Al-Qaida Continues To Gain Control In Yemen , Taking Over Military Base , Airport , Seaport & Oil Terminals

Amid Chaos, Al-Qaida Consolidates Hold Of Yemen Province

 

 

 

 

 

” Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen consolidated control over much of the country’s largest province on Thursday, capturing a major airport, an oil terminal and the area’s main military base, and striking an alliance with local tribal leaders to administer the region.

  The gains highlight how al-Qaida has exploited the chaos in Yemen, where Shiite rebels are battling forces loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. A 3-week-old Saudi-led air campaign in support of Hadi has so far failed to halt the rebels’ advance.

  Military officials and residents said al-Qaida fighters clashed briefly with members of one of Yemen’s largest brigades outside Mukalla, the capital of Hadramawt province, which the militants overran earlier this month. The militants then seized control of Riyan airport and moved to secure their hold on the city’s main seaport, which is also an oil terminal.

  The security officials, speaking from Sanaa on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the press, said the leaders of the brigade in charge of protecting the entire area fled.”

AP News has more on Barack’s latest foreign policy “triumph”

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Daily Video 3.28.15

Richard Engel: Military Officials Say Allies No Longer Trust Us, Fear Intel Might Leak To Iran

 

 

 

 

Published on Mar 27, 2015

” Richard Engel: Military Officials Say Allies No Longer Trust Us, Fear Intel Might Leak to Iran”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Iran Reaps Huge Haul Of Secret US Spy Files Left Behind In Yemen

Iran-Backed Rebels Loot Yemen Files About U.S. Spy Operations

 

 

 

 

” Secret files held by Yemeni security forces that contain details of American intelligence operations in the country have been looted by Iran-backed militia leaders, exposing names of confidential informants and plans for U.S.-backed counter-terrorism strikes, U.S. officials say.

  U.S. intelligence officials believe additional files were handed directly to Iranian advisors by Yemeni officials who have sided with the Houthi militias that seized control of Sana, the capital, in September, which led the U.S.-backed president to flee to Aden.

  For American intelligence networks in Yemen, the damage has been severe. Until recently, U.S. forces deployed in Yemen had worked closely with President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi’s government to track and kill Al Qaeda operatives, and President Obama had hailed Yemen last fall as a model for counter-terrorism operations elsewhere.

  But the identities of local agents were considered compromised after Houthi leaders in Sana took over the offices of Yemen’s National Security Bureau, which had worked closely with the CIA and other intelligence agencies, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations.”

 

Story continues

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hope & Change In Yemen: From September Celebration To March Miasma

Losing Yemen

 

 

 

 

 

” The last US special forces have been withdrawn from Yemen without exciting much notice from the US press.  Max Boot tweets: “All US SOF evacuating Yemen. Huge win for AQAP, huge defeat for US. How many foreign policy disasters can we handle?” Reuters reports, “the United States has evacuated its remaining personnel, including about 100 special operations forces, from Yemen because of the deteriorating security situation there, U.S. officials said on Saturday.”  This means that the last vestiges of what the Obama administration only recently touted as their model counter-insurgency operation are gone.  The collapse has flown largely under the media radar.

  Last week Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post reported that $500 million dollars in American supplied weapons are now in the hands of “Iranian-backed rebels or al-Qaeda”.  The Islamist blitzkrieg is living off huge quantities of captured US materiel.

  BS News reported that an “Obama administration’s senior counterterrorism official acknowledged Thursday that the U.S. intelligence community was surprised by the collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Yemen.”  Nobody saw it coming, but the very same people assure the public they know what is to come.  They’re in intelligence, right?

  Nick Rasmussen, who directs the National Counterterrorism Center, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Yemen’s American-funded army failed to oppose advancing Houthi rebels in the same way the U.S.-supported Iraqi military refused to fight Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants last year.

