US terror drones kill 35, wounds dozens in southern Somalia
Sat Apr 14, 2012 8:59AM GMT
At least 35 people have been killed and dozens of others wounded in a missile attack by two US assassination drones in southern Somalia, Press TV reports.
The casualties come after an unmanned aircraft fired several missiles at al-Shabab training bases located between the country’s capital city of Mogadishu and its neighboring city Afgoye on Thursday.
Captain Mohamed Haruun, a military official from the Halane military base, confirmed the attack, saying two US assassination drones were sent from the base late at night.
The UN has slammed the US drone attacks as targeted killing and says they pose a challenge to international law.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/236148.html
When will these murders stop?This is just another step in antiseptic wars the US is beginning to perpetrate when it comes to "Our Interests". We have been draining our cities poor and unemployed youth to join the military while the elite go to their parents alma maters and wash their hands clean of the filth that is going on. We are told that these strikes are part of fighting them over there and not on our shores. Nobody wants to address the real issue that the banks and corporatons want to safeguard their holdings and when some third world dcitator wants more of the booty they get our military and CIA to clear out the trouble.
Just read this to see where our empire is taking us in just South America. http://www.zompist.com/latam.htmlIt is rapidly increasing, the quest for a global empire.
These killings are, in reality, summary executions and widely regarded as potential war crimes by international lawyers - including the UN's special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Philip Alston. The CIA's now retired counsel, John Rizzo, who authorised drone attacks, himself talked about having been involved in ''murder''.
A decade ago, the US criticised Israel for such ''extrajudicial killings'' but now claims self-defence in the war against al-Qaeda. But these are attacks routinely carried out on the basis of false intelligence, in countries such as Pakistan where no war has been declared and without the consent of the elected government.
Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion … z1xzWhjqZROh no no no!
It's only a war crime if you insert the names Bush and Cheney. THEN it's a war crime.No they are war crimes under both, no US president in recent decades has learned to obey international law. I am a lot more comfortable with it than with torture though.
Oh most certainly it is a war crime....but if you think the liberal press is going to allow that to be labeled on Barack Obama?????????????????????
Please..........I really irks me how you constantly put words in the mouths of other people and make allegations without proof. I struggle with this concept of 'liberal media' because the liberal movement is anti super rich and anti corporations, the media is owned by corporations in turn major owned by super rich people most notable amongst a firm conservative it escapes me how the media could have a liberal bias, there are liberally biased news sites and conservative ones.
As for it being a war crime of course it is, any US president in recent decades has committed a long list of international crimes and both sides are guilty of defending it when it happens, I think we all remember how strenuously we were told that torture I OK under Bush despite it violating the Geneva convention, or even better conservatives telling us that water boarding is not torture.
Turning war crimes into a partisan issue is pointless both sides do it and both sides defend it and it's wrong every time.
What an insight into what makes people tick. No-one bothered to comment on your very relevant and shocking post, whereas at the last count, there were 577 comments on a post about unions in the US, and if there was a forum post on whether Madonna's bottom has gotten bigger, there would no doubt be even more replies.
However, sooner or later, even the most comatose must begin to realise where all this is heading and begin to object. Perhaps when the drones are over US skies, killing their family and neighbours, but by then it may be too late.
All we can do is keep ringing the alarm bells in the hope that soon, the cotton will will fall out of their ears and the blinfold will fall from their eyes.
Keep posting!!- EmpressFelicityposted 11 years ago
0Yes, keep posting.
To be fair, I think that the lack of posts is partly because there is no justification for this type of stuff (even to the most rabid Obama supporter, it must seem, er, somewhat at odds with his Nobel Prize winning image*). So you're just left with a response along the lines of "Shocking" or "Bloody hell, that's terrible".
*What did Obama actually win the peace prize for? Answers on a postcard please. Because I'm stumped.At the time I thought it was pre-empting what he was going to do. Still waiting and very disappointed in this respect.
Nothing surprising there... I will call it "THE DISCRETE WAR". Our military doesn't have to be on the premises... just pilot them! So nice to be king of the world!
The violence needs to stop, and echoing a previous post, it will only stop when the people start to take notice. Americans, your government is murdering people abroad. Wake up!
