In October 2015, the Intercept, an online publication devoted to reporting on whistleblowers
like Edward Snowden, released a series entitled “The Drone Papers.”
These were reportedly based on documents given to the Intercept by an intelligence agency
whistleblower.
Within them is a detailed examination of how the United States has used its drone program
to assassinate suspected terrorists overseas, with disastrous consequences.
So, what exactly do the Drone Papers reveal?
Well, the drone strike program was originally instituted under George W. Bush during the
War on Terror.
However, the Obama Administration significantly increased the total number of drone strikes,
particularly in Pakistan and Yemen.
According to Obama, these strikes have been used exclusively against terrorists, and with
fewer civilian casualties than in missile strikes.
But the most recent reports from the Drone Papers actually suggest that an overwhelming
majority of deaths have indeed been civilian.
In Afghanistan, a study found that pilot-less drone strikes cause ten times as many civilian
deaths as did piloted planes.
In fact, the Intercept found that over a five-month period, out of 200 people killed in airstrikes,
only 35 were the intended targets.
The Intercept also discovered that the US followed a policy of identifying those killed
by drone strikes as “enemies” until there was overwhelming proof that they were civilians.
This method of concealing civilian deaths through omission was based on labeling all
unidentified military aged males as “enemies killed in action”.
The way drone assassinations were processed came down to short character profiles printed
on what were called “baseball cards”.
These cards would include some personal information, along with their apparent threat level.
President Obama would spend, on average, 58 days deciding whether to authorize the assassination.
But perhaps the most damaging aspect of the drone program was the preference to kill combatants
instead of capturing them.
In a speech justifying drone strikes in 2013, President Obama explained that it was sometimes
impossible to capture terrorists before they could strike.
In one highly publicized case, a former British citizen from Lebanon had apparent ties to
an Al-Qaeda affiliate in Somalia, Al-Shabaab.
After being monitored from 2007 to 2012, he was killed by a drone strike in Somalia.
Despite collecting evidence on him for at least five years, and knowing his location,
the US did not arrest or prosecute him in court.
While Al-Shabaab did confirm that he was a high ranking operative, there seems to be
no reason that he could not have seen due process.
The drone wars have long been a controversial portion of the War on Terror.
Drone strikes have even killed US citizens, suggesting a clear violation of the fifth
amendment.
The Obama Administration did acknowledged the existence of the program in 2013, after
years of denial by the Bush administration.
However, the new documents from the Intercept imply that what little has been revealed by
the government is likely distorted.
Many have called for considerably greater transparency surrounding the drone program.
In the end, secret overseas assassinations which primarily kill civilians could easily
be one of America’s worst war crimes.
The war on terror has also come at an incredible cost — both in lives and in resources.
Find out how much in the video up top.
And for an in-depth look at the rise and fall of terrorism, look check out TestTube Plus’s
series at the bottom.
Thanks for watching TestTube News!
Be sure to like and subscribe so you don’t miss out on new videos daily.