Report: Obama 'Admin' To Announce 'Low count' Civilian Casualties From Drone Strikes.

Report: Obama 'Admin' To Announce 'Low count' Civilian Casualties From Drone Strikes. (Popsci).

                      An official number, oddly lower than all previous estimates.

Next week, the Obama Administration is expected to announce the civilian death totals from America’s targeted killing campaign by drone. The number will be low. The administration “believes around 100 civilians have died in nearly 500 U.S. drone strikes since 2009,” U.S. officials told NBC.

Reporting on casualties in conflicts, especially ones where everyone involved has a vested interest in some competing version of the truth, is tricky. In 2013, one estimate of the campaign at that point held 3,000 total casualties from drone strikes, with reasonable certainty that at least 700 or so were civilians and children.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a nonprofit that’s covered the casualties of the drone war for years, found between 259 and 636 reported civilian deaths from drone strikes in Pakistan alone. The Bureau also maintains records for strikes in Yemen and Somalia, and notes that children as a percentage of drone strike casualties decreased greatly over time.

Other accounts vary greatly, with the 100-civilians figure from the administration at the lower end. Accompanying the announcement is likely to be a change in policy.

The Daily Beast reports:

According to a source familiar with the discussions, the president may also impose other new rules on drone and other air strikes, including providing more financial reparations to families of civilians killed in drone strikes and requiring other countries with which the U.S. partners to follow the same rules as it does. The source added that the administration is also expected to release a less redacted copy of the presidential policy guidance that governs drone strikes. That means more details about the policy may come to light than currently available.

It’s unlikely that any change will prevent this or future administrations from using drones for targeted strikes entirely. Drones are particularly well-suited as a tool of war against non-state actors like Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and ISIS. They are also weapons that can afford to wait. The cameras they carry capture a tremendous amount of detail, enough to differentiate somewhat between the people down below.


With an expectation of transparency on the program, perhaps future drone missions will do better in striking only those who themselves self-identify as agents of malicious violence.

Anti-drone activist kidnapped in Pakistan before he was due to testify in Europe, lawyer claims.

Anti-drone activist kidnapped in Pakistan before he was due to testify in Europe, lawyer claims.(RT).

Kareem Khan was taken from his home in Rawalpindi – a city located just nine miles away from Islamabad in Punjab province – by approximately 20 men. Shahzad Akbar, Khan’s lawyer, told AFP that many of the men were wearing police uniforms, though the affiliation of the kidnappers remains unknown.

Khan was scheduled to depart Pakistan on Saturday to speak with German, Dutch, and British parliamentarians about his experience with drone strikes.

Khan originally hails from the tribal region of North Waziristan and became the first Pakistani man to sue the US government in connection with drone attacks that killed members of his family. Khan’s brother and son were killed in a strike in December 2009.

Akbar now maintains that Khan’s wife and children have not been given any information regarding his location, or why he was taken.
“We lodged a report with the local police but they denied having picked him up,” the attorney said. “It seems to be work of the intelligence agencies.”

Local police have denied any involvement, saying they have no record of a raid on the night in question.
Clare Algar, executive director at Reprieve – a legal charity based in the UK – wrote on the organization’s website that officials are growing concerned.

“We are very worried about Mr. Khan’s safety,” she wrote. “He is a crucial witness to the dangers of the CIA’s covert drone program, and has simply sought justice for the death of his son and brother through peaceful, legal routes. Reports that he was detained by men in police uniforms are of great concern, and we urge the Government of Pakistan to do everything in its power to secure his immediate release.”

He first filed suit in 2010, asserting that drone strikes murder innocent civilians and violate international law by subverting the international prohibition on assassinations away from a battlefield. Khan said he was not home at the time of the strike, but stated that neighbors witnessed a massive blast.

In addition to Khan’s brother and son, a construction worker also died in the strike. Khan’s brother was a teacher with a master’s degree in English, while his son was a staff member at a government school.

