dagblog - Comments for "The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program"

People got a lot more heat

rmrd0000 — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 22:58:54 +0000

In reply to I wonder how long before the

People got a lot more heat for speaking out against Vietnam than drones. The Dixie Chicks had their music careered damaged by speaking out against Bush. Given that Ted Nugent can wish the President dead and a woman at a GOP town hall meeting can call for Obama's execution, I don't think that herds of people who speak out are going to be jailed. A Governor shoved her finger in Obama"s face and was not thrown in jail.

Innocents will be killed

Aaron Carine — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 22:11:14 +0000

In reply to The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program

Innocents will be killed whether we rely on electronic surveillance or human intelligence, and even if we act in accord with the laws of war. And if the rule is that we can never kill any of these people, because that is "assassination"; some of them will probably succeed in carrying out attacks. We could simply call off the whole war, and maybe become pacifists, but I myself am not willing to do all the things pacifists want us to do.

I wonder how long before the

Resistance — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 20:15:05 +0000

In reply to US considers drone strike on

I wonder how long before the policy includes, "any American, who should speak out against the drone strike, will be considered giving aid and comfort to the enemy"?

Marcy Wheeler's analysis of

artappraiser — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 19:39:05 +0000

In reply to US considers drone strike on

Marcy Wheeler's analysis of the above story.

US considers drone strike on

artappraiser — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 19:30:05 +0000

In reply to The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program

US considers drone strike on American al-Qaida suspect abroad
Officials say member of-Qaida is actively planning terror attacks, but CIA drone cannot strike him because he is a US citizen

Associated Press in Washington, via theguardian.com, 10 Feb., 2014

An American citizen who is a member of al-Qaida is actively planning attacks against Americans overseas, US officials say, and the Obama administration is wrestling with whether to kill him with a drone strike and how to do so legally under its new stricter targeting policy issued last year.

The CIA drones watching him cannot strike, because he’s a US citizen and the Justice Department must build a case against him, a task it hasn’t completed.

Four US officials said the American suspected terrorist is in a country that refuses US military action on its soil and that has proved unable to go after him. And President Obama’s new policy says American suspected terrorists overseas can only be killed by the military, not the CIA, creating a policy conundrum for the White House.

Two of the officials described the man as an al-Qaida facilitator who has been directly responsible for deadly attacks against US citizens overseas and who continues to plan attacks against them that would use improvised explosive devices.

But one US official said the Defense Department was divided over whether the man is dangerous enough to merit [....]

My highlighting. And I suggest to read the article in full for more details on new policy.

US stops adding al Qaeda

artappraiser — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 18:58:11 +0000

In reply to The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program

US stops adding al Qaeda leaders to 'kill list'
By Bill Roggio, "Threat Matrix" @ Long War Journal, February 7, 2014

If you want to 'end the war' against al Qaeda, one good way would be to declare that all of the global terror group's leaders are dead, and declare victory. And this seems to be exactly what the Obama administration is doing. And pretty much doing it at the behest of our 'friends' in Pakistan. The same Pakistani friends who insisted for 10 years that Osama bin Laden wasn't in Pakistan, until he was killed by US SEALs in a raid just outside Pakistan's version of West Point.

Read this report at The Wall Street Journal. Here is an excerpt, emphasis is mine: [....]

The former JSOC drone

A Guy Called LULU — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 13:34:05 +0000

In reply to The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program

The former JSOC drone operator is adamant that the technology has been responsible for taking out terrorists and networks of people facilitating improvised explosive device attacks against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. But he also states that innocent people have “absolutely” been killed as a result of the NSA’s increasing reliance on the surveillance tactic.