UAV base in Pakistan shown in Goole Earth

For a little while at least.  Google earth recently provided a picture of a drone base for Predator style UAVs – IN Pakistan.  Until it was taken down.

The picture, taken from directly overhead, shows an airfield in Pakistan. It looks like a video frame from one of the American killer drones that have been hunting Taliban and al-Qaida fighters there. But that can’t be: The drones are right there in the frame, sitting on the ground. So who took the picture?

A plain old commercial satellite, apparently. The image was freely available on Google Earth until Wednesday, when the News of Pakistan published a story about it. At that point, it vanished, as other sensitive military pictures have done. Today, you can still view it on the Web site of the Times of London. If you’re a Pakistani citizen, it confirms that the United States has been launching its killer drones from inside your country, contrary to your government’s pretense of opposition. And if you’re a Taliban or al-Qaida fighter, it’s your chance to look down on the drones the way they’ve been looking down on you.

The offical denial that there are US military personnel there implies that it is the CIA that is running the show.  The location is assumed to be so the flying time to any desired target is reduced.  That trade from the politically more palatable Afghan side of the border probably reduces flying time by over an hour or so.