Why would violence stop if economical interests are at stake? Dharoor and Nugaal are full of oil up north!
A stunning report in the New York Times depicted President Obama poring over the equivalent of terrorist baseball cards, deciding who on a “kill list” would be targeted for elimination by drone attack
It’s the assertion of a presidential prerogative that the administration can target for death people it decides are terrorists — even American citizens — anywhere in the world, at any time, on secret evidence with no review.
It is a policy driven largely by the new technological capacity of pilotless aircraft. Drone strikes have rapidly expanded, becoming a centerpiece of the Obama strategy. Over the last three years, the Obama administration has carried out at least 239 covert drone strikes, more than five times the 44 approved under George W. Bush.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ … story.html
A "KILL LIST"????????? Peace Prize recipient my azz!US drone attacks in Somalia and elsewhere may violate international law, Human Rights Watch said last week.
The New York-based group warned President Obama in a letter that his administration's policy of targeted killings is setting "a dangerous precedent for abusive regimes around the globe to conduct drone attacks or other strikes against anyone labelled a terrorist or militant."
Several countries, including Iran and China, are said to be developing their own drone capabilities. In addition, the Obama administration is planning to sell drones to allies such as Turkey, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.
HRW urges the Obama administration to clarify publicly its legal rationale for conducting targeted killings and to specify the legal limits on such attacks.
"CIA drone strikes have become an almost daily occurrence around the world, but little is known about who is killed and under what circumstances," said James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch. "So long as the US resists public accountability for CIA drone strikes, the agency should not be conducting targeted killings."
http://allafrica.com/stories/201112271733.htmlUse of drones has increased dramatically
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, June 19 (Reuters) - A U.N. investigator has called on the Obama administration to justify its policy of assassinating rather than capturing al Qaeda or Taliban suspects, increasingly with the use of unmanned drone aircraft that also take civilian lives.
Christof Heyns, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, urged Washington to clarify the basis under international law of the policy, in a report issued overnight to the United Nations Human Rights Council. The 47-member Geneva forum is to hold a debate later on Tuesday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/ … PJ20120619Terror Tuesdays, Kill Lists and Drones: Has the President Become a Law Unto Himself?
Declaring Obama's actions "without precedent in presidential history," the New York Times describes a process whereby every few weeks, Obama and approximately a hundred members of his national security team gather for their "Terror Tuesday" meetings in which they hand pick the next so-called national security "threat" to die by way of the American military/CIA drone program. Obama signs off personally on about a third of the drone strikes: all of the ones in Yemen and Somalia, and the risky ones in Pakistan. ("" target="_hplink">According to the Daily Beast, by the time he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, "Obama had given the go-ahead to more drone strikes than Bush did during his entire presidency." By the third year of his presidency, two times as many suspected terrorists had been approved for killing than had been put in Guantanamo Bay during George W. Bush's presidency.)\
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-w-wh … 06371.html- EmpressFelicityposted 11 years ago0
It's funny how none of the usual Obama supporters have contributed to this thread. Even they probably realise that they'd be defending the indefensible.
None of this stuff gets reported on by the mainstream media in Britain, btw (unless I've missed it somewhere).
Now that media such as the Huffpost and the N.Y. times are not only reporting on it, they are criticizing the actions, maybe British media will follow?
Doesn't Britain have a Murdoch dynasty media conglomerate?Probably most of the normal people have not made posts is because of the way you have it under crime and law enforcement and Crime put it under North American politics ect. then they will see it. I think it is wrong to randomly drop bombs on people from an unmanned air craft. They should at least have boots on the ground to make sure they are not hitting innocent children and woman or other people. Theses people flying theses planes probably treat it like a video game. You can not drop bombs and indiscriminately kill people with no war declared and
Old-bomb-a having already declared the war on terror is over. Now if it was in a war Zone then I could see it or even if they were collecting intelligence about some plot that was about to happen. Now if the story was that they blew up a boat that was in the process of committing Piracy in international water then that would be different story to.I posted it under crimes, because that is what the actions are. It is not only criminal, it is an act of terrorism!
