Washington Post: White House releases its count of civilian deaths in counterterrorism operations under Obama
The United States has inadvertently killed between 64 and 116 civilians in drone and other lethal air attacks against terrorism suspects in non-war zones, the Obama administration said Friday.
In releasing only aggregate figures that did not include when or where the strikes occurred, the administration shielded those claims from meaningful public scrutiny, even as it sought to bolster its own assertions about the accuracy and effectiveness of the operations.
Independent groups, whose own tracking of civilian deaths have produced far higher numbers, said they appreciated the administration’s effort. But they said it fell far short of President Obama’s repeated promises of greater transparency about his administration’s extraordinary reliance on armed drones in overseas counterterrorist operations.
Read more ....
WNU editor: The sceptics on these numbers are now weighing in .... U.S. Counts Drone Kills and Comes Up Short, Rights Groups Say (Bloomberg)
More News On The White House Revealing The Civilian Death Toll From Drone And Air Strikes Outside War Zones
U.S. Reveals Death Toll From Airstrikes Outside War Zones -- New York Times
U.S. says kills up to 116 civilians in strikes outside war zones -- Reuters
White House reveals number of civilian deaths from drone strikes -- CNN
No more than 116 civilians killed in anti-terror strikes during Obama years, DNI report says -- UPI
Obama claims US drones strikes have killed up to 116 civilians -- The Guardian
US reveals death tolls from drone and air strikes -- The Telegraph
White House: At least 64 to 116 civilians killed in drone strikes since 2009 -- USA Today
US Releases Report on Civilians Killed in Drone, Airstrikes -- VOA
US Drone Strikes Have Killed as Many as 116 Civilians: White House -- Military.com
US air and drone strikes 'killed up to 116 civilians' -- BBC
Obama admin says up to 116 civilians 'accidentally' killed in US drone strikes -- RT
U.S. says it killed up to 116 civilians in drone strikes outside of war zones since 2009 -- Washington Times
For Every 21 Terrorists Killed In A Drone Strike, 1 Civilian Dies, Obama Reveals -- Daily Caller
"Perhaps the most interesting part of the report is this repeated language:
ReplyDeletea summary of information provided to the DNI
The assessed range of non-combatant deaths provided to the DNI
The information that was provided to the DNI
based on the information provided to the DNI
according to information provided to the DNI
That is, the ODNI may be releasing this information. But they’re sure as hell not vouching for it. I find that particularly interesting given that, in May, I had to explain to ODNI that the National Security Letter numbers they were getting (and publishing in transparency reports) from FBI were probably unreliable.
These numbers don’t even, apparently, reflect the kind of rigor that would involve an outside agency reviewing the CIA’s numbers. Instead, the CIA (and presumably, in more limited cases, DOD) provided numbers to ODNI, and ODNI is — as ordered by the President — passing those numbers on.
At least you can be sure this isn’t terrorist propaganda."
https://www.emptywheel.net/2016/07/01/happy-flag-waving-drone-document-dump/
Jay. Thanks for the emptywheel link.
ReplyDeleteMy next post is commentary, analysis, etc. on this drone report.
I will also add the emptywheel link.