A US strike on a Pakistani village near the Afghan border has killed at least nine people including suspected foreign militants, Pakistani sources say.

Initial reports said at least 20 people had died when an unmanned aircraft (drone) fired on the village in North Waziristan region.

But officials later talked of between nine and 12 deaths.

The US military has not confirmed any drone attacks and a Pakistani spokesman said there had been no intrusion.

North Waziristan is a stronghold of Islamic militants, including the Taleban and al-Qaeda, which US and other international troops are fighting in Afghanistan.

via BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | ‘US strike’ hits Pakistan village.

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Many people, one of whom isn’t John Mcain, don’t know where Waziristan is. As you can see from the map under the above link, it’s a part of the Pakistan/Afghanistan border “tribal areas”.

Also interesting about it is, well, that’s where the GWoT is currently happening.

This came up in the second Presidential debate last night, with McCain making a point about strikes in Waziristan (and other pseudo-anonymous regions). His point wasn’t that such strikes shouldn’t happen (he’s all for them), his point was that Obama was naive for saying that such strikes might happen if Pakistan doesn’t do them for us.

I.e. it was a tactical communication point, not a strategy point.

The facts on the ground reveal that this particular Rubicon has already been crossed. Arguing about whether or not we are going to have had talked about doing it is silly (yes, I think I conjugated that correctly).

While the big stick is swinging, no one can hear the soft voice.