Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / 2012 Brendan Smialowski This drone was placed in front of the US White House for a protest.
(Wed) to listen to an interview with CCR's Senior Staff Attorney Pardiss Kebriaei about the case.
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LATEST items
Families of Americans killed by drones file suit Washington Post - 3 hours ago as of 1:40 EST Wed: The families of three Americans killed in drone strikes in Yemen last year file a lawsuit against the CIA and U.S. military. by Greg Miller READ article
here
ALSO:
Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in federal court, Al-Aulaqi v. Panetta. The suit sues senior CIA and military officials, and argues that the killings of three American citizens by their own government in drone strikes in Yemen last year violate the U.S. Constitution and international law. On September 30, 2011, U.S. drone strikes killed Anwar Al-Aulaqi, who had been placed on government “kill lists” over a year before, along with Samir Khan. Two weeks later, on October 14, U.S. drone strikes killed Anwar Al-Aulaqi’s son, 16-year-old Abdulrahman Al-Aulaqi, as he was eating dinner with his teenage cousin at an open-air restaurant.
Our suit seeks accountability for those killed. It seeks some modicum of justice for Abdulrahman, the boy whose family could not give a proper burial because he was blown to pieces by a U.S. missile, and who the United States never alleged committed any harm. Our suit seeks to ensure that there are no more Abdulrahmans in the future, that no more individuals are needlessly killed in dangerously expanding covert U.S. wars that must end.
Our suit also challenges the government’s claimed power to target and kill individuals, including U.S. citizens, without due process and far from any field of armed conflict. It challenges the Executive Branch’s unconstitutional and dangerous assumption of the role of judge, jury and executioner.
Under the Obama administration, U.S. targeted killings have escalated and expanded. Strikes have been carried out in Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan and the Philippines. Thousands of people have been killed, including many hundreds of civilians. A single strike in Yemen on December 17, 2009, killed 41 civilians, including 21 children, and led to popular protest. In Pakistan alone, the Obama administration has already reportedly launched six times as many strikes as the Bush administration, in fewer years in office.
Please support our work by writing the White House and demanding that President Obama end unlawful targeted killings.
For more information, visit CCR’s Al-Aulaqi v. Panetta case page, along with the page for our earlier, related case, Al-Aulaqi v. Obama. Watch our video about 16-year-old Abdulrahman. Tune in to NPR's All Things Considered today at 4-6PM EST to listen to an interview with CCR's Senior Staff Attorney Pardiss Kebriaei about the case...
Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Annette Warren Dickerson
Director of Education and Outreach
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here
Be sure to look up Code Pink, World Can't Wait, Center for Nonviolent Communication and Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com for more information on the work of US peace activists in respect to the use of drones.
15 comments:
NOTES to the post above from Wikipedia:
The U.S. deployed UAVs in Yemen to search for and kill Anwar al-Awlaki,[104] firing at and failing to kill him at least once,[105] before he was killed in a drone attack in Yemen on 30 September 2011. Two weeks later, Al-Awlaki's son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, was also killed by an American drone strike in Yemen.[106][107][108]
NOTE #2 to post above (Also Wikipedia):
In December 2011, Iran, captured an United States' RQ-170 unmanned aerial vehicle which flew over Iran and rejected President Barack Obama's request to return it to the US.[109][110] Iranian officials have recovered data from the U.S. surveillance drone. However, it is not clear how Iran shot it down.[111] There have also been reports that Iran intercepted the GPS signal sent from the drone and tricked it into landing on an Iranian runway.
NOTE #3 to post above (Also Wikipedia):
In 2011 the US Department of Defense offered $100,000 in prizes in a contest enabling citizen scientists, creative minds and innovators everywhere to produce advanced small unmanned air vehicles.[112] The submission period started on 28 July 2011 (at 12:00 AM EDT) and ended on 6 January 2012 (at 11:59 PM EST).
NOTE #4:
[edit]Domestic aerial surveillance
Although UAVs are today most commonly associated with military actions, UAVs are increasingly being used by civilian government agencies, businesses, and private individuals. In the United States, for example, government agencies use drones to patrol the nation's borders, scout property, and hunt down fugitives.[113] One of the first authorized for domestic usage was the ShadowHawk UAV in service in Montgomery County, Texas and is being used by their SWAT and emergency management offices. [114]
NOTE: #5
[edit]Drones Over Canada
The Government of Canada is considering the purchase of UAVs for arctic surveillance. The Canadian government wants to buy at least three high-altitude, unmanned aerial vehicles in what could be an attempt to salvage its Arctic sovereignty ambitions.
Perhaps readers from other places outside the US will add comments?