Senior US intelligence officials told CNN at the time that Khan was suspected of housing Haji Omar Khan, a notorious Taliban leader who was also killed in the strike. Khan has denied ever knowing Haji Omar Khan, who fought against the Soviet Red Army in Afghanistan before developing close ties with Mullah Omar.

Last year, Akbar – who represents a number of Pakistanis affected by drone strikes – and other activists published a letter in which they named the CIA station chief in Islamabad, accusing he and CIA director John Brennan of murder for their role in a drone strike late last year.

While exact figures are murky, AFP estimates that 2,155 Pakistanis have been killed in drone attacks since august 2008. It remains unknown how many of those killed were suspected militants and how many were civilians. Hmmmm......"I can do anything i want?"

Obama 'admin' Changes Drone Strike Rules To 'Permit' Bombing Civilians.

Obama 'admin' Changes Drone Strike Rules To 'Permit' Bombing Civilians.(Washington Times)

The Pentagon has loosened its guidelines on avoiding civilian casualties during drone strikes, modifying instructions from requiring military personnel to “ensure” civilians are not targeted to encouraging service members to “avoid targeting” civilians.

In addition, instructions now tell commanders that collateral damage “must not be excessive” in relation to mission goals, according to Public Intelligence, a nonprofit research group that analyzed the military’s directives on drone strikes.

“These subtle but important changes in wording provide insight into the military’s attempts to limit expectations in regards to minimizing collateral damage and predicting the lethal effects of military operations,” Public Intelligence said in a recent report.

“Before any strike is taken, there must be near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured — the highest standard we can set,” President Obama said in a rare acknowledgment of the strikes in May 2012.Read the full story here.

Video - 'Will I Be Next?' Pakistan drone survivor evidence prompts calls for US war crime trials.

Amnesty international is accusing the US of committing war crimes through its drone program in Pakistan.(RT).

A report from the Human Rights organization lists recent incidents and says there's an almost complete absence of transparency. The activists have challenged the Obama administration to prove it has thoroughly investigated all cases of unlawful killings.

The report is based on the investigation of the nine out of 45 drone strikes reported between January 2012 and August 2013 in North Waziristan, the area where the US drone campaign is most intensive. The research is centered on one particular case – that of 68-year-old Mamana Bibi, who was killed by a US drone last October while she was picking vegetables with her grandchildren.

The report is entitled ‘Will I be next?’ citing the woman’s eight-year-old granddaughter Nabeela, who was near when the attack occurred, but miraculously survived.

"First it whistled then I heard a "dhummm". The first hit us and the second my cousin,” Nabeela recalls.

The report also recounts an incident from July 2012, when 18 laborers, including a 14-year-old, were killed in the village of Zowi Sidgi. The men gathered after work in a tent to have a rest when the first missile hit. The second struck those who tried to help the injured.

“Amnesty International is seriously concerned that these and other strikes have resulted in unlawful killings that may constitute extrajudicial executions or war crimes,” the report reads.

Amnesty’s main point is the need for transparency and accountability, something the US has so far been reluctant to offer.

“The US must explain why these people have been killed - people who are clearly civilians. It must provide justice to these people, compensation and it must investigate those responsible for those killings,” Mustafa Qadri, the Amnesty researcher who wrote the report, says.

The report comes at a time when the US is facing growing international pressure over its drone program.

Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistani prime minister, is currently in Washington, where he is expected to talk drones with Barack Obama. And on Friday the UN General Assembly will be debating the use of remotely-piloted aircraft.

In a separate report, a UN investigation revealed some 33 drone strikes around the world - not just in Pakistan - that violated international humanitarian law and resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties. That report is also calling for more transparency and accountability from the United States.

Analyst: Drone strikes are a violation of international law and constitute the supreme war crime under the Nuremberg principles.

Analyst: Drone strikes are a violation of international law and constitute the supreme war crime under the Nuremberg principles.(PressTv).

A US political commentator says CIA assassination drone strikes are a violation of international law and constitute the supreme war crime under the Nuremberg principles.