  What happened in Iraq with the onslaught of ISIS “happened in Yemen” on “a somewhat smaller scale,” he said. “As the Houthi advances toward Sanaa took place… they weren’t opposed in many places…. The situation deteriorated far more rapidly than we expected.” “

 

 

   Read more on the latest , of many , foreign policy failures of the Obama administration from Richard Fernandez

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Half-Billion In US Arms And Ammo Lost To Terrorists In Yemen

Pentagon Cannot Account For $500M In US Military Aid To Yemen

 

 

 

 

 

 

” The U.S. has lost track of weapons and ammunition worth millions donated to the Yemeni government, an American defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Washington Post. The situation in Yemen, which has been in a state of turmoil over the last few years, deteriorated rapidly in January, when the government led by Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was toppled by Shia Houthi rebels.

  The lost equipment, which includes small arms, ammunition, night-vision goggles, patrol boats and vehicles, is reportedly worth $500 million. This is a sizeable chunk of the military aid provided by the U.S. to the strife-torn nation since 2007, when Ali Abdullah Saleh was the president.

“ We have to assume it’s completely compromised and gone,” an unnamed U.S. legislative aide told the Post. While acknowledging that the Pentagon had lost track of the arms and equipment, a defense official reportedly said that there is no evidence that the items have been looted.”

 

 

International Business Times

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Yemeni Boys Cage And Set 10 Year-Old Friend Ablaze In Imitation Of ISIS

Daesh-Inspired Boys Set Fire To Friend In Yemen

 

 

 

” Sana’a: Inspired by the video of Daesh burning to death the Jordanian pilot Muath Al Kasaesbeh, a group of boys set about re-enacting the atrocity in their Al Dahthath village in Yemen’s northern province of Ibb.

  According to local journalist Mohammad Mouzahem, as many as seven boys recently entrapped a 10-year-old boy in a wooden cage and poured fuel over him. One of them acted as a Daesh leader sitting on a chair and gave orders to his operatives to set the boy on fire.”

 

Gulf News

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Why The Yemeni Hostage Rescue Failed

Luke Somers Raid In Yemen: How It Went Wrong

 

 

 

 

 

 

” Under the cover of night, U.S. commandos approached the walled compound on foot, hoping to catch unawares the militants holding two hostages, including American Luke Somers.

  Then, less than 100 yards from their target, something went terribly wrong. A noise, maybe a dog bark, alerted the militants to the raiders, according to U.S. officials briefed on the operation. The rescue team’s biggest advantage—the element of surprise—was lost in that moment, and the shooting started.

  When the dust settled 30 minutes later, the roughly 40-man Special Operations team emerged from the compound carrying Mr. Somers and a South African hostage, both badly wounded. The medics couldn’t save them, and the two were pronounced dead after their evacuation.

  The operation took place after midnight Saturday local time in a remote area of southern Yemen. White House officials knew the operation would be risky. They also didn’t see any better options.”

 

WSJ has more details

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Failed Rescue Results In The Death Of American & South African Hostages

American, South African Hostages killed In Yemen

 

 

 

 

 

 

” An American photojournalist and a South African teacher held by al-Qaida militants in Yemen have been killed in a failed U.S. rescue attempt, authorities said Saturday.

  U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement he ordered the raid that saw Luke Somers and Pierre Korkie killed after al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula posted a video online Thursday threatening to kill Somers.

  Information “indicated that Luke’s life was in imminent danger,” Obama said. “Based on this assessment, and as soon as there was reliable intelligence and an operational plan, I authorized a rescue attempt. … I also authorized the rescue of any other hostages held in the same location as Luke.”

  The aid group Gift of Givers later identified the second hostage as Korkie, who the group said was to be released Sunday. They said he was to be flown out of Yemen “under diplomatic cover, then to meet with family members in a ‘safe’ country (and) fly to South Africa.”

Read more

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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President “Peace Prize” Has Initiated Military Actions Against Seven Countries

In Case You Lost Count, This Map Shows The Countries Our Peace-Prize Winning President Has Bombed

 

 

 

From the original CNN editorial:

 

” He’s the war-ending President who, as of Tuesday, has ordered airstrikes in seven different countries (that we know of).

