Tim Holmes | Medium | 30 Nov 2014 “Clinical”, “surgical”, “targeted”, “precision”. As US massacres-by-drone continue across the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia, their ugly accomplice is the bastardisation of language. Human rights group Reprieve have just calculated the number of innocent victims each drone strike claims, posing the question: by what standards are…
John Vibes | The Anti-Media | 26 Nov 2014 Earlier last year, the Obama Administration redefined “Militant” to mean “Military Aged Male”, so this way nearly any male who gets killed is considered a violent enemy, at least in the eyes of the general population. A new study using public drone strike data was recently…
Brian Terrell | Voices for Creative Non-violence | 19 Nov 2014 Political language can be used, George Orwell said in 1946, “to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” In order to justify its global assassination program, the Obama administration has had to stretch words…
Jack Serle | The Bureau of Investigative Journalism | 16 Oct 2014 As the number of US drone strikes in Pakistan hits 400, research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism finds that fewer than 4% of the people killed have been identified by available records as members of al Qaeda. This calls in to question…
Collen Rowley | Huffington Post | 2 Oct 2014 The answer lies in human psychology. And probably like the old observation about history, people who refuse to understand human psychology are doomed to be victims of psychological manipulation. How is it that even members of peace groups have now come to support US bombing? One…
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | 28 Sept 2014 The United States has launched a huge number of drone strikes under President Obama. It’s widely accepted and extremely terrifying. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4NRJoCNHIs?feature=player_detailpage&w=640&h=360]
RT | 22 Aug 2014 Abby Martin features an interview with author and journalist Nafeez Ahmed, discussing his four-part investigation into the Pentagon’s mass social science project called The Minerva Research Initiative, as well as his latest book ‘Zero Point’. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmP77IId2oo?feature=player_detailpage&w=640&h=360]
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism | Alice K. Ross | 24 July 2014 On the afternoon of September 7 last year, a truck made its way along a remote road in Watapur, a region in Afghanistan’s Kunar province. A local farmer, Miya Jan, heard a buzzing overhead, and looked up to see a drone above…
by Lauren McCauley | Common Dreams | June 26, 2014 The embrace of killer drones by the United States government is likely to increase anti-U.S. sentiment, erode national sovereignty and trigger a “slippery slope” into endless war, a prominent military and intelligence panel warned in a new report published Thursday. Recommendations and Report of the…
by Barry Grey | Cyrano’s Journal Today | June 26, 2014 The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Monday released a redacted version of the hitherto secret Obama administration memo arguing for the legality of presidential assassinations, without charges or trial, of US citizens (pdf version of memo). The 47-page memo, dating…