Dr. Kevin Barrett, who is one of the renowned US critics of Washington’s so-called war on terror, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Friday, a day after a United Nations report warned that the use of armed drones threatens global security and encourages more states to acquire unmanned weapons.

“These drone strikes are clearly examples of the supreme war crime under the Nuremberg principles, which is the crime of aggression. Attacking another country, that is in any situation other than to stop an imminent attack on one’s own country, is aggression, the supreme war crime,” Barrett said.

“So every single drone strike is an example of this supreme war crime, and I think this UN report is an example of too little too late. They are not coming out and calling it what it is — the supreme war crime. They are simply claiming it is a misguided example of so-called global policing.

“But if some anti-American group would start using drones to blow up wedding parties in the US, it would be called terrorism and these people would be internationally considered outlaws.

“So the Americans who are using this cowardly means of slaughtering innocent civilians all over the world are terrorists and outlaws as well.”

The veteran commentator also said, “I do not think the UN is going to be able to stop these drone attackers from doing their evil deeds. I think it will probably happen gradually as the US Empire slowly loses its power.”

The UN report, which has been submitted to the UN General Assembly by Christof Heyns — the organization’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, summary or arbitrary executions — called for states that operate armed drones to be more transparent and publicly disclose how they use them.

“The expansive use of armed drones by the first states to acquire them, if not challenged, can do structural damage to the cornerstones of international security and set precedents that undermine the protection of life across the globe in the longer term,” the report said.

“The use of drones by states to exercise essentially a global policing function to counter potential threats presents a danger to the protection of life, because the tools of domestic policing (such as capture) are not available, and the more permissive targeting framework of the laws of war is often used instead,” it pointed out.

The report also called for international laws to be respected rather than ignored.

“The view that mere past involvement in planning attacks is sufficient to render an individual targetable, even where there is no evidence of a specific and immediate attack, distorts the requirements established in international human rights law,” stated the report.

Countries cannot consent “to the violation of their obligations under international humanitarian law or international human rights law,” it added.

The report noted that “drones come from the sky but leave the heavy footprint of war on the communities they target.”

“The claims that drones are more precise in targeting cannot be accepted uncritically, not least because terms such as ‘terrorist’ or ‘militant’ are sometimes used to describe people who are in truth protected civilians,” it said.

The report is the first of two major papers on drone strikes due to be debated at the UN General Assembly on October 25.

The second, by Ben Emmerson, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, was published on Friday.

The investigation found that US drone strikes have killed more than 450 civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen over the past decade.

Emmerson said that drone strikes have killed far more civilians than US officials have publicly acknowledged.
He said on Thursday that at least 400 in Pakistan and as many as 58 in Yemen have been killed by the CIA drone strikes, and censured the US for failing to aid the investigation by disclosing its own figures.


Washington uses assassination drones in several countries, claiming that they target “terrorists”. According to witnesses, however, the attacks have mostly led to massive civilian casualties.

Related: RT – Drones - National Debate Coaches Association (PDF).

1. Jeff, Research Analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. .... Under international law, in order for the U.S. government to legally target civilian terror ... including by a non-state actor, would constitute an “armed attack” under Article 51. ...... US drone policies violate UN Basic Principles

Bill Would Ban Drone Strikes Against U.S. Citizens.

Bill Would Ban Drone Strikes Against U.S. Citizens.(HP).

There’s one measure that quietly passed in the House along with Friday’s massive defense bill that libertarians may like: a ban on drone strikes against U.S. citizens.

The idea that the United States military could target citizens with Hellfire missiles from an unmanned aerial vehicle caught prominence when Sen. Rand Paul held an epic 13-hour filibuster demanding to know whether the Obama administration thought it had the authority to carry out such a strike.

Attorney General Eric Holder eventually answered “no,” the administration does not, as long as the person is not actively engaged in combat against the United States.

Still, many members of Congress did not want to take Holder at his word, and a ban, authored by Georgia GOP Rep. Paul Broun, was slipped into the National Defense Authorization Act among a block of amendments approved only on a voice vote.

