Covert Drone War
The use of Predator and Reaper drones (unmanned flying vehicles that are often armed with video-guided missiles) by the US military and CIA is a largely untold story of the "Global War on Terror / Global Contingency Operation" - yet has caused thousands of deaths in Pakistan and Afghanistan, many of whom are women and children.
Nine Arrested Protesting Drones at Hancock Air Base
- Category: Covert Drone War
Around February 13, 9 individuals were arrested by DeWitt Police and Onondaga County (NY) Sheriffs for peaceably blocking the main entrance to Hancock Air Base on East Molloy Rd in the town of DeWitt, a Syracuse, NY suburb. Hancock is the regional hub for the hunter/killer Reaper drone deployed over Afghanistan, Pakistan and, increasingly, elsewhere.
Obama Administration Again Refuses to tell a court Whether CIA Drone program Even Exists
- Category: Covert Drone War
It is not news that the US government systematically abuses its secrecy powers to shield its actions from public scrutiny, democratic accountability, and judicial review. But sometimes that abuse is so extreme, so glaring, that it is worth taking note of, as it reveals its purported concern over national security to be a complete sham.
The Red Queen's in Charge: Murdering People and Due Process Via Drones
- Category: Covert Drone War
The Red Queen of Alice in Wonderland – “Sentence first - verdict afterwards” - is now in charge. |
As many people have heard by now, a whistleblower sent to NBC News a couple of days ago a confidential DOJ memo that provides justifications for the government to use drones to assassinate Americans. This is extrajudicial action carried out by the White House alone. If individuals were to do it it would be called vigilantism and/or murder. I want to put this all into a larger context to illuminate what has been afoot. But before doing that, a hypothetical scenario:
Murder - the Drone Reality
- Category: Covert Drone War
In his essay “A Hanging,” George Orwell recounts, in great detail, the events he witnessed leading up to the execution of a man. It is important to note that before becoming an outspoken critic of the hypocrisy of Governments, George Orwell worked for one. He was a member of the Indian Imperial Police, having served in Burma, a British colony at the time.
Obama Nominates Mr. Drone to be CIA Chief
- Category: Covert Drone War
by Paul Harris
The nomination of President Barack Obama’s top counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan to head the CIA has sparked outrage and concern about America’s growing drones programme and its use for targeted killings of suspected Islamic militants.
Pakistan's army: taking on the Taliban in Waziristan
- Category: Covert Drone War
The US wants Pakistan to do more in its fight against the Taliban in Waziristan. But the Pakistan soldiers maimed in the war on terror might argue they have already given enough. Chris Woods reports.
Drone Protests This Weekend
- Category: Covert Drone War
Ironies of living in the post-Bush world:
1. The only CIA operative connected to waterboarding and torture during the Bush regime to be jailed, John Kiriakou, will go to prison for giving an agent's name to reporters in connection with an investigation aimed at exposing enhanced interrogation techniques. The agents who did the torture face no sanctions at all, and in fact are glorified in popular culture, like the new film Zero Dark Thirty.
“We Might Be Going To Jail, But We Still Will Not Be Complicit With Our Government’s War Crimes”
- Category: Covert Drone War

Join us as we walk from Hancock Airfield to the Onondaga County Jail on January 11th beginning at 12 noon at the Main gate on East Malloy Road.
Obama's Murder Memos
- Category: Covert Drone War
When its critics looked to define everything they saw as wrong with the Bush Administration, they frequently turned to the so-called "Torture Memos". Penned by John Yoo, now unaccountably a Law professor at UC Berkeley, these memos represented a calculated effort to take advantage of a crisis situation to re-interpret executive power and privilege. Needless to say, that reinterpretation tended towards a dramatic expansion and abuse of that power.
Murder by Drone
- Category: Covert Drone War
Early in the morning on December 6, two missiles, fired without warning from an unmanned U.S. drone, struck a house in the small village of Mubarak Shahi in northwest Pakistan. A Pakistani security official told the press that three “militants” had been killed. Another official reported four dead. There was no independent verification of the victims’ identities. (“US drone kills at least 3 militants in Pakistan,” AFP, December 6, 2012)
This news generated only a faint ripple in the U.S. media.