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Rise of the Drones – UAVs After 9/11 - Peter Lemkin - 20-02-2013
Brennan Refuses to Rule Out Drone Assassinations Within the US
By Tom Carter and Barry Grey
In written responses to questions submitted by the Senate Intelligence Committee, John Brennan, the Obama administration's nominee for director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), refused to rule out drone assassinations of American citizens on US soil. The committee on Friday released a declassified version of Brennan's responses.
Brennan, currently President Obama's chief counterterrorism adviser, is the architect and director of the program of drone missile assassinations that is run out of the White House with the personal participation of Obama. Asked squarely, "Could the Administration carry out drone strikes inside the United States?" Brennan replied, "This Administration has not carried out drone strikes inside the United States and has no intention of doing so."
This is what is known as a non-responsive answer. It is reasonable to assume that if the answer was "no," Brennan would simply have written, "no." Instead, in order to avoid a giving straightforward "yes," he answered a different question than the one that was asked.
Brennan's answers to the written questions make clear that there was nothing accidental about his refusal to rule out drone assassinations within the United States at his February 7 confirmation hearing before the Senate committee. It was, rather, an expression of a deliberate policy adopted by the Obama White House and the military/intelligence agencies.
When asked at the hearing whether he believed that the Obama administration could carry out drone assassinations on US soil, Brennan responded that he was determined to "optimize transparency on these issues, but at the same time, optimize secrecy and the protection of our national security." He thus completely evaded the question, and no member of the committee, Democrat or Republican, pursued the matter further.
The very real threat of presidential assassinations of US citizens and others within the United States starkly raises the specter of police-military dictatorship. Behind the legalistic double-talk of the administration's white paper on drone killings of Americans, made public two weeks ago, the US government is claiming unlimited powers to assassinate anyone, anywhere in the world.
By asserting the power to order the killing of alleged terroristssecretly and without judicial or congressional oversightand acting on this asserted power to kill thousands of people, including at least three American citizensthe Obama administration has effectively abrogated the US Constitution's Bill of Rights and the Fifth Amendment's guarantee that no person shall be "deprived of life … without due process of law."
The lack of significant protest from any section of the political or media establishment underscores the disintegration of American democracy and the absence of any constituency for the defense of democratic rights within the US ruling class. Just how rapidly the American bourgeoisie is breaking with its own previous legal norms is demonstrated by the absence of serious opposition to Brennan's confirmation. Four years ago, Obama had to scuttle plans to name Brennan, then a top CIA official, to head the agency, due to protests over his role in and public defense of the Bush administration's use of torture.
Now the Senate is poised to confirm Brennan's nomination. The major newspapers either ignored the transcript of his written responses to the intelligence committee or carried perfunctory reports buried in their inside pages. The major organ of American liberalism, the New York Times, which has editorialized in support of Brennan's confirmation, did not bother even to report his refusal to rule out drone assassinations within the US.
On the same day that the Senate committee released Brennan's written responses, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued 1,428 domestic drone permits since 2007, a figure far higher than previous estimates. The newspaper wrote, "The FAA this week solicited proposals to create six sites across the country to test drones, a crucial step before widespread government and commercial use is approved."
Under Department of Homeland Security grants, many local police departments have already acquired drones and implemented their own drone spying programs. The use of drones within the US for manhunts, such as the recent dragnet by Los Angeles police in pursuit of rogue officer Christopher Dorner, is by now a reality. The hundreds of drones already buzzing overhead "can carry high-resolution video cameras, infrared sensors, license plate readers, listening devices and other high-tech gear," the Los Angeles Times reported.
Since 9/11, the foundations of a police state in the US have been systematically laid. Under the cover of the so-called "war on terror," the extrajudicial "wartime" powers of the president have been massively expanded. With Obama, this process has been intensified. The illegal drone assassination program has been expanded, along with renditions and domestic spying. Laws have been enacted sanctioning the military detention, without charges or trial, of US citizens.