ALSO just published: Concerns closer to home (USA):
THIS onbe is by Ann Wright who left the military because of the war on Iraq: http://www.opednews.com/articles/America-s-Drones-Are-Homew-by-Ann-Wright-120717-890.html
From Texas (July 18):
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Could-surveillance-drones-be-a-threat-to-national-3714476.phpA model of an unmanned flying vehicle is perched outside the White House at a demonstration over the use of drones in June. Drones have become controversial in the U.S., with critics fearing for aircraft safety and loss of privacy.
http://scotthortonshow.com/2011/01/22/antiwar-radio-pardiss-kebriaei-2/ Kebriaei, PardissPositionStaff Attorney, GGJI (Guantanomo Global Justice Initiative)
Biography:
Pardiss Kebriaei joined the Center Constitutional Rights in July 2007. Since then, her work has focused on representing men detained at Guantánamo Bay in their habeas corpus challenges, before international human rights tribunals, in diplomatic advocacy with foreign governments to secure resettlement for men who cannot return home, and in post-release reintegration efforts. Her clients have included men from Yemen, Syria, Algeria, and Afghanistan. Her work includes seeking accountability for torture and arbitrary detention at Guantánamo, including representing the families of two men who died at the prison in June 2006 in their action against Donald Rumsfeld and other federal officials in Al-Zahrani v. Rumsfeld. Separate from Guantánamo, she is also counsel in Al-Aulaqi v. Obama, which concerns targeted killings by the executive in zones outside of armed conflict. Pardiss came to CCR after five years at the Center for Reproductive Rights, where she specialized in international litigation. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School
Read an excellent short summary of the US drone program and stats
via a speech by Debra Sweet:
http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/features-mainmenu-220/predatordronescovertwar/7877-what-the-us-drone-war-is-what-it-isnt-and-remembering-the-nameless-victims
Visit often the website for more items on the drone wars at...
World Can't Wait - National: http://www.worldcantwait.org 866.973.4463
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/07/18/156976103/aclu-sues-u-s-government-over-targeted-killing-of-three-citizens
Drone Attacks in Pakistan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_attacks_in_Pakistan
I encourage readers to add your own references.
I am using Comments as notes for filing in case there are others who do Human Rights who want a dated record.
Pakistan & other journalist on us drones in Pakistan july 2012
No Innocent Pakistanis Killed by Drones in 2012 Still Untrustworthy Summation of Incomplete Data
Reason Online (blog) - by Lucy Steigerwald - 17 hours ago
Now, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism confirms that at the very least, this is not ... The July 4 CNN report from security analyst Peter Bergen used the ... The United States' aggressive drone campaign in Pakistan slowed ...
Analysis: CNN expert's civilian drone death numbers don't add up
Bureau of Investigative Journalism - 1 day ago
Drone strike kills 19 ahead of US-Pakistan meeting in Tokyo | World ...
http://www.dronesguardian.co.uk, Saturday 7 July 2012 14.25 BST. US drones Pakistan. People in Multan, Pakistan, protest against US drone attacks on Saturday. Photograph: ...
Pakistan - Democracy Now!
www.democracynow.org/topics/pakistan
As U.S. Escalates Pakistan Drone Strikes, Expansive "Kill List" Stirs Fears of Worse ... We continue our discussion with veteran Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/07/cia-unaccountable-drone-war
A few more notes -- this time on the use of white p. documented as used as late as 2011 and likely still used:
Dirty Weapons in Afghanistan
www.afghanvoice.org.uk/avfm/readarticle.php?article=27Jun 13, 2012 – White phosphorus is a material made from a common allotrope of the .... Or will the foreign troops just go and continue attacks with drones and ...
Free Thought Manifesto: White Phosphorus: The New Napalm
freethoughtmanifesto.blogspot.com/.../white-phosphorus-new-napal...Jun 17, 2012 – From Dreams To Drones: Who Is The Real Barack Obam. .... The harm caused by white phosphorus munitions, used in more recent conflicts...
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2012/07/02/in-appeal-for-moral-leadership-jimmy-carter-calls-for-an-end-to-drone-attacks-and-the-closure-of-guantanamo/
Following are some comments which may relate to the CCR/NPR story.
(Personally, I don't think Jack Goldsmith has much he can say since he only went half-way at best in my small opinion in rejecting and criticizing the White House Illegal lawyers -- some of which are thought to continue to offer opinions to the Obama admin recently...
Lawfare › Hard National Security Choices
www.lawfareblog.com/Wednesday, July 18, 2012 at 3:16 PM ..... Steve Hehn at NPR has this All Things Considered piece on the CIA's venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel. ... http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/article/other/armed-conflict-article-170308.htm)
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