What it isn't is surprising. I am not surprised to hear of the US committing acts that could easily be considered both criminal and terrorist.
It is not the U.S., that entity is made up of fifty sovereign states representing "the people". The entity committing these atrocities is the Federal Government, I do not see that body living up to its purpose. It no longer represents "the people".
Government at all levels needs to be held responsible for violating its own laws.This is a good point. I suppose when I say 'the US' I am not actually thinking of or referring to the people of the country but should try to be a bit more careful on how I say what I say as it is far to easy to mis-intrpret what people say online. Thanks for clarifying
Yes, we do - Sky TV, the Times newspaper and the Sun (a tabloid).
I haven't seen it, not been watching the news as much these days but I do watch the lunchtime news and nothing. Frankly this is the first I have heard. Not really sure what to say if I am honest. The world can really break a persons heart sometimes......
October the 18th 2011, it is when Kenya started to invade Somalia with the participation of the U.S. if the Huffpost and the NY Times were real newspapers they would have related the story.
The Obama Administration's invocation of national security to deny Freedom of Information Act requests from the ACLU and New York Times is ridiculous.
Mr. Obama gave his approval, and Mr. Awlaki was killed in September 2011, along with a fellow propagandist, Samir Khan, an American citizen who was not on the target list but was traveling with him. If the president had qualms about this momentous step, aides said he did not share them. Mr. Obama focused instead on the weight of the evidence showing that the cleric had joined the enemy and was plotting more terrorist attacks.
"This is an easy one," Mr. Daley recalled him saying, though the president warned that in future cases, the evidence might well not be so clear.
So there you have Obama's former chief-of-staff acknowledging that Obama ordered the Awlaki strike.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc … et/258842/For everyone in the UK, your turn!
It is no secret that America and Britain are tightly joined at the hip in all manner of surveillance and war. So, naturally, the UK has announced its own test flight of an unmanned vehicle over British soil, which will likely pave the way for a full-scale drone presence throughout the region.
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/06/uk- … sting.html
The U.K. has been participating in this program for years!
But the use of the drones, which are flown by RAF pilots from a US air force base in Nevada, is raising fresh concerns among human rights lawyers and MPs.
The Ministry of Defence says only four Afghan civilians have been killed in its drone strikes since 2008. However, it also says it has no idea how many insurgents have died, because of the "immense difficulty and risks" of verifying who has been hit.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ju … an-talibanTerror watchdog warns of wave of compensation claims over drone strikes
It emerged last month that lawyers for Pakistani student Noor Khan have brought legal proceedings against the Foreign Office after his father Malik Daud Khan was killed in an attack by an unmanned CIA drone in Pakistan last year.
Mr Khan insists his father was innocent and the judicial review application could lead to the Government having to reveal whether its intelligence officers provide the US with information to help target drones.
Previous reports have also suggested as many as seven British passport holders have been killed in US drone strikes abroad.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ … rikes.htmlProfessor Todd Humphreys and his team at the University of Texas at Austin's Radionavigation Laboratory have just completed a successful experiment: illuminating a gaping hole in the government's plan to open US airspace to thousands of drones.
They could be turned into weapons.
"Spoofing a GPS receiver on a UAV is just another way of hijacking a plane," Humphreys told Fox News.
In other words, with the right equipment, anyone can take control of a GPS-guided drone and make it do anything they want it to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH6pQ7DBLZYDrone makers urge U.S. to let them sell more overseas
The defense industry may want to sell more drones overseas, but arms control advocates are alarmed. The potential for these weapons to fall into enemy hands is great, they say, and easing restrictions could result in remote-controlled killing machines being used in some of the most volatile regions of the world.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Assn., said that drone sales are problematic because the unmanned vehicles are more affordable than other military aircraft. And with no human pilot at risk, drones could make it easier to decide to go to war, he said.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-d … 9035.storyPakistan: US drone strike kills 8 militants
The U.S. rarely talks publicly about the covert CIA-run drone program in Pakistan.
The drone attacks are a source of deep frustration and tension between the U.S. and Pakistan. Islamabad says they violate its sovereignty and also cause civilian casualties.
