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Post by jdredd on Nov 27, 2014 14:24:29 GMT -5
america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/11/26/pakistan-drone-strike.htmlA U.S. drone strike on Wednesday killed five suspected militants in northwest Pakistan, a government official said, as an anti-Taliban offensive by the Pakistani military grew in intensity. The deadly strike comes one day after a human rights group issued a report drawing international attention to the number of innocent lives claimed by U.S. drone strikes." "For it’s part, the U.S. says it only targets militants in the drone strikes, but does not release details about individual strikes. But a report published on Tuesday by U.K.-based human rights organization Reprieve showed that the number of non-targeted individuals killed in U.S. drone strikes is extraordinarily high. The group, which based most of its findings on U.S. drone strikes in Yemen, found that as many as 1,147 people were killed in the targeting of 41 individuals named on the U.S. “kill list.” Furthermore, each of the 41 targets appeared to have “died” on multiple occasions.“Reports indicate that each assassination target ‘died’ on average more than three times before their actual death,” the report said. Reprieve said that in Pakistan, 24 men were reported as being killed or targeted multiple times." So they have gone from killing suspected "leaders" to killing just suspected "militants". Forgetting the moral bankruptcy, how much is this costing us per militant? And how many are there?
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Post by jdredd on Dec 9, 2014 15:37:55 GMT -5
OMG! Maybe I'm getting too old to do this rant thing. I was about to give you the Dredd spin on the Feinstein torture report when I was called away, and while I was driving around I heard old blowhard Hannity saying what I was going to say: Ten years from now will we be releasing classified reports about the crimes the CIA is committing NOW with it's drone program? Of course Hannity thought that would be a bad thing.
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Post by jdredd on Dec 10, 2014 11:27:19 GMT -5
Ha-ha! Just reading how those brainiacs at the CIA were taken for $80 mil by a couple of scam artists when they outsourced torture to a private company!
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Post by jdredd on Dec 14, 2014 19:15:37 GMT -5
www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-cheney-on-cia-interrogations-id-do-it-again-in-a-minute-20141214-story.html"Senior Bush administration officials Sunday slammed the Senate study on the CIA’s use of brutal interrogation tactics and defended the techniques as necessary to get information from senior Al Qaeda operatives who had stopped talking to interrogators. “I’d do it again in a minute,” former Vice President Dick Cheney said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It absolutely did work." Somehow Dick Cheney seems like a guy who is incapable of remorse. Plus, I doubt remorse is at all welcome anywhere in the halls of the CIA.
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Post by jdredd on Dec 19, 2014 2:07:18 GMT -5
america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/12/peshawar-school-attacktehreeketalibanpakistannawazsharif.html"While unfortunate, the attack should not have surprised. As Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government, the Pakistan army and the United States dither about the best way to defeat extremism, the Taliban have continued their ordered and persistent onslaught, making schools off limits to hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis. In fact, competing actors have transformed schools in Pakistan into backdrops for power plays. Pakistan’s civilian government, embroiled in political battles, is no longer able to guarantee even a modicum of security to ordinary civilians. The Pakistani military has failed to convince the population that the war against the Taliban is fought not at the behest of the U.S. but for Pakistan’s survival. And the United States’ persistent meddling in the country via drone attacks and covert operations has provided Pakistanis with a convenient foil against taking ownership of the fight against extremism. So engrossed in their own, often separate and contradictory strategic calculations, all three actors ignored the telltale signs at Pakistan’s schools. In short, the attack in Peshawar reveals three things. First, the more than 400 U.S drone attacks since 2004 have done little to diminish the Taliban’s capacity to carry out such operations. Second, the Pakistan army, however strong its resolve, cannot protect soft targets such as schools. Finally, the government of Pakistan is unable to galvanize the public against extremism." Yes, the drone strikes may have been ineffective, but they are expensive.
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Post by jdredd on Mar 25, 2015 21:35:38 GMT -5
www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/architect-of-cias-drone-campaign-to-leave-post-in-watershed-moment-for-agency/2015/03/25/261289ec-d2f7-11e4-ab77-9646eea6a4c7_story.html?hpid=z4"The head of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, who presided over the agency’s drone campaign and directed the hunt for Osama bin Laden, is being removed from his post, officials said, a watershed moment as the CIA turns its focus to a new generation of extremist threats. The move, part of a major reorganization under CIA Director John Brennan, ends a nine-year tenure during which the center was transformed into a paramilitary force that employed armed drones to kill thousands of suspected terrorists and militants but also killed an unknown number of civilians. As the architect of that campaign, the CTC chief came to be regarded as an Ahab-like figure known for dark suits and a darker demeanor. He could be merciless toward subordinates but was also revered for his knowledge of terrorist networks and his ability to run an organization that became almost an agency unto itself. He embodied a killing-centric approach to counterterrorism that enraged many Muslims, even though he is a convert to Islam." "Suspected" is the key word. In a just world this guy would be on trial. Maybe it still could happen.