  President Barack Obama has always acknowledged there are times when military force is necessary. Even when he accepted his Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, he said there could be instances when war is “morally justified.”

  But though he campaigned for the presidency on ending U.S.-led wars, Obama’s administration has certainly been willing to use force when it sees fit.”

 

 

 

Independent Journal Review provides a synopsis of the military actions …

 

 

 

” Since he became President, the Nobel Peace Prize winner has directed invasions into 7 countries:

1. Afghanistan: Much criticized by the Afghani local government, Obama continued George W. Bush’s use of bombing, via aircraft and drones, of targets.
2. Pakistan: Drone attacks have continued here as well.
3. Libya: The U.S. bombed Libya in March 2011. The situation has certainly not improved, as evidenced in part by the U.S. Embassy killings in 2012 and the evacuation of all American staff two months ago.
4. Yemen: Since Obama took office, almost 100 drone attacks have occurred there.
5. Somalia: American drones have attacked and killed terrorists throughout the country.
6. Iraq: Renewed bombings began in Iraq last month, following George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush in attacking terrorists there.
7. Syria: U.S. recently launched air strikes in Syria, despite the red line being drawn by the President over Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons over a year ago.”

 

More here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Attempted Kidnapping Of US Intelligence Officers Thwarted As They Kill Abductors In Yemen

U.S. Officers Kill Armed Civilians In Yemen Capital

 

 

 

 

 

 

” A United States Special Operations commando and a Central Intelligence Agency officer in Yemen shot and killed two armed Yemeni civilians who tried to kidnap them while the Americans were in a barbershop in the country’s capital two weeks ago, American officials said on Friday.

  The two Americans, attached to the United States Embassy, were whisked out of the volatile Middle East nation within a few days of the shooting, with the blessing of the Yemeni government, American officials said.

  News of the shootings comes at a perilous moment for the government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, whose collaboration with American drone strikes against suspected members of Al Qaeda is already a subject of seething resentment in Yemen. Yemenis believe, with some evidence, that the drone strikes often kill nearby civilians as well as their targets, so any indication that Mr. Hadi’s government helped conceal the killing of Yemenis by American commandos could be problematic.

  Violence in the country is increasing, and on Friday, militants attacked a checkpoint outside the presidential palace, apparently in retaliation for the government’s roughly 10-day offensive against Qaeda strongholds.”

More from the NY Times here

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U.S. Drone Strikes In Yemen Leave Scores Dead

 

 

 

 

Published on Apr 22, 2014

” A barrage of drone strikes in Yemen over the weekend killed at least 55 militants, plus civilians. The strikes targeted a suspected al-Qaeda training camp that had popped up in southern Yemen in recent months. But what effect are these strikes having? And what legal authority does the U.S. have to wage war in Yemen — a country where war has never officially been declared? RT’s Sam Sacks looks into these issues.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Obama Orders The Murder Of Two American Citizens

“Turns Out I’m Really Good At Killing People”

 

 

 

Published on Mar 4, 2014

” Video produced by http://www.westernjournalism.com Produced, written, and edited by Kris Zane. Narrated by Tom Hinchey.”

 

 

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Obama Drone Strike Kills 13 Wedding Guests In Yemen

Another Screwed Up Drone Strike Leaves 13 Dead In Yemen

 

 

 

” Today in Yemen, 13 people were killed in what was reportedly an erroneous drone strike by the American government. According to Yemeni officials, a caravan was traveling in central Yemen on its way to a wedding when it was hit by missiles fired from a drone, leaving bodies burned and vehicles ablaze in the middle of the road.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Yemeni Wedding Turns Deadly When Celebratory Gunfire Kills Two … Warning: Very Gruesome Footage

Yemeni Gangnam Style Wedding Results In Three Accidental AK47 Head Shots At Close Range

 

   Here is another view of the tragic idiocy , from a different angle . This clip reveals the idiot gunman firing his AK one-handed in the middle of the crowded dance floor .