They complicate efforts to normalize the relationship between Washington and Islamabad, including reopening supply routes through Pakistani territory to NATO and American forces in Afghanistan. Islamabad blocked the routes after American airstrikes accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.
The U.S. in turn criticizes Pakistan for failing to crack down on fighters who stage attacks in Afghanistan.
http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20120701 … ofile=1055The Pentagon is asking Congress to consider moving around US defense funds so that millions of dollars can be allocated to its overseas drone program in Afghanistan.
The Defense Department proposed a shift in as much as $641 million in funding on Monday, which, if approved, would move finances used for other Pentagon programs towards America’s intelligence and surveillance missions in Afghanistan, Bloomberg News reports.
http://rt.com/usa/news/pentagon-congress-drone-us-331/Seem to recall Afghanistan is where this all started, back in 2001 {actually earlier than that}, with the death (black bag assassination) of Massoud, opposition leader to the USSR & Taliban front. Two days later, 9/11 happens. A lot of muddled stuff in-between from Taliban to Al-Queda, to Iraq, to Pakistan and now Iran...
Indeed.
Given Afghanistan location, it only makes sense the US/UK want as much control/influence as possible, as it borders five powers, three of which are presently nuclear and one getting closer.
Breaking News!!!!
U.S. Apologizes to Pakistan, Says Supply Routes to Reopen
WASHINGTON—Pakistan agreed Tuesday to reopen North Atlantic Treaty Organization supply routes to Afghanistan after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apologized for the deaths of two dozen Pakistani troops in a November border clash, apparently ending a seven-month standoff that complicated U.S. war aims.
The U.S. apology was an about-face for the Obama administration, which had refused to say it was sorry for the Nov. 26 incident along the Afghanistan border.
Some U.S. officials have also said they worried that an apology could hurt President Barack Obama's standing in an election year
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 … 42208.htmlJimmy Carter savages US foreign policy over drone strikes
Former US President Jimmy Carter has said that drone strikes and targeted assassinations conducted by the Bush and the Obama administrations amounts to violations of human rights. At a time when many countries around the world are experiencing popular revolutions, the US should be strengthening, not weakening "basic rules of law and principles of justice" he added.
The former president Jimmy Carter has declared that US drone strikes and targeted assassinations abroad have seen the country violating human rights in a way that "abets our enemies and alienates our friends."
Revelations that top US officials are targeting people, including their own citizens, abroad are "only the most recent disturbing proof" of how far such violations have extended, he says in a furious critique of the administrations of George Bush and Barack Obama.
Read more: http://india.nydailynews.com/newsarticl … z1zsJ9sagUThe Young Turks are spot on!
Obama's 'License To Kill' Being Questioned By Congress
http://youtu.be/MkEZfkOvSewU.S. Drones In Pakistan Kill 10 Militants Near Afghanistan Border
The drone program is hotly contested in Pakistan.
Most Pakistanis feel the strikes violate the country's sovereignty and kill innocent civilians. The U.S. maintains they are directed against militants and necessary to combat groups like al-Qaida.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/1 … 06563.htmlObama terror drones: CIA tactics in Pakistan include targeting rescuers and funerals
The CIA’s drone campaign in Pakistan has killed dozens of civilians who had gone to help rescue victims or were attending funerals, an investigation by the Bureau for the Sunday Times has revealed.
The findings are published just days after President Obama claimed that the drone campaign in Pakistan was a ‘targeted, focused effort’ that ‘has not caused a huge number of civilian casualties.’
But research by the Bureau has found that since Obama took office three years ago, between 282 and 535 civilians have been credibly reported as killed including more than 60 children. A three month investigation including eye witness reports has found evidence that at least 50 civilians were killed in follow-up strikes when they had gone to help victims. More than 20 civilians have also been attacked in deliberate strikes on funerals and mourners. The tactics have been condemned by leading legal experts.
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/20 … -funerals/
There is no war being waged in Pakistan! These actions do not even qualify as war crimes, it is cold blooded MURDER!
Seriously, WAKE UP!!US under pressure over drone raids
Emmerson also lashed out at the US President Barack Obama Administration for "the position that it will neither confirm nor deny the existence of the drone program, whilst allowing senior officials to give public justifications of its supposed legality in personal lectures and interviews."