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Post by Turk on Mar 26, 2015 20:49:36 GMT -5
I didn’t read most of the above. I’ll offer this. It is not hard to find dirty hands if you want focus on white and wash your hands in porcelain. The CIA is the only government entity that does not have a budget. It can be argued if that is right or wrong. I’ll not debate but I do believe unaccountability is a benefit to freedom.
What I will offer: The CIA (real agents, not like lard resembling trash like Valerie Jarrett) makes judgements and many of those judgements are made in a split second. Previously mentioned there are less than 50 people that control our future. Fortunately the majority of the 50 are American CIA. My perspective is from a FBI background. I do understand your position.
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Post by jdredd on Apr 23, 2015 23:22:01 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/world/asia/drone-strikes-reveal-uncomfortable-truth-us-is-often-unsure-about-who-will-die.html?_r=0"Every independent investigation of the strikes has found far more civilian casualties than administration officials admit. Gradually, it has become clear that when operators in Nevada fire missiles into remote tribal territories on the other side of the world, they often do not know who they are killing, but are making an imperfect best guess. The president’s announcement on Thursday that a January strike on Al Qaeda in Pakistan had killed two Western hostages, and that it took many weeks to confirm their deaths, bolstered the assessments of the program’s harshest outside critics. The dark picture was compounded by the additional disclosure that two American members of Al Qaeda were killed in strikes that same month, but neither had been identified in advance and deliberately targeted. In all, it was a devastating acknowledgment for Mr. Obama, who had hoped to pioneer a new, more discriminating kind of warfare. Whether the episode might bring a long-delayed public reckoning about targeted killings, long hidden by classification rules, remained uncertain." Little by little we move closer to holding someone accountable for the CIA's extrajudicial executions. But I'm not holding my breath.
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Post by jdredd on Oct 16, 2015 2:48:49 GMT -5
www.nationalreview.com/article/425648/drone-attacks-middle-east-report" In a morally sane world, the headlines accompanying the latest leak of classified information about America’s drone war would read something like this: “Leaked Documents Demonstrate American Military Takes Unprecedented Care to Avoid Civilian Casualties.” Or: “American Drone Targeting More Deliberate Than Any Targeting System in History of Warfare.” Instead, we’re given a story called “The Assassination Complex,” which relentlessly attacks American military efforts against the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and other jihadists mainly because it can’t guarantee both due process and omniscience. The story condemns the American military and the CIA for acting as judge, jury, and executioner while neglecting to mention that every military acts as judge, jury, and executioner. Most militaries, however, are less careful than ours. Further, the story (and associated additional essays) hammer home the point that we’re rarely certain that we are killing targeted terrorists and only targeted terrorists when we strike. Yet the authors can’t point to a single military campaign in human history where such certainty was possible." What makes my day is that NR is having to defend the drone assassination program. Are they worried that a "morally sane world" might be in the eye of the beholder, and perhaps a critical mass of people may start looking askance at the trail of blood we are leaving? Or that the American public might actually want some accountability? Not that I am holding my breath waiting for that kind of moral evolution by Millennials. We could still be doing this crap 25 years from now, and I'm guessing by then there will be a dozen other countries who think they have the moral right to make these kind of decisions. We are not the only nation that believes the ends justify the means.
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Post by jdredd on Nov 28, 2015 1:25:53 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2015/11/28/arts/television/review-in-the-spymasters-cia-leaders-recount-tactics-of-the-post-9-11-years.html?&hpw&rref=television&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0"There’s a basic tension at the heart of “The Spymasters” that the film tries little to resolve, which is especially disappointing in the wake of recent terrorist attacks by the Islamic State. All the men are convinced that their methods have been successful in combating terrorism, yet they believe that the threat of terrorism has never been greater. At the end of the film, Michael Morell, a former acting C.I.A. director under President Obama, says that the long war between the United States and terror groups is at something of a stalemate, with both sides able to claim victory. The victory for the United States during the 14 years, he says, is the decimation of Al Qaeda’s core of operatives who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks. But, at the same time, he says, the terrorists have been able to spread their ideology successfully across the globe. So, who wins?" I'm not sure who "wins", since "winning" is in the eye of the beholder in a war that doesn't need to be fought, but isn't being a martyr for Allah all about spreading their ideology? I doubt the CIA's killer drone strategy has won anybody's hearts or minds.
