MQ-9 Reaper flies above Creech AFB during a local training mission. (Photo by Paul Ridgeway; attained from Wikipedia)
Recently, President Barack Obama gave a speech about his counterterrorism strategy at National Defense University. In it, he justified his targeted killing policy and drone strikes of suspected terrorists around the world. He also announced his plan to finally shut down Guantanamo Bay prison.
The speech is lauded by many as a signal that President Obama wants to end the War on Terror. But the speech was full of clever sophistry and Orwellian doublespeak that made it seem like the perpetual war was ending just as it’s being institutionalized and normalized. In essence, it was a repackaging of America’s targeted killing program and system of permanent war. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Barack Obama, CIA, civil liberties, counterterrorism, drone warfare, drones, empire, Guantanamo Bay, Guantanamo Bay prison, Human Rights, International Law, Kill List, medea benjamin, national defense university, national security, Obama, obama drones speech, obama gitmo speech, obama speech, orwellian doublespeak, Pakistan, permanent war, perpetual war, senator patrick leahy, Somalia, targeted killing, War on Terror, Yemen
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
Photo Credit (source): No Lies Radio
The long and drawn out 2012 presidential election is finally over and President Barack Obama was reelected. Shortly after he was reelected, Obama launched another drone strike in Yemen — a harbinger of what’s to come in his second term. It is worth going through Obama’s foreign policy during the past four years in order to assess what he’s done and understand what the future holds.
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Tags: 2012 election, 2012 presidential election, Afghanistan, Africa, Barack Obama, China, disposition matrix, drone warfare, drones, empire, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kill List, Libya, Obama, Pakistan, proxy war, Somalia, targeted killing, War, War on Terror, Yemen
I wrote a piece in Turnstyle News about the Stanford/NYU and Columbia reports on the U.S. drone program. Please note that this was written before the November 6, 2012 presidential election.
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The expansion of drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, is rarely discussed in mainstream forums, but breaking this silence are two important reports from reputable universities that shed light on the underreported human suffering and dangerous implications of the drone program.
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Tags: Afghanistan, CIA, Columbia, covert operation, drone strikes, drone warfare, drones, Global War on Terror, JSOC, Kill List, Living Under Drones, Pakistan, secrecy, shadow war, Somalia, Stanford, UAV, War, War on Terror, Yemen
I wrote a piece in Turnstyle News about drone warfare. It’s the first in a series of two articles I wrote about drones.
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MQ-9 Reaper drone flying over Afghanistan in 2007. Photo Credit: Wikipedia
From the National Public Radio (NPR) to the New York Times, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), otherwise known as drones, have been receiving a lot of press coverage. These high-tech, unmanned aircraft are changing the way the United States, and other countries, go to war. While drones are mostly used for reconnaissance and surveillance purposes, they are increasingly being used for military strikes. Most of the drone strikes occur in Pakistan but are increasing in Yemen, Somalia, and elsewhere. Under the Bush administration, the U.S. launched 52 drone strikes in Pakistan. The Obama administration has dramatically increased that number to nearly 280 so far, along with dozens more in Yemen and Somalia. As a writer and peace activist, I am concerned that this technology will make it far too easy for nations to go to war, hence why I’m writing about it. The international community needs to mitigate the insidious implications of drone warfare. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: drone warfare, drones, Human Rights, International Law, Kill List, laws of war, Obama administration, Obama Kill List, Pakistan, Somalia, targeted killing, War, Yemen
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
Blues African 