Emmerson said a large number of lawsuits have been filed against the US government in different parts of the world over such attacks with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the American Civil Liberties Union being among the institutions that have launched legal actions.
"There are now a large number of lawsuits, in different parts of the world, including in the UK, Pakistan and in the US itself, through which pressure for investigation and accountability is building," Emmerson said.
CCR says an estimated 2,500 people have been killed in drone strikes since Obama came to power in January 2009.
The US uses drones for combat and espionage missions in several countries including Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The US claims the pilotless aircraft target militants but many of the victims turn out to be civilians.
Pakistan in particular has objected to the US assassination drone attacks on its territory, arguing that the strikes violate its sovereignty.
http://edition.presstv.ir/TextOnly/deta … ?id=257181Drone strikes kill far less than if we put boots on the ground, .Africa is being over run and ravaged. a million have been slaughtered in Africa. since Obama has been in office. and not by us drones. Mali needs our drone help now. We should help them . Lets kill the 2500 that count. We can do that without a single us soldier death. Thanks to a drone.
How convenient, murder can be committed in sovereign nations with no declared war!
The United States is not a global police force, nor will it be successful if it attempts to be. We have issues within our own nation and cannot be responsible for foreign tragedies, if the situation becomes that dire, CONGRESS, not the assassin in chief, can make that determination.
Simply because America will not accrue casualties does not make it just to kill civilians half a world away. What is going to happen when other nations have the same feelings and attempt to issue justice within the borders of the U.S. with pilotless murder machines? That would be just dandy? Or does the United States hold some sort of superior moral prerogative that enables it to make life and death decisions for all of humanity?
Under what law does the President of the United States retain the authority to order the murder of others?
He doesn't, he is a murderer!
"“There is increasing commercial interest in East Africa from the U.S., which sees its national security interests tied to securing energy supplies,” Kimenyi said."
"U.S. oil and gas companies are increasingly taking on acreage in East Africa. Houston-based Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) paid $35 million to Africa Oil Corp. (AOI) for stakes in two Kenyan prospects last month, while Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC), also based in Houston, has made the decade’s biggest gas discovery off Mozambique and has rights to explore off Kenya’s coast."Yeah, oh the frickin horror! The U.S. is establishing an empire, once the American people are brought to their knees, the rest of the world is next. Y'all are gonna meet the American military might up close and personal. If you are not with them, you are against them! Get ready!
You rather us declare a war? . War is mass murder of civilians. And these sovereign nations you speak of are already at war with their own people. we try to break up the fight.You rather let them implode with civil war?
There is no law that would allow the President of the United States to legally order the murder of anyone. You would allow one individual to act as judge, jury, prosecutor, and executioner? No judicial oversight, no congressional oversight, no oversight at all. A complete refusal to present evidence, all that is required to murder a human being is the order of one man?
The United States is not responsible for the people of the world. Their obligation is to provide for the people of the United States. The only civil wars taking place are those instigated and supported by the Western powers!
Dropping bombs on a sovereign nation completely falls under the definition of terrorism, are you content that the government of the United States is the largest terrorist organization on the planet? Bombing funerals for the sole purpose of being able to return to bomb those that arrive to help the victims is a disgusting action of a coward! If a foreign state were to eradicate one of its designated "kill list individuals" within the borders of the United States, should that not be justified by the actions of America?
This is in violation of both U.S. and international law. Should the victims of these atrocities have the same opportunity at justice?"The United States is not responsible for the people of the world. Their obligation is to provide for the people of the United States. The only civil wars taking place are those instigated and supported by the Western powers!"
This so profound as the Supreme Court has ruled that Corporations are people too. So with this as constitutional law the government can go and do what it pleases justifying protecting "Peoples" property and providing for them.
The Supreme Court is in bed with the same people that are controlled by the Oligarchal handlers they answer to.
