haisori. Other witnesses told NBC that missile remnants bearing US markings remain in the area. They also said they had heard six explosions, but it is uncertain how many of these were the result of missile attacks and how many may have been explosives detonating inside the house.

This is a terrible thing when you think about it. I’m sure this Rabia guy wasn’t read his Miranda rights at any point during this attack. I bet the missile hurt—a lot—when it hit him. If he survived for a minute or two after it hit, he undoubtedly experienced phyical pain and mental anguish. Did he get his proper Islamic meal in before the missile got him? And the worst part of all is that there were probably Korans in the house with him, so we desecrated them while we were violating his rights to a free ACLU lawyer. It’s just terrible.