The amendment says the “Department of Defense may not use a drone to kill a citizen of the United States,” except in the same case Holder noted.

“The prohibition … shall not apply to an individual who is actively engaged in combat against the United States.”

“I reluctantly supported the NDAA because it is critical that we provide for our national defense and give our men and women in uniform the resources they need,” said Broun. “However, I am deeply concerned that the bill doesn’t go far enough to protect U.S. citizens from government overreach, and I plan to continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure that Americans’ rights are protected.” The Senate is now working on its own version of the bill.Read the full story here.

US drone strike kills Pakistan Taliban number two: Officials.

US drone strike kills Pakistan Taliban number two: Officials.(ET).

PESHAWAR: A US drone strike killed the number two of the Pakistan Taliban, Waliur Rehman, in the North Waziristan region on Wednesday, three security officials said in what would be a major achievement in the fight against militancy.

The drone strike killed seven people, the security officials said, including Taliban deputy commander Waliur Rehman, in the first such attack since a May 11 general election in which the use of the unmanned aircraft was a major issue.

Waliur Rehman had been poised to succeed Hakimullah Mehsud as leader of the Pakistan Taliban, a senior army official based in the South Waziristan tribal region, the group’s stronghold, said in December.

Intelligence officials said that Mehsud’s brutality had turned his own subordinates against him, while the more measured Rehman had emerged as the group’s primary military strategist.

“If a leader doesn’t behave like a leader, he loses support. For the longest time now, Hakimullah has done the dirty work while Waliur Rehman is the thinker. Taliban fighters recognise this,” said the first Pakistani military source.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have launched devastating attacks against the Pakistani military and civilians.

Drone casualties are difficult to verify. Foreign journalists must have permission from the military to visit the tribal areas along the Afghan border.

Taliban fighters also often seal off the sites of drone strikes immediately so Pakistani journalists cannot see the victims.

The Taliban were not immediately available for comment.

The security officials and Pashtun tribesmen in the northwestern region said the drone fired two missiles that struck a mud-built house at Chashma village, 3km east of Miranshah, the region’s administrative town.

They said seven people were killed and four wounded.

“Tribesmen started rescue work an hour after the attack and recovered seven bodies,” said resident Bashir Dawar. “The bodies were badly damaged and beyond recognition.”Read the full story here.

DOJ white paper explaining Obama's targeted killing program - Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a U.S. Citizen who is a Senior Operational Leader of Al Qa’ida or An Associated Force.

DOJ white paper explaining Obama's targeted killing program - Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a U.S. Citizen who is a Senior Operational Leader of Al Qa’ida or An Associated Force.HT: BarracudaBrigade.

Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a U.S. Citizen who is a Senior Operational Leader of Al Q... by Mike Riggs

Obama reverses course, approves providing legal advice on drones to Congress.

Obama reverses course, approves providing legal advice on drones to Congress.(Politico).By Jennifer Epstein and Josh Gerstein.
President Obama has reversed course and agreed to provide the congressional intelligence committees with classified Justice Department legal advice authorizing the use of drones to kill U.S. citizens abroad, two administration officials said Wednesday evening.
The sharing of the information, which lawmakers had long sought, comes on the eve of a Senate hearing on John Brennan’s nomination to serve as the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Some senators had suggested that his nomination could be blocked if the administration was not more forthcoming.
Obama made the decision Wednesday to provide members of Congress with the Office of Legal Counsel's advice, one official said, following the leak earlier in the week of a Justice Department white paper on the use of drones. The white paper appears to have been derived from the longer legal memo or memos that the administration long resisted sharing with the oversight panels on the Hill.
A leading lawmaker in the drive for access to the memos, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), welcomed Obama's decision but suggested more disclosure was necessary. "This is an encouraging first step," Wyden told the Associated Press. "There is now an opportunity to build on it."
Earlier Wednesday, Wyden said he would "pull out all the stops to get the actual legal analysis, because without it, in effect, the administration is, in effect, practicing secret law." He also accused the White House of stonewalling.
On Monday, Wyden and ten other senators sent Obama letter demanding access to the legal opinions. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) also called for Congress to see the documents.
"I passionately disagree with them not providing the actual legal opinion," Rogers told MSNBC Wednesday, prior to Obama's new move.
"Everyone – not just select members of Congress – has a right to know when the government believes it can kill American citizens," the American Civil Liberties Union's Chris Anders said in a statement. "This concession has taken far too long and falls far short of President Obama's commitment to transparency he pledged to abide by since becoming president.”Hmmm.....'Judge, Jury and executioner'.Read the full story here.