” A Yemeni wedding ended in disaster after a guest firing celebratory shots in the air with his AK-47 accidentally killed two men while they were dancing to pop hit “Gangnam Style”, according to a police source and a video posted online. The police source said the guest at the wedding in the southern city of Taiz lost control of his rifle, leading to the deaths. Two other people were being treated in a local hospital.”

   One of the wounded succumbed to his injuries in the hospital bringing the death toll to three , and this is a culture that our “betters” on the Left would have us believe is no better or worse than our own ? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Qaeda Plot Leak Has Undermined U.S. Intelligence

Government Leaks Have Proven More Harmful Than Snowden Revelations

 

 

” As the nation’s spy agencies assess the fallout from disclosures about their surveillance programs, some government analysts and senior officials have made a startling finding: the impact of a leaked terrorist plot by Al Qaeda in August has caused more immediate damage to American counterterrorism efforts than the thousands of classified documents disclosed by Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor.

Since news reports in early August revealed that the United States intercepted messages between Ayman al-Zawahri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as the head of Al Qaeda, and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, discussing an imminent terrorist attack, analysts have detected a sharp drop in the terrorists’ use of a major communications channel that the authorities were monitoring. Since August, senior American officials have been scrambling to find new ways to surveil the electronic messages and conversations of Al Qaeda’s leaders and operatives.

“The switches weren’t turned off, but there has been a real decrease in quality” of communications, said one United States official, who like others quoted spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence programs.”

Illustration by Erin Bonsteel

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Drone Strikes ? There’s An App For That

Hacking The Drone War’s Secret History

 

 

 

” In 2008 U.S. troops in Iraq discovered that Shi’ite insurgents had figured out how to tap and record video feeds from overhead American drones. Now you too can hack Washington’s globe-spanning fleet of silent, deadly armed robots — although legally, and only in an historical sense.

Josh Begley, a 28-year-old NYU grad student, has just created an application programming interface — basically, a collection of building blocks for software development — that allows anyone with basic coding skills to organize, analyze and visualize drone-strike data from Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia dating back to 2002.

Based on information collected by the U.K. Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the API can be used to create interactive Websites (similar to this) that add depth, context and even a little humanity to the sterile news reports of the latest Unmanned Aerial Vehicle strike in some far-away conflict zone.

The drone API, which is actually Begley’s master’s thesis, is not his first foray into capturing robot-attack data. His @dronestream Twitter feed, which documents all reported UAV attacks. Last year Begley created an iPhone app that tracks drone strikes, but Apple rejected it. Other developers have jumped on the bandwagon, too. London-based artist James Bridle runs a Tumblr blog that matches overhead satellite imagery to reports of drone attacks.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Administration Drone Strikes Have Killed Four Americans … That They’ll Admit To

Holder: Four American Citizens Have Been Killed In Drone Strikes Since 2009

 

 

 

”  This administration is purposely schizophrenic on terrorism. It’ll drone select terrorists lurking overseas, but so far isn’t lifting a finger to apprehend the terrorists who attacked the US facility at Benghazi last September. Obama wants to avoid the optics of capturing them and then sticking them at Gitmo, and seems to prefer local proceedings to be done against transnational terrorists (some were from Yemen) who attacked and killed four Americans in a quasi-state.”

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Related articles

• U.S. admits to killing four American citizens in drone attacks (deathandtaxesmag.com)
• Obama Acknowledges First American Casualties of Drone Strikes (guardianlv.com)
• Obama Admits US Killed 4 Americans in Drone War (news.antiwar.com)
• US Government admits to Killing four American citizens with ‘Drones’ (aworldchaos.wordpress.com)

 

 

 

 

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Obama’s Leak Of MI6 Underwear Bomber Spy Now AP’s Fault

Leak Ended Informant’s Rare Opportunity, U.S. Officials Say

 

 

 

 

” Saudi-born Briton had gained the trust of terrorists in the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda and helped foil a bomb plot, they say, but his work was cut short by Associated Press and newspaper reports.

