

American and Italian hostages killed in cia drone strike in january - MrBra
http://www.wsj.com/articles/american-italian-hostages-killed-in-cia-drone-strike-in-january-1429795801

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xnull6guest
There have been an unusually large number of civilian casualties from the
drone program. If memory serves its currently over 20 incidental deaths per
high value target. Leaked documents from the CIA (by Der Speigel) even
enumerate administrative policy on the number of acceptable innocent deaths
per target - in some cases 70 or more civilian deaths were calculated to be
acceptable.

The United States also hunted and assassinated US citizen and former
Ambassador al-Awlaki with drones after censoring his political speech from
Youtube and other online forums when the former Ambassador, through his
official duties, became convinced that the US's policies in the Middle East
were harmful to the region and became supportive of resistance groups. A
scandal ensued when the US claimed to have the right to execute American
citizens without trial in circumstances of extreme immediacy but would not
release their policy (this is under the now former Justice Department head
Holder) and could not defend the claim that there was a critical immediate
need (al-Awlaki did not participate in any violent activity and former strikes
that missed him were not followed by any activity that could be reasonably
called an extreme immediate need).

These scandals aside, imagine what it is like to live underneath the constant
threat of instantaneous incineration - the buzzing of drones in the sky and
sporatic strikes. This Orwellian world will continue to see its day as the
world powers and military suppliers have all been building drone programs, the
US has plans to deploy drones to patrol its own skies, and the Obama
administration has clearance to sell its drones to other nations.

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mkempe
Obama also made sure to kill a 16-year old nephew.

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xnull6guest
Yes. It is my understanding that the nephew of al-Awlaki, also a US citizen,
was engaged with the resistance on the ground. Not that that's necessarily
okay then to kill without a trial but the argument for assassinating him is
perhaps slightly easier for the administration to make.

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snsr
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-
ope...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-operation-
kills-al-qaeda-hostages-including-
american/2015/04/23/8e9fcaba-e9bd-11e4-aae1-d642717d8afa_story.html?hpid=z1)

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mkempe
It's certainly sad that several innocents have been killed by a drone strike.

However, isn't that just the usual "collateral damage" on the Current
President's personal "kill list"? why is this news? are a few Westerners worth
so much more than hundreds or thousands of Pakistani and Afghan people?

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xnull6guest
This is one of the upsetting things about the transparency of the accident.
It's unique given the long held opacity of the civilian casualties racked up
by the program, including innocent people making their ways to weddings and
funerals. The apologies here are welcomed, but it makes the humanitarian miss
them in the silence blanketing the deaths of non-Western civilians.