US Drone Strikes Defy International Law, UN Charter, Geneva Conventions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH_9p_o9qN0
It seems the entire world is condemning the United States drone program. It is being reported that 74% of casualties from these attacks are innocent civilians! The U.S. government is denying this figure, they estimate only 30% of the casualties are civilian. Three out of ten deaths from the drone attacks are innocent civilians, as admitted by the United States government. Each of these instances are violations of every law on the planet. This cannot be categorized as anything but outright cases of murder!Israeli air force shoots down drone aircraft
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli air force shot down a drone after it crossed into southern Israel on Saturday, the military said, but it remained unclear where the aircraft had come from.
The drone was first spotted above the Mediterranean Sea in the area of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to the west of Israel, said military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich.
It was kept under surveillance and followed by Israeli air force jets before it was shot down above a forest in an unpopulated area near the border with the occupied West Bank.
http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-air-force … 40054.htmlUS assassination drone strike kills 15 in Somalia
At least 15 people have been killed and many others wounded in the latest air strike carried out by a US assassination drone in Somalia, Press TV reports.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/2012/10/0 … n-somalia/Moral of story . . . don't start a fight if you don't want to be in one.
Who started the fight, who is fighting, How does it pose a national security threat to the U.S.? When was the declaration of war declared? What law either national or international gives any nation the authority to bomb sovereign nations and not have it declared ACTS OF TERROR?
Tawakul Karman, Yemeni Nobel Laureate, Condemns U.S. Drone Strikes As Ineffective
DOHA, May 30 (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize-winning Yemeni opposition activist Tawakul Karman said on Wednesday U.S. drone strikes were ineffective because they were hitting mainly civilians in south Yemen rather than their intended target, al Qaeda-linked militants.
"We are against drone strikes because they will not kill the real al Qaeda, they will only target women and youth," Karman said in an interview in the Qatari capital Doha on Wednesday.
Tribal leaders in parts of Yemen where drone attacks aimed at al Qaeda have killed civilians say the strikes have been turning more and more Yemenis against the Sanaa government and Washington.
"Fighting terrorists is a goal of our revolution, and we welcome the participation of the U.S. and the international community, but the only ones with the interest to combat al Qaeda in our country are the Yemeni people," Karman said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/3 … 57000.htmlBetter and unmanned drone is sent to kill those who seek to murder Americans then US soldiers.
If there is evidence that these militants presented an imminent threat to the national security of the United States, I would be very interested in looking at it.
Pakistani civilian deaths in US drone war ‘in vain’ – report
A study at Stanford and New York University titled ‘Living Under Drones’ claimed that only two percent of drone strike casualties in Pakistan are top militants, and that the large number of related civilian deaths turn Pakistanis against the US.
The study revealed that number of casualties among Pakistani civilians was far higher than the US acknowledged.
The researchers spent over nine months in Pakistan questioning survivors and witnesses of drone attacks, and the relatives of those killed by drones. Researchers interviewed over 130 people in total. The Pakistani human rights group Foundation for Fundamental Rights helped the study’s authors locate witnesses.
The researchers claimed that US drone policy in the region has not helped Washington achieve its goal of curbing terrorism in the region. The civilian deaths that mark practically every drone strike on terror suspects in Pakistan’s tribal regions has, rather, achieved the opposite goal: Locals hate the US because of the unceasing fear that death may come from above at any moment.
"US targeted killings and drone strike practices undermine respect for the rule of law and international legal protections and may set dangerous precedents," the report said.
The report claimed that Pakistanis are afraid to attend public events like weddings or funerals, which US drone operators frequently mistake for gatherings of Taliban or Al-Qaeda militants. In March 17, 2011, a drone strike killed an estimated 42 people who were later revealed to be attending a meeting of local elders, called ‘jirga.’ The elders had gathered to settle a dispute over ownership of a chromite mine. Only four out of 42 victims reportedly had terrorist ties.
According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, from June 2004 till mid-September 2012, between 2,562 and 3,325 people were killed in drone strikes Pakistan, mostly in the North Waziristan region. Some 474 to 881 of those killed were civilians, including 176 children. Another 1,300 were wounded.
In 2004, there was only one drone strike in Pakistan; in 2010, that number reached 127.
http://rt.com/news/pakistan-drones-study-civilians-933/
"The drone program is hotly contested in Pakistan...."
...so was the killing of Bin Laden
...so was the movie nut job made about Mohamed
...so what?