His access led to the U.S. drone strike that killed a senior Al Qaeda leader, Fahd Mohammed Ahmed Quso, on May 6, 2012. U.S. officials say Quso helped direct the terrorist attack that killed 17 sailors aboard the U.S. guided-missile destroyer Cole in a Yemeni harbor in October 2000.

The informant also convinced members of the Yemeni group that he wanted to blow up a U.S. passenger jet on the first anniversary of the U.S. attack that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. They outfitted him with the latest version of an underwear bomb designed to pass metal detectors and other airport safeguards, officials say.”

 

 

 

     This would seem to be another case of projection on the party of the present administration . As we recall , Obama outed the spy , and Britain was rightfully outraged , in order to take credit for foiling a terror plot . 

   This particular “revelation” appears to be an attempt to deflect attention away from DoJ’s blatant intrusion into the AP phone records and a justification of that policy . 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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President “Peace Prize” Has Us Involved In At Least 74 Wars World-Wide

U.S. Currently Fighting 74 Different Wars … That It Will Publicly Admit

 

 

 

 

 

” Linda J. Bilmes and Michael D. Intriligator, ask in a recent paper, “How many wars is the US fighting today?”

Citing a page at US Central Command’s (CENTCOM) website, they highlight the “areas of responsibility” publicly listed:

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) is active in 20 countries across the Middle Eastern region, and is actively ramping-up military training, counterterrorism programs, logistical support, and funding to the military in various nations. At this point, the US has some kind of military presence in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, U.A.E., Uzbekistan, and Yemen.

US Africa Command (AFRICOM), according to the paper, “supports military-to-military relationships with 54 African nations.”

[Gosztola points out that the U.S. military is also conducting operations of one kind or another in Syrian, Jordan, South Sudan, Kosovo, Libya, Yemen, the Congo, Uganda, Mali, Niger and other countries.]

Altogether, that makes 74 nations where the US is fighting or “helping” some force in some proxy struggle that has been deemed beneficial by the nation’s masters of war.

***

A Congressional Research Service (CRS) provides an accounting of all the publicly acknowledged deployments of US military forces

But those are just the public operations. “

Related articles

• The United States Is Fighting How Many Wars? (dissenter.firedoglake.com)
• U.S. Currently Fighting 74 Different Wars … That It Will Publicly Admit (philosophers-stone.co.uk)
• U.S. Currently Fighting 74 Different Wars … That It Will Publicly Admit (secretsofthefed.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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LOL … The AP Gets A Dose Of The Chicago Way

Government Obtains Wide Set Of Associated Press Phone records In Investigation, Using Subpoena

 

 

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” The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative’s top executive called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into how news organizations gather the news.

In all, the government seized the records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The exact number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown, but more than 100 journalists work in the offices where phone records were targeted, on a wide array of stories about government and other matters.

In a letter of protest sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, AP President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt said the government sought and obtained information far beyond anything that could be justified by any specific investigation. He demanded the return of the phone records and destruction of all copies.

The government would not say why it sought the records. Officials have previously said in public testimony that the U.S. attorney in Washington is conducting a criminal investigation into who may have provided information contained in a May 7, 2012, AP story about a foiled terror plot. The story disclosed details of a CIA operation in Yemen that stopped an al-Qaida plot in the spring of 2012 to detonate a bomb on an airplane bound for the United States.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related articles

• US Justice Department acknowledges wide-ranging surveillance of Associated Press (rt.com)
• Govt Obtains Wide AP Phone Records in Probe (abcnews.go.com)
• How do you ask a journalist to be the last journalist to lose credibility defending Obama? (legalinsurrection.com)
• Nixonian: Obama Regime Seizes AP Reporters’ Phone Records For Over 20 Separate Lines, More Than 100 Journalists Affected… (redflagnews.com)
• Obama DOJ Secretly Monitored AP Reporters’ Phone Records (freedomoutpost.com)
• Govt obtains wide AP phone records in probe (sacbee.com)
• Watergate Was For Amateurs: Justice Department Spied For Months On Associated Press Reporters (financialsurvivalnetwork.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Obama’s Personal War Machine … 60 US Drone Bases Worldwide And Growing

