Predator drone fires a Hellfire missile (Source: Wikipedia)
On Monday, NBC News reported on a leaked Department of Justice “white paper” summarizing memos that make the Obama administration’s legal case for targeted killing of U.S. citizens suspected of links to al-Qaeda or “associated forces”. In September of 2011, the Obama administration launched a drone strike against alleged al-Qaeda leaders Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan in Yemen, both of whom were U.S. citizens. Neither was charged or convicted of any crime. In fact, Yemen experts raised doubts about how operational al-Awlaki was in al-Qaeda.
Two weeks later, al-Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, was killed in another drone strike, even though he was not charged or convicted of any crime. It is very likely that he wasn’t the intended target. In fact, one Obama administration official called the strike that killed Abdulrahman “an outrageous mistake…. They were going after the guy sitting next to him.” Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Afghanistan, anti-war, Barack Obama, CIA, civil liberties, drone warfare, drones, Human Rights, International Law, Iraq, John Brennan, JSOC, Kill List, legal memo, Pakistan, permanent war, Somalia, targeted killing, War, War on Terror, white paper, Yemen
Camp X-Ray (Gitmo) detainees, 1/11/2002, Source: Wikipedia
A few days before the new year rang in, I made three predictions for Turnstyle News about what’s in store for the year 2013. The first was a “drawdown but not a complete end to the war in Afghanistan”, the second was “continuation of drone strikes and targeted killing”, and the third was “indefinite detention of U.S. citizens will remain”. It’s a few days into 2013 but a few recent events show that the dismal state of peace and civil liberties will not cease any time soon. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Barack Obama, CIA, civil liberties, drone warfare, drones, extraordinary rendition, Gitmo, Global War on Terror, Guantanamo Bay, Guantanamo Bay prison, Human Rights, indefinite detention, international human rights law, International Law, Kill List, laws of war, NDAA, Obama, Pakistan, Somalia, targeted killing, War, war crimes, War on Terror, Yemen
I wrote a piece in Turnstyle News about the growing domestic use of drones. It’s the second in a series of two articles I wrote about drones.
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Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, MQ-9 Predator B. Drone used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Photo source: Wikimedia Commons
Imagine hearing a buzzing sound over your head in the sky everyday. It’s not a bug. Nor is it an airplane. It’s an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), also known as a drone. There is no pilot inside the vehicle; it’s being controlled by remote control in a secret location a few dozen or hundreds of miles away from you. The drone flies over you, tracking your movements every day. Everywhere you go — to work, to school, to visit friends, or even to a protest or party — the drone buzzes over your head and watches what you do.
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Tags: ACLU, CIA, civil liberties, Department of Homeland, domestic drones, drones, FAA, FBI Security, Fourth Amendment, Human Rights, mass surveillance, police state, privacy, privacy rights, surveillance, U.S. Constitution, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, UAV
Cover of “Death Note”. Source: Wikipedia
On May 29, 2012, the New York Times published a long report (based on interviews with three dozen current and former Obama administration advisers) revealing how President Obama personally authorizes every drone strike against individuals suspected of being terrorists. Every Tuesday, the President, with two dozen counterterrorism officials, pore over mug shots and biographies of each suspect. The goal of these meetings is to determine which of these suspects is enough of a national security threat to warrant kill or capture — of which, the New York Times puts it, “the capture part has become largely theoretical”. As I read the article, I couldn’t help but think of the popular Japanese manga “Death Note” (which also became an anime series, a live-action film, and was banned in China). “Death Note” is a perfect allegory for the insidious moral implications of Obama’s targeted killing policy. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: al-Qaeda, anime, AQAP, CIA, civil liberties, Death Note, drone strikes, drones, Human Rights, Kill List, Light Yagami, manga, New York Times, Obama, Obama Kill List, Pakistan, Somalia, targeted killing, terrorism, U.S. Constitution, War on Terror, Yemen
Guantanamo X-Ray prison at dusk, January 2002 (Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll reveals something quite depressing. The poll shows that a majority of Americans, including many Democrats, support President Obama’s counterterrorism policies of keeping Guantanamo Bay prison open and drone strikes against suspected terrorists abroad. These are policies that Obama and many liberals criticized Bush for doing. But now that Obama is carrying them out, there’s ample support these policies.
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Tags: civil liberties, constitutional rights, drones, Gitmo, Guantanamo Bay, Guantanamo Bay prison, Human Rights, International Law, liberal, liberalism, Obama, Torture, War, war crimes