Video - Judge, jury and executioner.

US citizens not exempt from extra judiciary drone strikes under Obama.HT: SunNews.

"A man with a vision" - PTI will hold the biggest ever protest in Pakistan: Imran Khan.

"A man with a vision" - PTI will hold the biggest ever protest in Pakistan: Imran Khan.(Tribune).ISLAMABAD: While the people and the media of Pakistan have not gotten over Tahirul Qadri’s long march, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan announced on Friday that his party will hold the “biggest ever” protest which will “trump all other protests people have seen in the past.”
Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, Khan said that he had kept his party members on standby for the protest, which is why, he said, he had earlier announced a 7-point agenda.
“Being a political party, we hold the right to lodge protests. About two million people in the United Kingdom took to the streets in order to protest the Iraq killings,” said Khan.
He said that there was a lot of pressure on him from his party members to join Minhajul Quran International chief Qadri’s long march, however, he said that he told his followers to wait for the “right time”.
Khan said that he will lead the protest “only to get free and fair elections conducted in the country.”
Responding to a question, the PTI chief said that there was “no question” of boycotting the elections, because “the upcoming elections are the most important throughout Pakistan’s electoral history.”
While talking about a caretaker setup to be put in place, Khan said that all political parties should sit together to deliberate upon the issue and that the caretaker prime minister should be the one agreed upon by all the parties.
However, he said that so far, no one had approached his party to discuss the caretaker setup.Hmmmmm......"He said that there was a lot of pressure on him from his party members to join Minhajul Quran International chief Qadri’s long march, however, he said that he told his followers to wait for the “right time".......A dangerous intelligent man.Read the full story here.

"Pakistani Spring" - Protesters demand "Change the System!" Will we see an Islamist Nuclear Power threatening the US?

Imran Khan

"Pakistani Spring" - Protesters demand "Change the System!" Will we see an Islamist Nuclear Power threatening the US?(Spiegel).A self-proclaimed revolutionary is attracting mass protests, while the highest court has ordered the prime minister's arrest and the military waits in the wings. Pakistan is in the grips of a major political upheaval.
The contrast between the images couldn't be any more striking. In Islamabad, people could be seen celebrating in front of the parliament building. Men patted each other on the shoulder and hopped around in circles. Women waved green flags emblazoned with the white crescent symbol and sang. "Nizam Badlo!" they call out repeatedly. "Change the System!"
They had convened to celebrate Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, a government critic and their self-proclaimed revolutionary leader, and the decision made by the country's Supreme Court to allow the arrest of Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on suspicion of corruption and nepotism.
But television stations also broadcasted images from many other parts of the country, where instead of celebrations one could see angry crowds protesting Ashraf's arrest. Some are rioting, and in Karachi people could be seen firing their guns into the air. Others are cursing Tahir-ul-Qadri, who they accuse of not having any respect for the government or the Pakistani people, who voted for the current leaders democratically during elections in spring 2008.
Pakistan currently finds itself in a state of crisis. The nuclear power is facing a test that it doesn't appear capable of withstanding. In any case, the country will be facing a national election this spring, by May at the latest.Hmmmm....."You harvest what you sow."Read the full story here.

Related: India - Second ceasefire violation by Pakistan in one hour
New Delhi: Another round of firing by Pakistani troops has been reported near the Line of Control (LoC), the second within an hour this evening. The fresh round of firing happened in the Krishnaghati sector in Jammu and Kashmir, making it the fifth ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops since a brigadier-level flag meeting took place between both sides yesterday.