As the World Socialist Web Site has warned from the outset, the police state measures enacted since September 11, 2001 have nothing to do with protecting American citizens from terrorism. They are, on the contrary, designed to be used against the growth of working class opposition to social inequality and ever worsening living and working conditions.
Especially since the financial crash of 2008 that set off the greatest crisis of American and world capitalism since the Great Depression, the ruling classes in all of the major imperialist countries have turned to brutal austerity policies to place the burden of the failure of their system on the working class. With no policies to offer for alleviating the suffering of the people, and facing growing popular resistance, they are all turning to state violence and the criminalization of working class struggle.
In the United States, the center of the world crisis, the ruling class has likewise responded to the economic decline of American capitalism with militarism abroad and austerity and increasing repression at home.
It would be politically naïve not to assume that the US military/intelligence apparatus is drawing up lists of political opponents to be eliminated, "disappeared" or imprisoned in the event of major social convulsions, just as Washington's client dictatorships in Latin America, Indonesia and elsewhere have done in the past.
The American working class must make its own preparations for the mass struggles that lie ahead. At the center of these preparations, and the only basis for the defense of democratic rights, is the adoption of a socialist and revolutionary perspective whose aim is to break the grip of the corporate-financial ruling elite and replace its repressive state with a workers state.
Rise of the Drones – UAVs After 9/11 - Keith Millea - 20-02-2013
02.20.13 - 12:23 PM
Drone U
by Abby Zimet
Touting unprecedented education "for the benefit of mankind," Unmanned Vehicle University, America's only school offering postgraduate engineering degrees in unmanned systems - ie: drones - is thriving. Since opening in Arizona in July with five students taking its largely online courses for an annual fee of $64,000, it now has 300 graduate drone wannabees, a number expected to double next fall. And the future otherwise looks bright: A trillion-dollar global industry with the U.S. market likely accounting for 77% of spending; three U.S. universities offering primary drone degrees and dozens of other colleges with aviation programs offering minor UAV courses; a possible 10,000 commercial drones operating in the US once domestic regulations are put in place. From Drones for America, a great new animated video, "Welcome to Your Future."
Video at link below:
http://www.commondreams.org/further/2013/02/20
Rise of the Drones – UAVs After 9/11 - Peter Lemkin - 21-02-2013
MANY VIDEOS ON THE ORIGINAL SITE http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2281403/U-S-Air-Force-developing-terrifying-swarms-tiny-unmanned-drones-hover-crawl-kill-targets.htmlHERE.
Death from a swarm of tiny drones: U.S. Air Force releases terrifying video of tiny flybots that can can hover, stalk and even kill targets
Air Vehicles Directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, is already developing prototypes of tiny drones that can hover
The Micro Air Vehicles will work in swarms to provide complex surveillance of a battlefield
They can also be armed with incapacitating chemicals, combustible payloads or even explosives 'for precision targeting capability'
By Michael Zennie
PUBLISHED: 00:11 GMT, 20 February 2013 | UPDATED: 18:25 GMT, 20 February 2013
The U.S. Air Force is developing tiny unmanned drones that will fly in swarms, hover like bees, crawl like spiders and even sneak up on unsuspecting targets and execute them with lethal precision.
The Air Vehicles Directorate, a research arm of the Air Force, has released a computer-animated video outlining the the future capabilities of Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs). The project promises to revolutionize war by down-sizing the combatants.
'MAVs will become a vital element in the ever-changing war-fighting environment and will help ensure success on the battlefield of the future,' the narrator intones.
'Unobtrusive, pervasive, lethal - Micro Air Vehicles, enhancing the capabilities of the future war fighter.'
Scroll down for video
Hovering: Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) are the future of the unmanned drones program, according to a new video from the Air Force. The Air Force has already developed a drone capable of hovering like a moth
Perching: The video, released by the Air Vehicle Directorate, shows a pigeon-like drone that can draw power from an electrical wire while its camera watches a target
Crawling: The drones will be equipped with legs so that they can crawl through tight spaces like an insect
The project, which is based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, was revealed in the March issue of the National Geographic magazine.
Air Force officials said they have already produced tiny remote-control prototypes - but they consume so much power that can only operate for a few minutes. Researchers estimate that it will take several years of advances in battery technology to make the designs feasible.
