Thursday, January 3, 2013

President Obama's Drone Strategy Has Resumed In Earnest

Air Force technicians perform maintenance on a Predator drone in Iraq, November 2007. Photo: U.S. Air Force

Obama’s New Year’s Resolution: More Drone Strikes -- Danger Room

It’s barely three days into 2013, and the Obama administration’s lethal campaign of drone strikes has resumed in earnest. Missiles fired by remotely piloted planes struck targets in Pakistan and Yemen three times in the past several hours, killing several people, including two prominent militant commanders.

In Pakistan’s South Waziristan province, at least 4 MQ-1 Predators or MQ-9 Reapers operated by the CIA killed a Pakistani Taliban commander, Maulvi Nazir, according to media reports that cite unnamed Pakistani intelligence officials. Nazir had struck a detente with the Pakistani government but, according to drone watcher Bill Roggio at the Long War Journal, maintained ties to al-Qaida and attacked U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The drones fired on Nazir’s vehicle, killing him and at least five others.

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My Comment: As I have said on many occasions .... America's drone war is not only expanding in places like Afghanistan or Pakistan .... but it is also now reaching into places like Somalia, Yemen, Libya, and God knows where else. And while this is being done, there is little if any debate in Congress, the media, academia, and even in the anti-war movement on what is essentially a policy shift that gets America involved in the wars and conflicts of scores of other nations.

Update:
Just for everyone's info .... in Pakistan alone US drones have killed 2,183 Jihadis and 487 civilians since 2004.

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