background preloader

Scott's Sources

Facebook Twitter

Who’s making the case for — and against — military drones? A BQM-74E aerial drone launches from the guided-missile frigate USS Thach (FFG 43) during a live-fire exercise in 2011. (Photograph by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class, Stuart Phillips/US Navy.) Unmanned aerial vehicles — that is, drones — have a lot of people (and entire countries) hot under the collar.

Every few days it seems a new report comes out about the death of another group of “faceless” people, whether it’s suspected terrorist leaders or civilians. With little transparency from the governments launching drone strikes, that leaves speculation and debate to the watchdog organizations, foreign policy analysts, legal experts, media outlets and, of course, us opinionated regular folks. The first known drone strike was on November 4, 2002, when a CIA missile launched from a drone killed six suspected al Qaeda members in Yemen. Why use drones? For many critics, the problem is actually one of governmental transparency. Regina Dugan: From mach-20 glider to hummingbird drone P.W. Drones will save us, drones will destroy us: citizens sound off at FAA meeting. When it comes to allowing drones to fly over US soil, Americans are of two minds: embrace domestic drones for such uses as crop dusting, high wire inspection, search and rescue, and border security, or run screaming and seek shelter from the surveillance state in the sky.

Those dueling views were on display yesterday during a "public engagement session" hosted online by the US Federal Aviation Administration to gather input from citizens on the coming swarm. It quickly devolved into a massive venting session The two-hour long livestreamed conference call was open to any member of the US public to participate, providing citizens another opportunity to comment on the agency's newly proposed privacy policy on drones. But it quickly devolved into a massive venting session for and against the FAA's proposed drone privacy policy, and drones themselves. Many callers complained they couldn't even find the draft privacy policy document online.

"What you're doing here is a sham. " Yemen strikes visualised. These are visualisations from the databases compiled during the Bureau’s extensive investigation into the US covert war in Yemen. They are conservative representations of the Bureau’s data which is made up of ranges not absolute figures. These graphs are drawn from the lower end of each range. They are accurate up to the latest strike. Click on them to enlarge. Please feel free to download and reproduce the graphs, provided the Bureau is credited. See the full data for 2014 The minimum confirmed and possible additional US strikes in Yemen each year since the first in 2002.

The minimum number of people killed in confirmed and possible additional US drone strikes in Yemen. The minimum number of civilians reportedly killed in confirmed and possible additional US drone strikes in Yemen. The minimum confirmed US operations in Yemen from 2002 to the present, sorted by type. Not Just Killing Machines: Drones Can Save Lives, Too. Drones have certainly developed a bad reputation of late.

The unmanned aircraft have become known for their potential to take life. But if used properly, drones can save lives. Surveillance and transportation drones are being used in countries such the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Sudan and South Sudan to help solve problems facing residents, from lack of infrastructure to warlords committing crimes against humanity. A panel of experts discussed the potential of drones to bring peace at the 2013 Social Good Summit on Monday. "Technology is neutral. It's up to us to figure them out and really put them to work to solve the big challenges It's up to us to figure them out and really put them to work to solve the big challenges.

" Matternet uses "octocopter" drones to form transportation networks for spreading information and goods, such as medicine in Haiti. Kevin Kennedy, chief of integrated training service for the U.N. About Social Good Summit Image: Flickr, cosmo flash. Pakistan drone statistics visualised. These graphs accurately reflect the Bureau’s data on CIA drone strikes in Pakistan to the most recent strike. They are designed to illustrate in the simplest possible way key statistical data from our investigation. Click on a graph to enlarge. You are free to download and to reproduce them, provided the Bureau is credited. Pakistan drone strikes: illustrating minimum reported total casualties, minimum reported civilian casualties and minimum casualties aged under 18.

This graph illustrates the minimum reported civilians killed in drone strikes in Pakistan year by year. This graph shows the total number of people reportedly killed in CIA drone strikes in Pakistan. This graph shows the tally of total drone strikes in Pakistan between 2004 – 2013. Covert Drone War. Invasion of the Drones. National_Post_drones. Ciaran. 1671129-inline-screen-shot-2012-10-30-at-43241-pm. Afghan Leader Lashes Out at U.S. Allies After NATO Drone Strike. Omar Sobhani/Reuters President Hamid Karzai at a gathering this week of Afghan leaders whose advice on a security agreement he has rejected.

The attacks came at a delicate moment, when talks between Mr. Karzai and the United States over a long-term security agreement had reached an impasse. The Americans have told Mr. Karzai that unless he signs the agreement promptly, they will begin planning for a total withdrawal of American and NATO forces after the end of next year. Mr. Karzai vowed this week, at the conclusion of a loya jirga, or grand council, that he would cancel the security agreement completely if there was even one more raid that killed civilians. On Thursday, he said in effect that that moment had come. The loya jirga overwhelmingly approved the security agreement last week and called on Mr. Instead, Mr. It is not known whose drones were involved.

Mr. After Mr. Both allies have continued to hammer home their positions in public statements. “Zero is not an option for us,” Mr. Not All Drones Are So Scary. "Whatever you write, please don't call it a drone," Steen Mogensen says, gently touching the tail of a 19-foot orange-and-white helicopter. Mogensen, the CEO of Scion UAS, didn't mean to say that this vehicle can't fly without a pilot—of course it can.