Still, the Air Force has a clear concept of what it hopes to accomplish with the program.
More...
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The promotional video begins with a swarm of tiny drones be dropped on a city from a passing plane.
The drones will work in concert to patch together a wide, detailed view of the battlefield - singling out individual targets without losing sight of the broader scene.
'Data will be communicated among the MAVs to enable real time, reliable decision-making and to provide an advanced overall picture for other platforms or operators,' the Air Force says.
Killing: The video demonstrates how MAVs could be used to sneak up behind unsuspecting targets and kill them with a single, lethal shot
Lethal: The drones could be equipped with incapacitating chemicals, combustible payloads or even explosives 'for precision targeting capability'
As the drones fall, they begin to fly - not like planes, but like insects. High frequency flapping wings allow the drones to hover and maneuver in tight spaces.
The military has already produced a drone patterned after a hawk moth that can flap its wings 30 times a second. However, the activity exhausts the drone's tiny battery in just a few minutes, according to National Geographic.
Another drone type soars like a pigeon and perches unobtrusively on a power line to observe a surveillance target with a camera.
The Air Force is working on technology that will allow the drones to steal electricity from power cables and other sources - so they can continue to operate for days or weeks on end.
Swarming: The drones couple be dropped en masse over a battlefield or a city and would work together to create a complex surveillance network
Working together: The drones would use advanced software to navigate by 'sight,' rather than GPS - which can be blocked by buildings or by jamming from the enemy
The Air Force training video shows a winged MAV following a target as he drives through the streets of a dense city.
Advanced sensors will enable 'optic flow,' which will allow remote pilots to fly by 'sight' - rather than flying by GPS, which can be disrupted by buildings or deliberately jammed by enemy forces.
The video depicts three drones following the target into a house, where they maneuver hallways and rooms undetected.
'Small size and agile flight will allow MAVs to covertly enter locations inaccessible by traditional means of aerial surveillance,' the narrator says.
The video follows the drones as they fly through an open door and sneak up behind a man who is aiming a sniper rifle.
'Individual MAVs may perform direct attack missions and can be equipped with incapacitating chemicals, combustible payloads or even explosives for precision targeting capability,' according to the video.
On screen, a small, hovering vehicle pauses before shooting the man directly in the back of the head.
Video: The lethal micro-drones that can crawl, hover and perch
Play Video
Read more:
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2281403/U-S-Air-Force-developing-terrifying-swarms-tiny-unmanned-drones-hover-crawl-kill-targets.html#ixzz2LYnHJeIu
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Rise of the Drones – UAVs After 9/11 - Magda Hassan - 24-03-2013
Drone base in Niger gives U.S. a strategic foothold in West Africa
Craig Whitlock/The Washington Post - The U.S. military has deployed unarmed Predator drones and more than 100 troops to Niger, where they are spying on extremist groups in the region and assisting French forces in Mali. The U.S. drones operate from a Nigerien military base in the capital of Niamey.
Buy This Photo
By Craig Whitlock,
NIAMEY, Niger The newest outpost in the U.S. government's empire of drone bases sits behind a razor-wire-topped wall outside this West African capital, blasted by 110-degree heat and the occasional sandstorm blowing from the Sahara.
The U.S. Air Force began flying a handful of unarmed Predator drones from here last month. The gray, mosquito-shaped aircraft emerge sporadically from a borrowed hangar and soar north in search of al-Qaeda fighters and guerrillas from other groups hiding in the region's untamed deserts and hills.
With drone base in Niger, U.S. gains strategic foothold in West Africa
Craig WhitlockThe region is rapidly emerging as yet another front in the long-running war against terrorist networks.
The harsh terrain of North and West Africa is rapidly emerging as yet another front in the United States' long-running war against terrorist networks, a conflict that has fueled a revolution in drone warfare.
Since taking office in 2009, President Obama has relied heavily on drones for operations, both declared and covert, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya and Somalia. U.S. drones also fly from allied bases in Turkey, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines.
