From the Frontlines of the Third War

So, as I've mentioned previously, we're fighting a not-war in Pakistan as an outgrowth of the war-war we're fighting in Afghanistan. And I'm increasingly reading news, care of the ubiquitous Anonymous Officials Who Are Not Authorized to Speak to the Media, about all the people we're killing in our not-war in Pakistan via remotely-controlled drone strikes. Like this one, for instance:

Two suspected U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal region killed 18 alleged militants Monday, intelligence officials told CNN.

It was the latest in a series of aerial assaults targeting insurgents in North Waziristan, one of seven districts in Pakistan's volatile tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

In one attack, a suspected drone fired four missiles on a militants' vehicle in the Mir Ali area of the district, two intelligence officials said. Six people died in the attack.

In the second attack, a suspected drone fired two missiles at a militant hideout in the same district, killing 12, officials said.

Based on a count by the CNN Islamabad bureau, Monday's suspected drone strikes bring the number to 108 this year, compared with 52 in all of 2009.

The intelligence officials asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media. The United States does not comment on suspected drone strikes.

Of course not. That might entail having to comment on the fact that we're AT WAR IN A THIRD COUNTRY.

I know it's not supposed "to count" or whatever, because, hey, it's on the Afghanistan border and shit! And I know killing unnamed people via remotely controlled weaponry is supposed to be clinical enough that I'm not supposed to care, especially when I'm assured—ASSURED!—that the dead people were totes terrorists. And I know I'm supposed to just sit back and relax, since we're OBVIOUSLY the good military-industrial complex in the Michael Bay film of life.

But, for some strange reason, I'm still itchy about this whole thing.