If the 'leaders' there had any political will, they would have rounded up Bin Laden and the rest of the extremists who board school buses and shoot little schoolgirls in the head a LONG time ago.
I rather send in a drown than a US soldier.
If the targets don't like it, they should invest in some anti-drone technology development rather than shoe bomb R & DSpeaking out against drones
October 18, 2012
SARAH HARVARD
The American people are now left in continuous fear; the fear of another attack - another family or friend lost. I remember those days. I remember the lump in my throat, the drop in my stomach, the way my heart plummeted like a sunken ship. I’m still weeping to this day.
Since 2004, men, women, and children, all over the world have lived in the same continuous fear through the use of drone strikes by the United States. What initially started during the Bush Administration has become drastically more intense since the Obama Administration took office. According to the Institute of Conflict Management, 2,375 civilians have been murdered in Pakistan alone by US drone strikes since 2005. As the casualties increase, the media has simultaneously spent less attention to the drone strikes attacks in Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia.
To dismiss these drone strikes on Pakistani civilians as “some aerial strikes” is completely hypocritical and heartless. It is hypocritical and heartless on the part of President Obama who contradicts his message of “hope and change” to the American people. It is hypocritical and heartless, ignoring the “A New Beginning Speech” given at the American University of Cairo, a speech littered with deceptive rhetoric and false claims of progressing towards peaceful relations with the US and the Middle East. Most importantly, it is hypocritical and heartless in light of our own experiences in the aftermath of September 11. We, too, know what it is like to lose our loved ones.
If the use of drones is to be used to assassinate low-ranking Taliban insurgents, it surely is isolating and infringing upon the 180 million Pakistani civilians. The United States refuses to acknowledge the use of drones on these civilians as an act of war. The logic is completely delusional. There is no difference between a looking a child in the eye before shooting them and dropping bombs on hundreds of children; both are an act of war. The Pakistani people live in a war zone; they live in a September 11 every single day.
I will admit to having been a loyal supporter of President Obama in 2008. I was anti-war then, and I am anti-war today. Today, my opinion of him has changed. While I once considered it my duty to support a president I believed in, I now consider it my duty to speak against a president who has failed his people. And I will continue to fight. I will continue to criticise the President regardless of his political party. I will speak up for the for the Khairullah Jans of the world so that no one will see their dreams crushed and their loved ones sacrificed to a government’s cruel thirst for dominance. I will speak up for the American people so that another attack on the United States will never be an issue. I will speak up for what America is essentially about - the concept of the rights of people to life, liberty, and property. The people of Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia have these same rights. I will speak up, because it’s not only the right thing to do, but it’s the only thing we can do.
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news- … nst-dronesOK, so let's have more carefully selected drone strikes....
sometimes, despite taking all precautions possible, mistakes happen.... to suggest that the US is tossing bombs around like they were candy isn't credible. and i can't see any rationale reason why it would do so.
sometimes, you go by the evidence you have and make an educated assumption that the targets are valid... sometimes you are wrong.. other times you catch Bin Laden hiding in his bedroom behind his wife.
If they Pakistanis are that incensed, perhaps they should lobby the Taliban-loving friends in their government and military to risk their own lives and take out the terrorists who seem to have made the rural parts of their country home.
Or maybe they are just counting on 14 year old girls to show them what fighting for freedom and justice is all aboutGreek One
This is where major global difficulties are going to arise. How is the global community going to condemn other nations as they engage in similar tactics. What kind of world are we creating?
Hezbollah Says It Sent Drone That Was Shot Down Over Israel
BEIRUT—Hezbollah, the Lebanese political party and militia, said it was behind the drone that entered Israeli airspace Saturday and warned it may continue to launch reconnaissance operations over Israel.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087 … 55370.html
This time it was for reconnaissance purposes, it will not be hard for our enemies to turn these spy planes in to weapons.Hezbollah and its backers do not need an excuse to launch violent attacks against anyone...
nor is Hezbollah another 'nation' with the sovereignty and inherent right to defend its people against those who conspire against itThey are not another nation themselves, but there are members that hold positions in the government of Lebanon.
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