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Post by jdredd on Oct 23, 2017 0:30:55 GMT -5
So the new CIA director is saying we are going to amp up the war against the Taliban, using more special forces and "contractors" (mercenary death squads) to hunt them down. THAT should make America great again. I think America will be great again when the CIA assassins are on trial. But we all know that will never happen unless Allah wills it. And Allah is a big fat pussy.
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Post by jdredd on Sept 9, 2018 21:10:34 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/09/09/world/africa/cia-drones-africa-military.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage"DIRKOU, Niger — The C.I.A. is poised to conduct secret drone strikes against Qaeda and Islamic State insurgents from a newly expanded air base deep in the Sahara, making aggressive use of powers that were scaled back during the Obama administration and restored by President Trump. Late in his presidency, Barack Obama sought to put the military in charge of drone attacks after a backlash arose over a series of highly visible strikes, some of which killed civilians. The move was intended, in part, to bring greater transparency to attacks that the United States often refused to acknowledge its role in. But now the C.I.A. is broadening its drone operations, moving aircraft to northeastern Niger to hunt Islamist militants in southern Libya. The expansion adds to the agency’s limited covert missions in eastern Afghanistan for strikes in Pakistan, and in southern Saudi Arabia for attacks in Yemen." Unfortunately this generation of CIA war criminals will retire in comfort and never go to trial. But history's judgement, as I've said before, may not be as kind. Meanwhile, the American people are more concerned about Serena Williams' tiff with a referee than extrajudicial murder in their name.
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Post by jdredd on Sept 2, 2019 12:36:23 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/09/02/us/politics/trump-cia-afghanistan.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage"WASHINGTON — Senior White House advisers have proposed secretly expanding the C.I.A.’s presence in Afghanistan if international forces begin to withdraw from the country, according to American officials. But C.I.A. and military officials have expressed reservations, prompting a debate in the administration that could complicate negotiations with the Taliban to end the war. Some administration officials want C.I.A.-backed militia forces in Afghanistan to serve as part of a counterterrorism force that would prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State or Al Qaeda as American military troops prepare to leave — in effect, an insurance policy. But others are skeptical that the shadowy militias, many of which face accusations of brutality, can serve as a bulwark against terrorism without the support of the American military." The CIA does not want to cease it's extrajudicial murders even if the US military withdraws from Afghanistan.
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Post by jdredd on Jun 24, 2020 18:11:55 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2020/06/24/world/middleeast/qaeda-syria-special-operations-missile.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage"WASHINGTON — American Special Operations forces used a specially designed secret missile to kill the head of a Qaeda affiliate in Syria this month, dealing the terrorist group a serious blow with a weapon that combines medieval brutality with cutting-edge technology. American and Qaeda officials said on Wednesday that Khaled al-Aruri, the de facto leader of the Qaeda branch, called Hurras al-Din, perished in a drone strike in Idlib in northwest Syria on June 14. He was a Qaeda veteran whose jihadist career dates to the 1990s. How he died was even more striking. The modified Hellfire missile carried an inert warhead. Instead of exploding, it hurled about 100 pounds of metal through the top of Mr. al-Aruri’s car. If the high-velocity projectile did not kill him, the missile’s other feature almost certainly did: six long blades tucked inside, which deployed seconds before impact to slice up anything in its path." It's not just the CIA that is committing war crimes. America is still committing non-judicial murders overseas. We will reap what we sow.
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Post by jdredd on Feb 21, 2021 23:49:25 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/us/dianna-ortiz-dead.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=Obituaries"The files were heavily redacted and did not reveal the identity of the American or by what authority he had access to the scene of her torture. But Sister Ortiz’s case became part of a sweeping review of American foreign policy and covert action in Guatemala during the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations. Over time, declassified documents showed that Guatemalan forces that committed acts of genocide during the civil war had been equipped and trained by the United States.“Dianna shined a huge spotlight on the fact that the United States government, through the C.I.A. and military intelligence, was working hand in glove with the Guatemala military intelligence units,” Jennifer Harbury, a close friend, said in an interview. Her husband, a Guatemalan commando, had been killed during the civil war." CIA funded death squads. I wonder what crimes the CIA is committing now? Oh I keep forgetting America is a "force for good" in the world.
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