More On Those Drones

Danger Room reports that Israeli-made Heron drones will soon be seeing service in Afghanistan- with the Canadian military:

The Canadian Air Wing based at Kandahar Airfield just received its first Heron unmanned aerial vehicle. The drones -- built by Israel Aerospace Industries -- will prowl the skies over southern Afghanistan, where Canadian troops have been locked in particularly intense combat with a resurgent Taliban.

More here.

(Previously on Enduring America: Russian MiGs to Lebanon? And Israeli UAVs to Russia?)

UPDATE: Thousands Rally Against US and NATO in Pakistan

Following up on a post earlier today, a reader in India sends us this from AFP:

Thousands rally against US, NATO in NW Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Dec 18, 2008 (AFP) - Thousands of protesters rallied in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Thursday, demanding that Islamabad end its logistical support for US and NATO troops in Afghanistan.
The crowd of about 5,000 demonstrators chanted "Allahu akbar" (God is greater), "Crush America" and "No to NATO supplies" as they marched through Peshawar, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

The rally came amid a recent spike in attacks by Taliban militants on NATO and US supply depots on Peshawar's outskirts, close to Pakistan's lawless tribal areas -- a hotbed of Taliban and Al-Qaeda activity.
International forces in Afghanistan are hugely dependent on Islamabad for their supplies and equipment, with about 80 percent transported through Pakistan and then across the border.
The chief of the radical Jamaat-i-Islami party, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, told protesters: "It is a shame for an Islamic country to supply logistics to the US, which is working against the interests of Muslims all over the world."
He demanded the government abandon its role as an ally in the US-led "war on terror", warning that if logistical support is not suspended, "we will force the government with public support to halt all supplies."
On Wednesday, missiles fired by suspected Taliban militants targeting a NATO supply convoy killed a woman and wounded her two children in the Khyber tribal district, on the main supply route into Afghanistan.

And this, from December 16:

BRUSSELS, Dec 16, 2008 (AFP) - NATO played down Tuesday a recent spate of attacks on depots and convoys on a key Pakistan route, saying that supplies were still getting through to its force in strife-torn Afghanistan.
"The Pakistani route is still open, is still safe," Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, the head of NATO's military committee, told reporters. "At the moment, the supplies are passing.
His remarks came after haulage companies in Pakistan said they had stopped delivering to foreign troops in Afghanistan after a major deterioration in security along the supply route to the Khyber Pass.
The bulk of the supplies and equipment required by NATO and US-led forces battling the Taliban insurgency on the border is shipped to Pakistan's largest port, Karachi in the south.
From there, the containers of food, fuel, vehicles and munitions are taken by truck to depots outside Peshawar before being transported through Pakistan's restive tribal areas to Afghanistan via the Khyber pass.
But the fabled road passes through the heart of Pakistan's tribal zone, a largely lawless region turned hideout for militants since the US-led ousting of Afghanistan's Taliban regime at the end of 2001.
Di Paola said that NATO was looking to diversify its supplies, with progress being made on an agreement with Russia to allow non-lethal equipment to be shipped through to its troops.
"We are looking to open multiple routes of communication," he said, noting that talks with Turkmenistan were also advancing. "The more lines, the better."
Pakistan's army chief vowed last month to help keep NATO's supply line open.

Iraqi Shoe-Gate: The Tributes Roll in for George Bush

In Washington, Americans rally around the President:

They assembled a pile of clogs, boots, flip-flops, slippers and pumps, and, in celebration of the journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush in a news conference Sunday in Iraq, they tossed the footwear at a man wearing a papier-mâché Bush mask and a prison uniform....

The Bush figure dodged, weaved and taunted: "I can take it! I can take you all on!" But then somebody hit him in the crotch with a sandal, and he fell to his knees.

In Afghanistan, the citizens defend their US liberator:

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The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush is to be celebrated in an Afghan comedy show.

But in the satirical series, Zang-i-Khatar (Alert Bell), rather than duck the shoes Mr Bush will be hit squarely in the face.

One protester, however, still doesn't understand, preferring to follow the example of Muntazar al-Zaidi:

A transit rider protesting moves to slash service and raise fares was dragged out of a public meeting by police officers who feared he was about to imitate the Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President Bush.