Obama's drone war kills 'others', not just al Qaida leaders
Source: McClatchy
WASHINGTON Contrary to assurances it has deployed U.S. drones only against known senior leaders of al Qaida and allied groups, the Obama administration has targeted and killed hundreds of suspected lower-level Afghan, Pakistani and unidentified other militants in scores of strikes in Pakistans rugged tribal area, classified U.S. intelligence reports show.
The administration has said that strikes by the CIAs missile-firing Predator and Reaper drones are authorized only against specific senior operational leaders of al Qaida and associated forces involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks who are plotting imminent violent attacks on Americans.
It has to be a threat that is serious and not speculative, President Barack Obama said in a Sept. 6, 2012, interview with CNN. It has to be a situation in which we cant capture the individual before they move forward on some sort of operational plot against the United States.
Copies of the top-secret U.S. intelligence reports reviewed by McClatchy, however, show that drone strikes in Pakistan over a four-year period didnt adhere to those standards.
The intelligence reports list killings of alleged Afghan insurgents whose organization wasnt on the U.S. list of terrorist groups at the time of the 9/11 strikes; of suspected members of a Pakistani extremist group that didnt exist at the time of 9/11; and of unidentified individuals described as other militants and foreign fighters.
In a response to questions from McClatchy, the White House defended its targeting policies, pointing to previous public statements by senior administration officials that the missile strikes are aimed at al Qaida and associated forces.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/04/09/188062/obamas-drone-war-kills-others.html#storylink=cpy
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/04/09/188062/obamas-drone-war-kills-others.html
msongs
(67,199 posts)FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)(which we are undoubtedly already planning)
larkrake
(1,674 posts)larkrake
(1,674 posts)We should not be there, never should have been. Special forces could have taken out the guilty in weeks, but Cheney wanted billions. We are the bull in the china shop. The Pentagon is so damned corrupt, so self serving.