A widening discussion of the use of Drones for targeted assassination in war and in covert actions in countries where we are not at war, has developed since early 2010 when I first began actively protesting their use in these contexts. When I first began tracking news on drones for the Upstate Drone Action website in late 2010, it was slim pickings. I fit the entire first year of news on a single web page. Yet that was the peak of activity in the covert drone wars. Since then, discussion has increased while active drone strikes by the United States have decreased. According to the New America Foundation, the number of covert Drone Strikes per year has fallen from 122 in 2010 to 21 so far in 2013. Of course the more prolific strikes in Afghanistan aren’t covert, therefore aren’t counted or noted anywhere that I can find.
A year ago, President Obama defended his weekly meetings to select drone victims, and the use of something called a Matrix of Disposition. However he released very little concrete information, even in the course of Congressional hearings earlier this year, little concrete information emerged. Open lies were allowed to stand. The assertion was made repeatedly that there were zero civilian victims in the covert drone war, even after more than a hundred photos were brought out of children killed in drone attacks in Pakistan. Government officials admitted that all males of military age are counted as ‘militants’. It became apparent that many of the ‘militants’ killed were never identified before or after their deaths. Continue reading
