In February, during his confirmation process, CIA director John Brennan offered an unusually straightforward explanation: “Where possible, we also work with local governments to gather facts, and, if appropriate, provide condolence payments to families of those killed.”... Read more»
It’s not just Colorado and Washington: The world is abandoning the U.S.-backed drug war in favor of a more liberal approach to cannabis. Four decades after President Nixon declared war on drugs, nearly everyone agrees it’s time for a truce.... Read more»2
For a president who is reluctant to play the role of world policeman, drones look like an easy option, a simple way to show a war-weary public that he is “doing something” to defend America. They may also be the cheap option. But like the sanctions program that is supposed to force Iran to give up its presumed nuclear weapons program, some experts have grave doubts that the drone program can achieve its objective of deterring terrorist acts.... Read more»
What little we know about the evidence needed to justify a drone strike on unidentified people. While President Obama and administration officials have framed the drone program as targeting particular members of al-Qaeda, attacks against unknown militants reportedly may account for the majority of strikes.... Read more»
The focus on the targeting of American citizens overlooks many other strikes in which the U.S. doesn’t know who it’s killing. In these attacks, known as “signature strikes,” drone operators fire on people whose identities they do not know based on evidence of suspicious behavior or other “signatures.”... Read more»
The Obama administration has justified its counter-terror strategy on a law Congress passed just days after 9/11. But more than a decade later, does it fit the facts on the ground?... Read more»
The U.S. is conducting drone strikes in in at least three countries beyond Iraq and Afghanistan. Here’s a reading guide to understanding the U.S.’ shadow wars.... Read more»
U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan have killed as many as 15 people, including a top pro-Islamabad Taliban warlord with links to Al Qaeda.... Read more»
The New York Times had filed the drone lawsuit against the Obama administration seeking more information about the attacks.... Read more»
121 journalists died in 2012, making it one of the bloodiest years on record.... Read more»
A new U.S. intelligence report forecasts an end to U.S. predominance.... Read more»1
The question won’t go away: Did President Obama and administration officials mislead the public when they initially claimed that the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi began “spontaneously” in response to an anti-Muslim video?... Read more»
ProPublica collected claims by the Obama administration about deaths from drone strikes in Pakistan and compared each one not to local reports but rather to other administration claims. The numbers sometimes do not add up.... Read more»
America’s use of unmanned drones to kill terror suspects is widely opposed around the world, according to a survey.... Read more»
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has defended the military’s use of drones to target insurgents in Pakistan, while addressing a conference in neighboring India.... Read more»
Human rights groups and others have expressed outrage at the method reportedly used by the Obama administration for counting civilian deaths from drone strikes.... Read more»
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