drone strike

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Our Dirty Drone War Must End

 Our Dirty Drone War Must End 
OPINION
Feb 20, 2012 1:13 PM CST

Our Dirty Drone War Must End

It may be creating more terrorists than it's killing: Gary Kamiya

(Newser) - Before 9/11, if the US president had announced that the government was going to "play God, reaching down from our high-tech heaven to kill whoever we want, whenever we want, wherever we want"—including US citizens, without a trial—the news would have been met with uproar. But...

US Kills Taliban Commander With al-Qaeda Ties

Drone strike indicates again that drones are back in action in Pakistan.

(Newser) - A US drone fired two missiles at a house in Pakistan's northwest tribal region today, killing five suspected militants, according to intelligence officials. The Taliban identified one of them as Badar Mansoor, a prominent commander who has served as a key link to al-Qaeda. Mansoor led a group of...

US Drones Return to Hit Rescuers, Funerals

Strikes occurring every 4 days under Obama: report

(Newser) - A few days back, President Obama said that US drone attacks in Pakistan had "not caused a huge number of civilian casualties." But a Bureau of Investigative Journalism report finds that somewhere between 282 and 535 civilians, including 60 children, have been "credibly reported" killed in the...

Obama to Woman: Send Me Jobless Husband's Resume

Also defends drone use in Google+ chat

(Newser) - President Obama sat down for an extended "interview" in a Google+ Hangout yesterday, and at one point, things got a little personal, Politico reports. When a woman confronted him over H-1B visas for skilled immigrants, saying that her husband, a semiconductor engineer, couldn't find a job, Obama turned...

Drone Strike Kills Top al-Qaeda Operative

Aslam Awan killed in Jan. 10 attack: official

(Newser) - A CIA drone strike in early January killed a key al-Qaeda operative who was planning attacks on the West, according to a US official. The official said yesterday that the strike on Jan. 10 hit Aslam Awan, who was described as an "external operations planner" inside the organization. The...

US Restarts Drone Attacks, Kills 4 in Pakistan Strike

Officials insist there was no moratorium

(Newser) - The US' drone war in Pakistan is back on. The US launched its first strike last night since a November attack that killed 28 Pakistani soldiers and ratcheted the already fraught tensions between the two nations to a new high. The attack hit a North Waziristan home just before midnight,...

US Thinks Saleh Tricked It Into Killing Rival

CIA relied completely on Yemen government for intelligence

(Newser) - The government of Yemen appears to have tricked the US into taking out a local political nuisance with a missile strike, top military leaders involved in the attack tell the Wall Street Journal . Yemeni officials alerted the US to a gathering of al-Qaeda leaders on May 25, 2010, and the...

Under Obama, a Force of Killer Drones Evolved

Semi-secret assassination program has expanded greatly in his term

(Newser) - In the five years before President Obama took office, America’s drones launched 44 strikes, all confined to Pakistan, killing about 400 people. But during his Oval Office tenure there have been almost 240 strikes, killing at least four times as many people, and the US has built dozens of...

Pakistani Cricketer Draws 100K+ to Rally

Politician attracts followers with anti-US message

(Newser) - More than 100,000 people rallied in support of Pakistani cricket legend and opposition politician Imran Khan in the southern city of Karachi today, further cementing his status as a rising force in politics. His message of cracking down on corruption and standing up to the US has found new...

29% of Drone Pilots Are Burned Out, Exhausted

Air Force points to three reasons for the stress

(Newser) - Drones may be unmanned, but they're not pilot-less, and many of those pilots are having a pretty rough time. NPR reports on a new Pentagon study, commissioned by the Air Force, that looks at the mental toll that fighting "remote-controlled war" takes, and the stats are somewhat disheartening....

CIA Paused Drone Attacks in Pakistan 6 Weeks Ago

Part of an attempt to improve relations with Islamabad

(Newser) - In an effort to make nice with Islamabad, the CIA paused drone missile strikes against low-level militants in Pakistan nearly six weeks ago, current and former officials tell the Los Angeles Times . The suspension affects so-called signature strikes: attacks on those who were observed, via drone or another form of...

Obama, CIA Refuse to Justify Drone War

Secrecy reigns over deadly program

(Newser) - The CIA has ramped up its drone strikes under President Obama, killing somewhere between 1,350 and 2,250 people in Pakistan alone over the past three years. Yet the US has identified virtually none of those victims, nor provided any legal rationale for their killings, the Washington Post observes,...

US to Iran: Give Us Back Our Drone, Please

But Obama, Clinton don't seem to be holding their breath

(Newser) - Red-faced American officials have requested that Iran return a crashed US drone —the one apparently paraded before Iranians and stripped of whatever secrets it was carrying. "We have asked for it back. We'll see how the Iranians respond," said President Obama in the first confirmation that...

Pakistan Boots CIA From Drone-Launch Base

US officials say counter-terrorism strikes to continue from other sites

(Newser) - Furious over the recent NATO airstrike that killed at least 25 Pakistani soldiers , Pakistan has booted the CIA from an important base it had been using to launch drone attacks along the Afghan border, reports the New York Times . Pakistani officials said that, as of yesterday, all US personnel had...

US Drone Strike in Pakistan Kills Kin of Militant Leader

Deputy leader of militant group killed in attack

(Newser) - Suspected US unmanned aircraft fired six missiles at a vehicle in Pakistan's rugged tribal region today, killing five militants, including a close ally to one of the area's top commanders, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The attack in the South Waziristan tribal area killed the cousin and brother of...

'Kamikaze' Mini-Drones Added to US Arsenal

'Switchblade' drone can fit in a soldier's backpack

(Newser) - There's a new drone about to join the American military's arsenal—and it's a suicide bomber. The "Switchblade," small enough to be carried in a soldier's backpack, is designed to hover in the sky before flying itself into a human target and detonating a...

Miscommunication Caused Friendly Fire Drone Killings

Warning by US-based analysts never sent to operator, ground forces: Report

(Newser) - The two US servicemen killed by a Predator in April died because Marines on the ground and the Air Force crew operating the drone were not told by analysts elsewhere of doubts about the men's identity, reports the LA Times . The incident occurred on April 6 when a Marine...

Ron Paul: Awlaki Killing Unconstitutional

Dick Cheney voices support for drone strike against Awlaki

(Newser) - Anwar al-Awlaki was a "detestable person" and no one mourns his killing in Yemen last week. But that doesn't change the fact that his killing was unconstitutional and "sets a dangerous new precedent," writes Ron Paul in an editorial in the New York Daily News . "...

Another American Killed in Strike on Anwar al-Awlaki

Editor of 'Inspire' magazine killed as well

(Newser) - Anwar al-Awlaki wasn't the only American jihadist killed in a drone attack today . The airstrike also killed Samir Khan , a 20-something of Pakistani descent from North Carolina, Yemen's Defense Ministry tells the AP . Khan was the creator of "Inspire," al-Qaeda's English-language online magazine . In its...

Soon, Drones Could Kill Without Human Guidance

Tests already under way for robot killers of the future

(Newser) - Could robots be the soldiers of the future? The Pentagon is currently working on drones that can identify—and will eventually be able to eliminate—targets without any human controlling them. The Washington Post details a demonstration last fall in which a pair of model-sized planes, working in tandem, located...

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