New York Times Report Says US Drone Strikes Killed Thousands Of Civilians

US drones have killed thousands of civilians, according to a report in The New York Times 

Mercury News/New York Times: Hidden Pentagon records reveal patterns of failure in deadly airstrikes  

Shortly before 3 a.m. on July 19, 2016, U.S. Special Operations forces bombed what they believed were three Islamic State “staging areas” on the outskirts of Tokhar, a riverside hamlet in northern Syria. They reported 85 fighters killed. In fact, they hit houses far from the front line, where farmers, their families and other local people sought nighttime sanctuary from bombing and gunfire. More than 120 villagers were killed. 

In early 2017 in Iraq, an American warplane struck a dark-colored vehicle, believed to be a car bomb, stopped at an intersection in the Wadi Hajar neighborhood of West Mosul. Actually, the car had been bearing not a bomb but a man named Majid Mahmoud Ahmed, his wife and their two children, who were fleeing the fighting nearby. They and three other civilians were killed. 

In November 2015, after observing a man dragging an “unknown heavy object” into an ISIS “defensive fighting position,” U.S. forces struck a building in Ramadi, Iraq. A military review found that the object was actually “a person of small stature” — a child — who died in the strike. 

None of these deadly failures resulted in a finding of wrongdoing.  

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New York Times Report Says US Drone Strikes Killed Thousands Of Civilians  

Pentagon documents reveal 'deeply flawed' US air war: report -- France 24  

US drone strikes killed thousands of civilians: report -- DW  

NYT investigation reveals ‘hundreds’ of civilian deaths uncounted in US strikes -- RT  

US air wars in Middle East ‘deeply flawed’: Report -- Al Jazeera

Pentagon Review Finds No ‘Misconduct Or Negligence’ In US Drone Strike That Killed 10 Afghans

 

Daily Mail: Pentagon admits a child could be seen in video of Kabul drone strike that killed seven kids and three adults two minutes before launch of missile - but report clears anyone of negligence 

* After an independent investigation, the Pentagon admitted Wednesday the child could be seen in footage analyzed during probe minutes before August 29 strike  

* The strike - intended to target a supposed ISIS-K member, instead killed 43-year-old US aid worker Zemari Ahmadi and 9 members of his family - including 7 kids 

* The botched bombing came in response to an August 26 suicide attack on Kabul airport by ISIS-K days before, killing 13 US troops and 170 Afghan civilians 

* The report does not recommend any disciplinary action for drone operators involved the mismanaged operation, who missed the child in midst of attack 

* Air Force Inspector General Sami Said said the strike was result of 'execution errors,' 'confirmation bias and communication breakdowns' on Wednesday in DC 

US drone operators have been cleared of not spotting a child who was inside a Kabul compound two minutes before launching a bombing that killed 10 innocent people. 

After an independent investigation conducted by the Department of the Air Force Inspector General, the Pentagon admitted Wednesday that the child, who was not identified, could be seen in video footage analyzed during the probe mere minutes before the August 29 drone strike. 

The attack killed 43-year-old US aid worker Zemari Ahmadi and 9 members of his family - including 7 children.  

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Pentagon Review Finds No ‘Misconduct Or Negligence’ In US Drone Strike That Killed 10 Afghans  

Air Force inspector general says US strike that killed 7 children, 3 adults in Afghanistan was 'an honest mistake' -- USA Today  

Air Force review of Kabul strike that killed 10 civilians finds significant errors were made but law wasn't broken -- CNN  

DoD Says Botched Afghanistan Airstrike in Final Days of War Was Due to Rushed, Poor Planning -- Military.com 

Botched drone strike that killed 10 civilians in Kabul was not a result of criminal negligence, Pentagon says -- Washington Post  

Pentagon review finds no criminal negligence in Afghan drone strike -- The Hill  

Pentagon review found that footage showed child present minutes before U.S. drone attack in Kabul -- NBC  

Pentagon review finds no violation of law in drone strike that killed 10 Afghan civilians -- Axios  

Pentagon review finds no misconduct in botched US drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 civilians -- ABC News Australia  

No ‘misconduct or negligence’ in US drone strike on Afghan aid worker that killed 7 children, Pentagon probe finds -- RT

Location Data From Ordinary Apps Were Bought By A U.S. Military Unit That Conducts Drone Strikes

VICE: Military Unit That Conducts Drone Strikes Bought Location Data From Ordinary Apps 

The 132d Wing of the Iowa National Guard bought Locate X, a product that lets users search by a specific area to see which devices were present. 

A division of the Iowa Air National Guard that carries out overseas intelligence missions, performs reconnaissance, and conducts strikes with Reaper drones recently bought access to location data harvested from ordinary apps installed on peoples' smartphones, Motherboard has found. 

The tool, called Locate X, lets users search by a specific area and see which devices were present in that location at a particular point in time. 

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WNU Editor: Almost everyone in the world today carries a smart phone with apps. Including those who are in the cross-hairs of the US military.

New York Times: U.S. Military And The C.I.A. Must Now Obtain White House Permission To Attack Terrorism Suspects Away From War Zones

Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, issued the new limits on drone strikes the day Mr. Biden was inaugurated.Credit...Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times 

New York Times: Biden Secretly Limits Counterterrorism Drone Strikes Away From War Zones 

Requiring higher-level approval is a stopgap measure as officials review whether to tighten Trump-era targeting rules and civilian safeguards. 

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has quietly imposed temporary limits on counterterrorism drone strikes and commando raids outside conventional battlefield zones like Afghanistan and Syria, and it has begun a broad review of whether to tighten Trump-era rules for such operations, according to officials. 

The military and the C.I.A. must now obtain White House permission to attack terrorism suspects in poorly governed places where there are scant American ground troops, like Somalia and Yemen. 

Under the Trump administration, they had been allowed to decide for themselves whether circumstances on the ground met certain conditions and an attack was justified. 

Officials characterized the tighter controls as a stopgap while the Biden administration reviewed how targeting worked — both on paper and in practice — under former President Donald J. Trump and developed its own policy and procedures for counterterrorism kill-or-capture operations outside war zones, including how to minimize the risk of civilian casualties. 

The Biden administration did not announce the new limits. But the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, issued the order on Jan. 20, the day of President Biden’s inauguration, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. 

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WNU Editor: Another leak from the Pentagon and/or the intelligence community on a secret Biden policy. 

 A prediction. 

On the policy of drone strikes the White House is going to return to the Obama-era approach that was characterized by centralized oversight and high-level vetting of intelligence about individual terrorism suspects. Bottom line. A return to the White House micromanaging drone strikes. 

More News On the Biden Administration Secretly Limiting Drone strikes

Biden orders temporary limits on drone strikes outside war zones -- Washington Post 

AFRICOM needs White House approval for airstrikes, report says -- Stars and Stripes 

Biden limits number of counterterrorism drone strikes allowed away from war zones -- FOX News