drone strike

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Pakistan OKed Some Drone Strikes in Secret: Musharraf

Contradicts country's previous assertions

(Newser) - In the past, Pakistan has maintained that US drone strikes in the country were carried out without leaders' involvement. Now, former leader Pervez Musharraf says the government approved some of the strikes in secret, CNN reports. Officials gave the go-ahead "only on a few occasions, when a target was...

Obama to Take Drones Out of CIA's Hands: Report

Defense Department will eventually run sole program

(Newser) - A big scoop from the Daily Beast : President Obama is set to eighty-six the CIA's drone program, per three senior US officials. Daniel Klaidman reports that the plan, which the White House is "poised to sign off on," would instead centralize the drone program under the Pentagon;...

Rand Paul Staging Old-School Filibuster

Senator holds up vote on CIA nominee over drone strategy

(Newser) - It's possible the Senate will get a chance to confirm John Brennan as the next CIA chief tomorrow—unless Rand Paul's voice holds out. The Kentucky Republican began a genuine filibuster about 11:45am today, reports USA Today . That is, he's not taking advantage of the modern...

Holder: US Can Kill an American on Home Soil

But in response to hypothetical query, he stresses it's unlikely

(Newser) - Eric Holder says President Obama would be in his rights to order the killing of a US citizen on American soil under rare circumstances, reports Mother Jones . But in a letter to Rand Paul answering Paul's question on the matter, the attorney general stressed it would have to a...

Drones Reduce Civilian Deaths

 Drones Reduce Civilian Deaths 
OPINION
Feb 20, 2013 1:06 PM CST

Drones Reduce Civilian Deaths

They're far better at that than any other military weapon: William Saletan

(Newser) - Critics of the growing use of drone strikes by the Pentagon often point to civilian casualties as an argument against them. Sorry, writes William Saletan at Slate , but drones are far better than any other weapon of war at minimizing the deaths of innocents. What's more, they've gotten...

How This Drone Photo Came to Be

AP photographer explains her now-familiar image

(Newser) - It's become the go-to image for editors everywhere to illustrate stories about US drone strategy: A Predator drone flies over Kandahar's air field with a full moon in the background. (It shows up on Newser a lot, too.) With the image in wide circulation of late, Josh...

Wait, American Lives Are Worth More Than Others&#39;?
Wait, American Lives Are Worth More Than Others'?
desmond tutu
Feb 13, 2013 12:22 PM CST

Wait, American Lives Are Worth More Than Others'?

Desmond Tutu compares US drone mindset to apartheid, slavery

(Newser) - Desmond Tutu has unloaded on the Obama White House in a letter to the editor in the New York Times , drawing a parallel to the US war on terror with both slavery and apartheid. Tutu was set off by a story this week saying the US might set up a...

US Might Expand 'Kill List' Into North Africa

Officials debate adding Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar

(Newser) - Amid the debate about whether US drone strikes go too far, the Wall Street Journal reports that US officials are considering a "significant" expansion of the nation's targeted-killing program into northwest Africa. Specifically, the powers-that-be are debating whether to add Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar to the Pentagon's...

CIA Drone Strikes Are Just Educated Guesses

Dexter Filkins: Information used to select targets 'nowhere near adequate'

(Newser) - The recent drone headlines , along with the testimony of CIA nominee John Brennan, prompt Dexter Filkins of the New Yorker to reiterate a key point about drone strikes he learned first-hand from reporting overseas: The CIA can never be positive about the targets it strikes. "Our ignorance is not...

Obama to Give Congress Classified Drone Info

White House to hand over rationale on when it's OK to target Americans

(Newser) - President Obama has directed the Justice Department to give Congress' intelligence committees access to classified legal advice providing the government's rationale for drone strikes against American citizens working with al-Qaeda abroad, a senior administration official said today. A drumbeat of demands to see the document has swelled on Capitol...

Secret Saudi Drone Base No Longer Secret

Revelation comes just ahead of John Brennan's confirmation hearing

(Newser) - And the drone-strike revelations keep coming . A number of US media outlets last night broke their silence about the location of a secret drone base used by the CIA to attack al-Qaeda in Yemen: Saudi Arabia. And CIA director-nominee John Brennan's name is all over the reports, just ahead...

Obama's Memo on Killing US Citizens Is a Disgrace

Glenn Greenwald: No free society should sanction this

(Newser) - The Obama administration's rationale for when it's OK to kill US citizens is fundamentally un-American, writes Glenn Greenwald at the Guardian . For example, the Justice Department memo says the US is justified in going after terrorists—based on the assertions of US officials supposedly in the know about...

Feds Can Kill US Citizens: DOJ Memo

Leaked document has loose definition of requirements for drone strike

(Newser) - It is legal for the American government to order the killing of an American citizen if a "high-level" official decides that the person is a senior member of al-Qaeda or an associated group who poses "an imminent threat of violent attack" against the US, according to a Justice...

UN to Investigate US, UK Drone Attacks

Critics say drone strikes hit civilians, violate int'l laws

(Newser) - In the face of mounting criticism about US and UK drone strikes , the United Nations is going to investigate the use of drones in targeted killings in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, reports the Guardian . The investigation will look at drone strikes in Mali and those made by Israel into...

Blowback Feared After US Strike Kills Pakistani Ally

Maulvi Nazir reportedly had truce with Pakistan

(Newser) - A pair of US drone strikes in northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border killed 13 people today, including a senior militant commander who had a truce with the Pakistani military, intelligence officials and residents said. Five Pakistani security officials said the commander, Maulvi Nazir, was reportedly among nine people killed...

Pakistan: US Drone Kills al-Qaeda No. 2

Abu Zaid al-Kuwaiti replaced commander killed in June drone strike

(Newser) - A US drone strike has killed a senior al-Qaeda leader in Pakistan's tribal region near the Afghan border, Pakistani intelligence officials said, in the latest blow to the Islamic militant network. Sheik Khalid bin Abdel Rehman al-Hussainan, who was also known as Abu Zaid al-Kuwaiti, was killed when missiles...

White House Pushed for Drone Rules to Give 'President Romney'

Explicit procedures are still in the works

(Newser) - President Obama's administration was worried enough about his chances of getting re-elected that it quickly worked to codify US drone policy, the New York Times reports. Two administration officials say the White House was working quickly to write up explicit standards, procedures, and rules for drone strikes so a...

Milestone Near in US Counter-Terror Operations

Number killed in drone strikes will exceed those killed in 9/11 attacks

(Newser) - The Washington Post notes that a milestone is near in post-9/11 counter-terror operations: The number of militants and civilians killed in the US drone campaign is about to tick over 3,000 and surpass the number of victims in the 2001 attacks. The nugget is part of a larger story...

Propaganda Alert: Don't Call Drone Strikes 'Surgical'

They are anything but precise and clean, says Conor Friedersdorf

(Newser) - "Surgical" is the White House's adjective of choice in describing its drone strikes in Pakistan and around the world. But Conor Friedersdorf, writing in the Atlantic , thinks he has two better words: "Orwellian propaganda." "Surgical" makes you think of precision, like an operation, with drone...

Drones Kill Way More Civilians Than CIA Admits

Report says only 2% of total casualties are "high-level" targets

(Newser) - US drones kill innocent civilians far more than the White House is letting on, according to a scathing new report from Stanford and NYU investigating the controversial unmanned strikes in Pakistan. The White House has claimed that civilian casualties only occur "in the rarest of circumstances," reports CNN...

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