Drone Attacks Rise Under Obama - Democratic Underground

tekisui

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Tue Oct-13-09 08:52 PM
Original message

Drone Attacks Rise Under Obama

Source: Saudi Gazette

Under President Barack Obama, the pace of strikes by pilotless “drone” aircraft on insurgents in Pakistan is rising and could pick up further after a White House review of regional war strategy.

There have been 39 drone strikes in Pakistan since Obama took office not quite nine months ago, according to a Reuters tally of reports from Pakistani security officials, local government officials and residents.

That compares with 33 strikes in the 12 months before Obama was sworn in on Jan. 20.
The air strikes, many using “Hellfire missiles,” are credited most notably with killing Pakistani Taleban leader Baitullah Mehsud in August, a much-lauded success that has stoked renewed interest in the potential of robotic warfare.

But as the White House reviews high-tech counter-terrorism options in Pakistan and Afghanistan, critics of drone technology question the effectiveness of targeted killings and the usefulness of a campaign fanning anti-American sentiment.

Henry Crumpton, a former senior official at the CIA and the State Department, called the Pakistan strikes “one of the most widely known secrets that the CIA has.”

more: http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2009101451498

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kenny blankenship

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Tue Oct-13-09 09:04 PM
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1. But that's a good thing. Bombing went UP under Nixon

we're one president closer to giving up this insane butchery.

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Libertas1776

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Tue Oct-13-09 09:07 PM
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2. ...And he'll be going to Oslo

to accept his Peace Prize when?:shrug:

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pscot

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Tue Oct-13-09 09:16 PM
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3. Murder Anonymous

Some guy playing video games in the Pentagon can wipe out a village full of people 8000 miles away, then go home and have a nice dinner with his wife and kids. Our ethical standards are lagging well behind our technlogy.

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blues90

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Tue Oct-13-09 10:06 PM
Response to Reply #3

4. we have no ethical standards

but hell we sure have bombs and depleted uranium and everything else and those of us against this pay for it in more than one way.

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bertman

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Tue Oct-13-09 10:48 PM
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5. Careful Tekisui, posts like this really bum the cheerleaders.

Drone warfare reminds me of the Terminator movies. Robots indiscriminately slaughtering human beings to kill a few enemy warriors.

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DemoTex

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Tue Oct-13-09 11:26 PM
Response to Original message

6. I drove by Creech AFB (NW of Las Vegas) today ..

I saw two Predator drones flying in the area. Lots of cops, too, so I didn't pull over and pull out my Nikon with telephoto lends.

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amborin

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Tue Oct-13-09 11:53 PM
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7. flame me, but

i actually think the drone attacks are effective

and incredible!

just a week or two ago, a drone attack got a few high ranking types

they saw it coming and jumped out of their car to try to escape, but didn't

the attacks are supposedly making it harder to plan and execute

they have to be way more surreptitious and this is a hindrance; so is possibly getting
droned.

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