International

Jack Searle writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism One strike in Pakistan ends 34-day stretch without an attack. Yemen sees more strikes in a month than any time since March 2012. Yemen A terror alert centred on Yemen gripped the US in August leading to six confirmed drone strikes. The US closed 21 diplomatic […]

Drones

How Much Blood Money does the US Pay to Families of Innocent Drone Victims? It’s Classified (Currier)

Juan Cole

Cora Currier writes at Propublica: There have been nine drone strikes reported in Yemen in the past two weeks – an uptick apparently connected to the Al Qaeda threat that shut down U.S. embassies across the Middle East and Africa. As many as six civilian deaths have also been reported. President Obama has promised increased […]

Domestic Surveillance

Top Ten Things that don’t Make Sense about NSA Surveillance, Drones and al-Qaeda

Juan Cole

In a Reuters Exclusive, John Shiffman and Kristina Cooke reveal that the National Security Agency shares information it gleans from warrantless surveillance of Americans with the Special Operation Division of the Drug Enforcement Agency, which then uses the metadata to develop cases against US citizens. The DEA then routinely lies to the judge and defense […]

CIA

America’s Drone Tally in Pakistan and Yemen for July (Serle and Ross)

Juan Cole

Jack Serle and Alice K Ross write at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism The CIA killed more people in Pakistan per strike than at any point since July 2012. US drones return to Yemen‘s skies and al Qaeda confirms the death of its deputy leader. UN report finds indications of increased US and UK involvement […]

Drones

BOIJ on Pakistan: First the CIA Droned them, Then it Droned the Rescuers (Woods and Yusufzai)

Juan Cole

Chris Woods writes at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (Additional reporting by Mushtaq Yusufzai) A field investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in Pakistan’s tribal areas appears to confirm that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) last year briefly revived the controversial tactic of deliberately targeting rescuers at the scene of a previous drone strike. […]

Drones

Pakistan: Civilian Drone Casualties from Poor US Intelligence: Gen. Shah (Woods)

Juan Cole

Chris Woods writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: US officials are claiming that an internal Pakistani assessment of civilian deaths from US drone strikes – obtained and published in full by the Bureau – is ‘far from authoritative.’ The secret document was obtained by the Bureau from three independent sources. It provides details of […]

al-Qaeda

Pakistan: 20% of US Drone Victims are Civilians, 12% are Children (Woods)

Juan Cole

Exclusive: Leaked Pakistani report confirms high civilian death toll in CIA drone strikes Chris Woods writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: A secret document obtained by the Bureau reveals for the first time the Pakistan government’s internal assessment of dozens of drone strikes, and shows scores of civilian casualties. The United States has consistently […]

Domestic Surveillance

Top Ten American Steps toward a Police State

Juan Cole

The police state, a term first coined in the mid-19th century in German (Polizeistaat), is characterized by a standing political police, by intense domestic surveillance and by restrictions on the movements of citizens. Police states are on a spectrum, and unfortunately in the past decade the Unite States has moved toward police-stateness in small but […]

Domestic Surveillance

Mueller: FBI Drones on US Soil, used ‘Minimally’ (Young Turks)

Juan Cole

FBI director Robert Mueller admitted Wednesday that the FBI sometimes deploys drones over US territory. Cenk Uygur reports: Cenk points out that if the Bureau can use the drones minimally, there is no check on them being used extensively, and he evokes Orwell’s image of Big Brother.