Global Hawk

"Canada's National Newspaper", that is, in a Sept. 12 editorial:

Pakistan's civilian and military leaders are furious that the U.S. military has begun to conduct raids against militant bases in the northwest of the country without their permission. General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the head of the army, said on Wednesday that no "external force is allowed to conduct operations inside Pakistan." He was backed up yesterday with angry words from the Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani. It is hard to generate any sympathy for these complaints.

After allowing some of the worst elements of the Taliban and al-Qaeda to operate in Pakistan for years, the government in Islamabad is in no position to cite "sovereignty" when U.S. forces pursue them.

Territorial inviolability is a bedrock principle of international relations, but when a state is used as a launching pad for aggression abroad, even by non-state groups, it is forfeit.

The examples in northwest Pakistan are damning. Osama bin Laden and his top associates are almost certainly hiding there. American commanders in the east of Afghanistan have complained repeatedly that their bases have been attacked, and troops killed, by militants who strike and then flee back over the border into Pakistan.

Worse, the Pakistani government has been playing a double game with extremists, ever since its strenuous pledges to support the U.S. campaign against terrorism, after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001...

Some Pakistani leaders have made good-faith efforts to bring militant activity under control, and rein in the ISI. The new President, Asif Ali Zardari, will have to walk a tightrope, assisting Western anti-terrorist efforts, while not excessively provoking Pakistani extremists. And offending the military, which has few reservations about intervening in politics, has generally been an unwise idea in Pakistan.

But until and unless Islamabad can take responsibility for what goes on in territory it nominally rules, American raids should continue, and they do not require the Pakistani government's permission.

Should note that the US is actually using Predator UAVs in Pakistan (more on those Predators here), not Global Hawks. Canada is too squeamish to use armed UAVs itself--see last part of this post.

Update: This comment about possible Canadian UAVs and Afstan, at Milnet.ca, should be read.