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A suspected US drone killed 12 Pakistanis in North Waziristan last week, where US troops have been displaying military aggression. The incident has further increased tensions between the two countries and is the fourth such strike in a week. In fact, over this past year, about a dozen missiles have fallen on Pakistani targets from unmanned US drones. Pakistan’s army chief General Ashfaq Kayani has described the latest incident as a reckless move which would “only help the militants and further fuel the militancy in the area.” According to the New York Times last week, President Bush secretly approved orders in June allowing US forces to conduct ground operations in Pakistan without Islamabad’s prior approval. The White House has refused to confirm the report. However, AFP reports that US officials were frustrated with “delays and sometimes non-answers” from Islamabad regarding “actionable intelligence” on militant movements in the tribal areas in Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan, where Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants were believed hiding.

GUEST: Anita Weiss, co-editor of the book “Power and Civil Society in Pakistan,” professor of international studies at the University of Oregon