from SLATE: >> In Drone Program, CIA Doesn't Have To Know Suspects' Names Before Killing
>> The days in which the CIA was mostly restricted to killing militants whose >> names appeared on a list that had to be approved by top officials are long >> gone. Sure, the list is still there, but, in his last year of office, >> President Bush gave the CIA secret permission to expand the scope of attacks >> to target suspected militants even if their identities aren't known. >> President Obama has continued, and even streamlined, the program so agents >> can use "pattern of life" analysis, meaning information from surveillance >> cameras and informants, to find targets. This secret permission has played a >> key part in greatly expanding the CIA drone program from one that had a >> narrow focus on killing top leaders "into a large-scale campaign of >> airstrikes in which few militants are off-limits, as long as they are deemed >> to pose a threat to the U.S.," reveals the Los Angeles Times. Now the CIA >> drones carry out several strikes every week, and officials often don't know >> who they've killed. In fact! , the agency knows very little about the vast majority of the more than 500 people that U.S. officials say have been killed in recent years. While some insist that this ability to deal with fast-moving threats is key to being able to cripple militant organizations in Pakistan, others worry that killing individuals without knowing who they are exponentially increases the risk of killing innocent civilians. [Duh.] Meanwhile, the escalating campaign is helping increase anger against the United States in Pakistan. And some believe the car bomb left in Times Square Saturday night was an attempt to retaliate. >> Read original story in Los Angeles Times >> [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-drone-targets-20100506,0,57614.story] >> | Thursday, May 6, 2010 << -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