 

Remote Control Warfare. Some Sixty US Drone Bases Around The World

 

 

 

” In 2000, the Pentagon had less than 50 drones. Ten years later, that number is 7,500–an increase of 15,000 percent. In 2003, the U.S. Air Force was flying a handful of round-the-clock drone patrols every day. By 2010, that number had reached 40.

“By 2011, the Air Force was training more remote pilots than fighter and bomber pilots combined,” explains Medea Benjamin in her book Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control. Benjamin cites Mark Maybury, chief scientist for the Air Force, who said in 2011, “Our number one manning problem in the Air Force is manning our unmanned platform.”

But more important is that the use of drones to carry out missions in far-flung countries has enabled the Obama administration to avoid any formal declaration of war while raining down lethal force from the skies–a clear attempt to skirt both U.S. and international law regarding war. As Nick Turse writes in The Changing Face of Empire: Special Ops, Drones, Spies, Proxy Fighters, Secret Bases and Cyberwarfare:

Take the American war in Pakistan–a poster child for what might now be called the Obama formula, if not doctrine. Beginning as a highly circumscribed drone assassination campaign backed by limited cross-border commando raids under the Bush administration, U.S. operations in Pakistan into something close to a full-scale robotic air war, complemented by cross-border helicopter attacks, CIA-funded “kill teams” of Afghan proxy forces, as well as boots-on-the-ground missions by elite special operations forces.

The U.S. has now deployed drones armed with lethal force in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya. Some 60 bases throughout the world are directly connected to the drone program–from Florida to Nevada in the U.S., from Ethiopia and Djibouti in Africa, to Qatar in the Middle East and the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean.

According to Turse, for the last three years, Xe Services, the company formerly known as Blackwater, has been in charge of arming the fleet of Predator drones at CIA clandestine sites in Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

 

 

 

 

 

Related articles

• Drones are gradually destroying one of the most basic cornerstones of human civilisation (thistleanddrone.wordpress.com)
• “In Pakistan, things fall out of the sky all the time.” (bindingbreaking.wordpress.com)
• Drone Warfare: Neither Cheap, nor Surgical, nor Decisive (darkactsbible.wordpress.com)
• Everything About Drones (youviewed.com)
• America Drones in the Sahel: All Is Not Well (ollorwiosaroblog.wordpress.com)
• Former senior C.I.A. official says drones have turned Americans into villain of Pakistan (thistleanddrone.wordpress.com)
• U.S. Struck Deal With Pakistan To Carry Out Drone Killings (newsy.com)
• The 1984 Playbook Has Arrived: U.S. Air Force Deletes Drone Strike Data (sgtreport.com)
• ‘Drones fly, children die’: US activists launch massive anti-drone campaign (rt.com)
• U.S. Air Force Developing Swarms of Tiny Insect Sized Drones (VIDEO) (guns.com)

 

 

 

 

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Rule Of Law … Gone The Way Of The Dodo ?

America Run By Outlaws

 

 

” The rule of law is essential to a civilized society. But depending on the rule of law in today’s world is a fatal attraction and predicts a fatal ending.

A fair and impartial trial or even a trial at all is not the real world, as many have found out too late.