This is the unmanned-vehicles convention in Washington. It's the terminology he takes issue with. "It just strikes fear into a lot of people," says Mogensen, who with his soft Danish accent and slight potbelly is himself decidedly not scary. Other than the fact that this craft—nicknamed "The Jackal"—can be operated from the ground, it has very little in common with the Predator drones delivering the Hellfire missiles made famous by the evening news and Homeland. "The perfect example would be the Arizona fire that killed 19 firefighters," he said. The Washington Convention Center this week is filled with hundreds of companies somehow involved with unmanned vehicles.

"Part of it was just to show them they can't stop me," he said. Thousands protest US drone strikes in Pakistan. Published time: December 02, 2013 02:17 Pakistani supporters of the Defence of Pakistan coalition shout slogans and carry placards at an anti-US rally in Lahore on December 1, 2013 (AFP Photo / Arif Ali) Thousands of people took to the streets in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore to protest against ongoing US drone strikes, amid a rise in local protests against US tactics. Around 5,000 demonstrators called on the US to immediately stop the drone assaults on the country. The event was organized by the Defence of Pakistan Council, which is comprised of 40 religious and political groups, AFP reported. Protesters chanted slogans to block NATO supplies being transported to Afghanistan through Pakistan.

Recently, local residents have become more vocal against the US tactics, organizing increasing numbers of rallies. The US has also faced significant international pressures on account of its attacks. Despite criticism, the US has carried out hundreds of drone strikes since 2004. Afghans describe relatives' deaths in recent U.S. drone strike. JALALABAD, Afghanistan — Miya Jan was filling potholes on the rutted trail that leads to his village in rugged eastern Afghanistan when he heard the whine of a drone aircraft overhead.

The sunburned 28-year-old farmer looked up and saw a gray, narrow-winged drone circling the village. A few minutes later, he said, it fired a missile that landed with a tremendous thud across a stony ridge line. Jan ran to the explosion site and recognized the burning frame of his cousin's blue pickup truck. Inside, he said, he saw blackened shapes — people whose torsos had been sheared off. "There were pieces of my family all over the road," said Jan, recalling the deadly Sept. 7 late afternoon incident in an interview last week. "Do the American people want to spend their money this way, on drones that kill our women and children? " The repercussions of such strikes are felt far beyond the dark escarpments of Kunar province.

On Saturday, Col. U.S. Recent Drone Strikes Strain U.S. Ties With Afghanistan and Pakistan. Malala’s Other Message: Why Drones aren’t Working | The Georgetown Public Policy Review. By Emily Manna At just sixteen years old, Malala Yousafzai has survived a Taliban attack, been lauded by the world for her bravery in standing up for women’s education rights, and this month became the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize nominee. She recently paid a visit to the White House as part of a US tour to promote education for girls in Pakistan, as well as her new memoir.

Her message to President Obama is one that US policy makers need to hear: drone strikes aren’t working. Instead, they are entangling us in a war on terrorism that will extend to generations to come. Both the White House and Malala released statements following her visit, but they gave two very different accounts of the content of the meeting. As reported by Lesley Clark for McClatchy DC, Malala says she told the President that “drone attacks are fueling terrorism,” but the White House statement only mentions the Obamas ’ support of Malala’s fight for girls’ education. The case for drones Why drones aren’t working Dr. Nationals-Public-Forum-Topic-Analysis-Drones. Drones: Simply no other viable US options | Other Views. In its muddled report about drones released this week, Amnesty International unwittingly helps the U.S. government justify its alleged lack of transparency in its campaign against Pakistani-based al-Qaida and Taliban terrorists. With its report littered with bogus names for sources, Amnesty International employs the same tactics of misdirection or concealment that it rails against when governments use them.

This obviously makes it virtually impossible to verify the legitimacy of the report’s informers or the accuracy of their assertions. According to Amnesty, it concealed identities for the sources’ security and because most Pakistani officials with whom it says it spoke requested anonymity. Despite its own serious lack of transparency, Amnesty International nevertheless accuses the U.S. government of an “utter lack of transparency” about its drone program The U.S. – or any nation – needs to carefully guard its sources and methods of gathering intelligence and conducting operations. Nationals-Public-Forum-Con-Analysis-Drones.

KEITH C. BURRIS: Drones save U.S. lives - Opinion. Drones carry smart missiles that can be used to target enemies and encampments with incredible precision and without risking the life of a U.S. pilot. They are unmanned, programmed, and piloted remotely -- almost like a video game. And their targets are intelligence targets. That blurs spying and war. Drones have been used in the war on terrorists by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Some key terrorist leaders in Iraq and Afghanistan were taken out with drones. Drones have also been used where the USA does not have troops, or, ostensibly, a war -- in Pakistan and parts of Africa. Now some members of Congress are raising questions, saying they want more accountability regarding the government’s use of drones. There should be strict oversight of the use of drones. Yes, drones are scary. Yes, there is potential for abuse.

Yes, there are constitutional balancing questions. Yes, Congress is entitled to ask about civilian casualties. Yes, drones also blur assassination and war. Keith C.