Now, they are becoming a fixture in Africa. The U.S. military has built a major drone hub in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, and flies unarmed Reaper drones from Ethiopia. Until recently, it conducted reconnaissance flights over East Africa from the island nation of the Seychelles.
The Predator drones in Niger, a landlocked and dirt-poor country, give the Pentagon a strategic foothold in West Africa. Niger shares a long border with Mali, where an al-Qaeda affiliate and other Islamist groups have taken root. Niger also borders Libya and Nigeria, which are also struggling to contain armed extremist movements.
Like other U.S. drone bases, the Predator operations in Niger are shrouded in secrecy. The White House announced Feb. 22 that Obama had deployed about 100 military personnel to Niger on an "intelligence collection" mission, but it did not make any explicit reference to drones.
Since then, the Defense Department has publicly acknowledged the presence of drones here but has revealed little else. The Africa Command, which oversees U.S. military missions on the continent, denied requests from a Washington Post reporter to interview American troops in Niger or to tour the military airfield where the drones are based, near Niamey's international airport.
Government officials in Niger, a former French colony, were slightly more forthcoming. President Issoufou Mahamadou said his government invited Washington to send surveillance drones because he was worried that the country might not be able to defend its borders from Islamist fighters based in Mali, Libya or Nigeria.
"We welcome the drones," Mahamadou said in an interview at the presidential palace in Niamey. Citing the "feeble capability" of many West African militaries, he said Niger which is three times the size of California and its neighbors desperately needed foreign help to track the movements of guerrillas across the Sahara and Sahel, an arid territorial belt that covers much of the region.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/drone-base-in-niger-gives-us-a-strategic-foothold-in-west-africa/2013/03/21/700ee8d0-9170-11e2-9c4d-798c073d7ec8_story.html
Rise of the Drones – UAVs After 9/11 - Peter Lemkin - 03-04-2013
Even those theoretically 'guilty' of something are denied being charged or a trial.....take a look at this great presentation!
http://drones.pitchinteractive.com/
Rise of the Drones – UAVs After 9/11 - Keith Millea - 15-04-2013
Published on Monday, April 15, 2013 by Common Dreams
UN Expert: US Drone Rationalization Justifies al Qaeda Use of Force Against US
"If it is lawful for the US to drone al Qaeda associates wherever they find them, then it is also lawful for al Qaeda to target US military or infrastructure wherever (militants) find them," said Ben Emmerson
- Andrea Germanos, staff writer
![[Image: dronelegalgymnastics.jpg]](http://www.commondreams.org/sites/commondreams.org/files/imce-images/dronelegalgymnastics.jpg)
(Photo: U.S. Air Force/Lt Col Leslie Pratt/ Flickr)Not only do US drone strikes on Pakistan violate international law, the US' rationalization of these strikes may have legalized al Qaeda's use of force in its fight against the US, according to one UN investigator.
Ben Emmerson, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, explained to CNN's Nic Robertson the ramifications of the framework the US has used to legitimize its strikes.
"If it is lawful for the U.S. to drone al Qaeda associates wherever they find them, then it is also lawful for al Qaeda to target U.S. military or infrastructure where ever (militants) find them," Emmerson told Robertson.
"There is a real risk that by promulgating the analysis that is currently being developed and relied up by the United States they legitimize, in international law, al Qaeda, by turning it in to an armed belligerent involved in a war and that makes the use of force by al Qaeda and its associates lawful," said Emmerson.
Emmerson added that "The consequence of drone strikes has been to radicalize an entirely new generation," echoing his previous statement that "Pakistan has also been quite clear that it considers the drone campaign to be counter-productive and to be radicalising a whole new generation."
Following a fact-finding visit to Pakistan in March, Emmerson stated that the drone strikes were "a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity." He continued:
In a direct challenge to the suggested legal justification for these strikes, the Government of Pakistan has also made it quite clear during these discussions that any suggestion that it is unwilling or unable' to combat terrorism on its own territory is not only wrong, but is an affront to the many Pakistani victims of terrorism who have lost their lives.