President Barack Obama has admitted to and crowed about having CIA agents target and kill three American citizens, two adults and the teenage son of one of the men, with a killer drone. The trio was slain in separate attacks in the fall of 2011. The elder al-Awlaki, Anwar, and Samir Khan died in Yemen from a missile strike by one of Obama’s Predator drones on Sept. 30, 2011. The younger al-Awlaki, 16-year-old Abdulrahman, was killed a couple of weeks later while eating at an outdoor restaurant. (A fourth American-born citizen, Kamal Derwish, was killed by a Predator drone in Yemen while riding in a car with an al-Qaida leader in 2002.) “

What Are Drones , Anyway ? Popular Mechanics Has The Answers

Everything You Wanted to Know About Drones

 

 

 

 

 

” This is the week the world seemingly woke up to the U.S. government’s drone wars. Drones have fired missiles on thousands of targets and flown countless flight hours over battlefields in the Middle East and northern Africa. But last week, the Obama administration’s rationale for the legality of targeting U.S. citizens who are plotting with al-Qaida by means of airstrikes became public, and the administration used the argument to support the killing of U.S. citizen and al-Qaida member Anwar al-Awlaki with a drone strike in Yemen. Here’s a primer on the current and future use of unmanned aerial vehicles in combat.

What are drones, anyway?
Technically, even the name drone is used in error. The military calls its flying robots unmanned aerial systems, while some holdouts use the old Pentagon name unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The term drone used to imply the lack of a pilot onboard. Most unmanned aircraft have pilots that fly them by remote control, often from bases in the United States, halfway around the world. For example, a three-man crew flies the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper, not including the maintenance and takeoff/recovery personnel.

Some of the craft’s intelligent software allows the operators to set “hold modes” that designate orbits, altitudes, and speed limits. Still, drones can do some things on their own. A Reaper can autonomously auto-balance its draw of fuel from the wings to preserve its center of gravity, report mechanical failures during flights, follow waypoints, and automatically wheel over to a designated rally point if the satellite link to the ground station is lost.

Could UAVs Kill Without Human Permission?

In theory, yes. Here’s how it would work: A UAV would open fire only after clearing a checklist of technical details—its preset rules of engagement—from its sensors. But drone-builders and military leaders are truly wary of allowing this kind of aggression without a human in the decision-making loop. ”

 

 

HT/Instapundit

Targeted Killings To Be Codified

New U.S. Counterterrorism Guidelines Face Questions

 

 

 

 

“The president’s overall approach is that we need to do everything we can to keep Americans and America safe, as well as our allies, and we need to do it in ways that are consistent with our values and our laws,” said Carney. “And that is certainly the approach that he has taken and will continue to take.”

Since 2009, President Obama has intensified drone attacks in Pakistan, and in Yemen against an al-Qaida affiliate group, despite criticism at home and abroad.

The apparent drone strike in 2011 that killed Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric working in Yemen for al-Qaida, refocused media attention on the use of “targeted killings.”

Carney referred reporters to statements by counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, nominated to head the CIA. Brennan has been the principal official defining legal and moral justifications for use of drones and targeted killings.

Matthew Aid, an independent intelligence analyst, says the emerging guidelines have gone through numerous revisions and are the subject of intense debate. He suggests that any exemption from the guidelines of drone strikes in Pakistan is cause for concern.

“The principal weapon that the U.S. government uses at present to locate, localize and kill terrorists is the unmanned drone,” said Aid. “So if you exempt the drones from this doctrinal document that has been put together over the span of a year by the White House and the national security establishment, basically you’re leaving out a critical component of what it is we’re doing out there.”

 

 

 

Related articles

• 17 Killed in Four Straight Days of US Drone Strikes in Yemen (news.antiwar.com)
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• CIA gets exception in upcoming drone strike ‘playbook’ (stripes.com)
• Yemen Cabinet Minister Condemns Drone Strikes (news.antiwar.com)
• CIA to exempt strikes on Pakistan from drones codification – reports (guardian.co.uk)
• Obama’s ‘Playbook’ for Targeted Strikes Has a Gaping Hole–CIA’s Killer Drones in Pakistan Exempted (alternet.org)
• Yemen Drone Strikes: Suspected U.S. Attack Kills At Least 8 (huffingtonpost.com)
• Obama Drone Program Under Attack as More Pakistanis Killed (atlantablackstar.com)
• Ask Brennan: Are Drones Really Working? (theatlantic.com)