Taliban to ban polio vaccinations for children

[pixy0stix]

Taliban to ban polio vaccinations for children until US stops drone strikes

news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/taliban-warns-u-drone-strikes-153252109.html

A Taliban leader in Pakistan said that until the United States stops drone strikes—like the one that killed al-Qaida no. 2 Abu Yahya al-Libi earlier this month—it will ban polio vaccinations of Pakistani children in the region it controls.

"Polio drops will be banned in North Waziristan until the drones strikes are stopped," Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur said in a statement released Saturday and published Monday by CNN. "Almost every resident of North Waziristan has become a mental patient because of the drone strikes, which are worse than polio. On one hand, the U.S. spends millions of dollars to eliminate polio, while on the other hand it kills hundreds with the help of its slave, Pakistan."

UNICEF had been hoping to launch a drive this week to vaccinate 161,000 children in the region. Bahadur said he consulted with leaders of the Taliban and al-Qaida and with Punjabi leaders before making the decision to ban the vaccinations.

Pakistan's vaccination program came under scrutiny after a Pakistani doctor accused of helping the CIA locate Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad under the guise of the "door-to-door" program was sentenced to 33 years in prison for "acting against the state."

The announcement, the New York Times said, is "a blow to polio vaccination efforts in Pakistan, which is one of just three countries where the disease is still endemic and which accounted for 198 new cases last year—the highest rate in the world."

But it's doubtful that the warning will affect U.S. drone strikes. The White House has increased its drone operations under President Barack Obama. The Pakistani government has objected to the drone strikes, saying they are "a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty."

[pixy0stix]

I'm not even pretending to understand the logic here. Those poor kids.

[ttt]

WTF??? We're protesting your killing our people by...killing our people.


Although they do have a point about the drone strikes.

[MrsAxilla]

Jun 18, 2012 14:36:59 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Pakistan's vaccination program came under scrutiny after a Pakistani doctor accused of helping the CIA locate Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad under the guise of the "door-to-door" program was sentenced to 33 years in prison for "acting against the state."

It's because of this. It's our fault (the US). We used vaccines as a pretext for spying and now all vaccines are suspect. We suck.

[summer]

I'm sort of over the Taliban and their ilk being all about drone strikes are the devil when they kill their own people all the time for shit like going to school, or getting raped, or being in a market.

Flameworthy opinion: I don't love drone strikes, but if you want to be a militant army and don't want to fight out in the open, and just want to do random bombings, then...... War is awful and I don't really want much part in it, but if our country decides we need to be there, then this is as "good" a weapon as any, in my completely uneducated opinion on the subject.

And don't get me started on Pakistan.

[aurora]

Jun 18, 2012 14:36:59 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

...
Pakistan's vaccination program came under scrutiny after a Pakistani doctor accused of helping the CIA locate Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad under the guise of the "door-to-door" program was sentenced to 33 years in prison for "acting against the state."
...

This is creative thinking, and reason #9384743 why I am not a military tactician (because I wouldn't have thought of it). It is sad that the Taliban is willing to sacrifice non-militants under its rule, though.

[emisi]

Jun 18, 2012 15:49:59 GMT -5 summer said:

I'm sort of over the Taliban and their ilk being all about drone strikes are the devil when they kill their own people all the time for shit like going to school, or getting raped, or being in a market.

Flameworthy opinion: I don't love drone strikes, but if you want to be a militant army and don't want to fight out in the open, and just want to do random bombings, then...... War is awful and I don't really want much part in it, but if our country decides we need to be there, then this is as "good" a weapon as any, in my completely uneducated opinion on the subject.

And don't get me started on Pakistan.

Ditto this. The Taliban suck and they probably would have banned vaccines anyway, quoting some obscure reading of the Qu'ran to justify it.

[heightsyankee]

Team Summer.

The Taliban commits atrocities and human right violations on a daily basis. They're nothing if not hypocritical.