Based on its direct knowledge of local conditions, Pakistan aims to a sustainable counter-terrorism strategy that involves dialogue and development in this complex region and that tackles not only the manifestations of terrorism but also its root causes.
The people of Pakistan need to be given room to develop this strategy. The Pashtun tribes of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) have suffered enormously under the drone campaign. These proud and independent people have been self-governing for generations, and have a rich tribal history that has been too little understood in the West. Their tribal structures have been broken down by the military campaign in FATA and by the use of drones in particular.
It is time for the international community to heed the concerns of Pakistan, and give the next democratically elected government of Pakistan the space, support and assistance it needs to deliver a lasting peace on its own territory without forcible military interference by other States.
The London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates that as many as 3,586 Pakistanis have been killed by US drone strikes since 2004, with as many as 884 of those identified as civilians.The people of Pakistan need to be given room to develop this strategy. The Pashtun tribes of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) have suffered enormously under the drone campaign. These proud and independent people have been self-governing for generations, and have a rich tribal history that has been too little understood in the West. Their tribal structures have been broken down by the military campaign in FATA and by the use of drones in particular.
It is time for the international community to heed the concerns of Pakistan, and give the next democratically elected government of Pakistan the space, support and assistance it needs to deliver a lasting peace on its own territory without forcible military interference by other States.
The Bureau's Naming the Dead project, launched in February, attempts to at least partially lift the veil of secrecy surrounding the US drone war by identifying as many of the covert war's victims in Pakistan as possible.
"In the face of official secrecy, having the full facts about who is killed is essential or an informed debate about the effectiveness and ethics of the drone campaign," stated Christopher Hird, managing editor of the Bureau.
Rise of the Drones – UAVs After 9/11 - Jan Klimkowski - 15-04-2013
Quote:"If it is lawful for the U.S. to drone al Qaeda associates wherever they find them, then it is also lawful for al Qaeda to target U.S. military or infrastructure where ever (militants) find them," Emmerson told Robertson.
"There is a real risk that by promulgating the analysis that is currently being developed and relied up by the United States they legitimize, in international law, al Qaeda, by turning it in to an armed belligerent involved in a war and that makes the use of force by al Qaeda and its associates lawful," said Emmerson.
Irreproachable logic.
I'm sure some Sunsteinian attack dogs are being prepared to label Emmerson a "conspiracy theorist".
Rise of the Drones – UAVs After 9/11 - Magda Hassan - 15-04-2013
Just saw Oblivion last night (Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman). Should be called 'How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Drones'.
Rise of the Drones – UAVs After 9/11 - David Guyatt - 16-04-2013
Speaking of the law....
It has ceased to be relevant.
Peter Lemkin Wrote:The very real threat of presidential assassinations of US citizens and others within the United States starkly raises the specter of police-military dictatorship. Behind the legalistic double-talk of the administration's white paper on drone killings of Americans, made public two weeks ago, the US government is claiming unlimited powers to assassinate anyone, anywhere in the world.
By asserting the power to order the killing of alleged terroristssecretly and without judicial or congressional oversightand acting on this asserted power to kill thousands of people, including at least three American citizensthe Obama administration has effectively abrogated the US Constitution's Bill of Rights and the Fifth Amendment's guarantee that no person shall be "deprived of life … without due process of law."
The lack of significant protest from any section of the political or media establishment underscores the disintegration of American democracy and the absence of any constituency for the defense of democratic rights within the US ruling class. Just how rapidly the American bourgeoisie is breaking with its own previous legal norms is demonstrated by the absence of serious opposition to Brennan's confirmation. Four years ago, Obama had to scuttle plans to name Brennan, then a top CIA official, to head the agency, due to protests over his role in and public defense of the Bush administration's use of torture.
The de facto suspension of Habeus Corpus by Dubya in 2001, was the thin edge of the wedge.
Rise of the Drones – UAVs After 9/11 - Jan Klimkowski - 16-04-2013
Magda Hassan Wrote:Just saw Oblivion last night (Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman). Should be called 'How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Drones'.
Without Kubrick's satirical analysis, I assume....