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TechnoratiCIA Secrecy on Drone Attacks Data Hides Abuses
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's refusal to share with other agencies even the most basic data on the bombing attacks by remote-controlled unmanned predator drones in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region, combined with recent revelations that CIA operatives have been paying Pakistanis to identify the targets, suggests that managers of the drone attacks programmes have been using the total secrecy surrounding the programme to hide abuses and high civilian casualties.
![[Protests against U.S. drone attacks in Karachi, Pakistan in January of this year. As the strikes continue, the anger rises. Intelligence analysts have been unable to obtain either the list of military targets of the drone strikes or the actual results in terms of al Qaeda or civilians killed.]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/obamasfirstgift_0.jpg "obamasfirstgift.jpg")
Intelligence analysts have been unable to obtain either the list of military targets of the drone strikes or the actual results in terms of al Qaeda or civilians killed, according to a Washington source familiar with internal discussion of the drone strike programme. The source insisted on not being identified because of the extreme sensitivity of the issue.
"They can't find out anything about the programme," the source told IPS. That has made it impossible for other government agencies to judge its real consequences, according to the source.
Since early 2009, Barack Obama administration officials have been claiming that the predator attacks in Pakistan have killed nine of 20 top al Qaeda officials, but they have refused to disclose how many civilians have been killed in the strikes.
In April, The News, a newspaper in Lahore, Pakistan, published figures provided by Pakistani officials indicating that 687 civilians have been killed along with 14 al Qaeda leaders in some 60 drone strikes since January 2008 - just over 50 civilians killed for every al Qaeda leader.
A paper published this week by the influential pro-military Centre for a New American Security (CNAS) criticising the Obama administration's use of drone attacks in Pakistan says U.S. officials "vehemently dispute" the Pakistani figures but offers no further data on the programme.
In an interview with IPS, Nathaniel C. Fick, the chief operating officer of CNAS, who coauthored the paper, said Pentagon officials claim privately that 300 al Qaeda fighters have been killed in the drone attacks. However, those officials refuse to stipulate further just who they have included under that rubric, according to Fick, and have not offered any figure on civilian deaths.
What is needed is "a strict definition of the target set - a definition of who is al Qaeda," said Fick.
Press reports that the CIA is paying Pakistani agents for identifying al Qaeda targets by placing electronic chips at farmhouses supposedly inhabited by al Qaeda officials, so they can be bombed by predator planes, has raised new questions about whether the CIA and the Obama administration have simply redefined al Qaeda in order to cover up an abusive system and justify the programme.
The initial story on the CIA payments for placing the chips by Carol Grisanti and Mushtaq Yusufzai of NBC News Apr. 17 was based on a confession by a 19-year-old in North Waziristan on a video released by the Taliban. In his confession, the young man says, "I was given 122 dollars to drop chips wrapped in a cigarette paper at al Qaida and Taliban houses. If I was successful, I was told, I would be given thousands of dollars."
He goes on to say, "I thought this was a very easy job. The money was so good so I started throwing the chips all over. I knew people were dying because of what I was doing, but I needed the money."
The video shows the man being shot as a spy for the United States.
A U.S. official told NBC news that the video was "extremist propaganda," but a story in The Guardian May 31 said residents of Waziristan, including one student identified as Taj Muhammad Wazir, had confirmed that tribesman have been paid to lay the electronic devices to target drone strikes.
The knowledgeable Washington source told IPS the Guardian article is consistent with past CIA intelligence-gathering methods in Afghanistan and elsewhere. "We buy data," he said. "Everything is paid for."
The implication of the system of purchasing targeting information for drone strikes is that there is "no guarantee" that the people being targeted are officials of al Qaeda or allied organisations, he said.
Fick, who is a veteran of the post-9/11 military operations in Afghanistan and the early phase of the Iraq war, said that kind of intelligence for targeting is "intrinsically problematic".
Although the CNAS paper by Fick, Andrew Exum and David Kilcullen does not explicitly call for ending drone attacks, it is highly critical of the programme, charging that the use of drones represents a "tactic... substituting for a strategy".
It concedes that, by "killing key leaders and hampering operations", the drone attacks against al Qaeda and some other militants in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) "create a sense of insecurity among militants and constrain their interactions with suspected informers".
But it argues that the drone attacks have also "created a siege mentality among the Pashtun population in northwest Pakistan", and likened them to similar strikes against Islamic militants in Somalia in 2005-2006. The net result of those earlier strikes, the authors assert, was to anger the population and make the Islamic insurgents more popular.
The drone strikes in Pakistan are having a similar impact, not only in the tribal areas but in other provinces as well, the paper said. In a panel discussing the paper at the think tank's annual meeting Thursday, Exum, a former officer in Afghanistan, said, "We are not saying that the drone strikes are not part of a solution, but right now they are part of the problem."
The new CNAS criticism of drone strikes is of particular interest because of the close relationship between the think tank and CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus, who was the keynote speaker at Thursday's conference. The new president of CNAS, John Nagl, is a former adviser to Petraeus and co-author of the Army's counterinsurgency manual. CNAS is widely regarded as reflecting the perspective of the Petraeus wing of the U.S. military.
Another co-author and former Petraeus aide, Australian David Kilcullen, who was also a senior fellow at CNAS last year, had already come out strongly against drone strikes as politically self-defeating.
However, Nagl himself told IPS that he disagrees with the CNAS paper's position on drone strikes. He said he believes the benefits of the strikes are greater than have been publicly communicated by the administration, and suggested the failure to release any more figures on the results could be attributed to a "culture of secrecy".
Petraeus made no mention of the issue in his presentation to the CNAS conference on Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Washington Post reported Jun. 1 that Petraeus wrote in a secret May 27 assessment, "Anti-U.S. sentiment has already been increasing in Pakistan... especially in regard to cross-border and reported drone strikes, which Pakistanis perceive to cause unacceptable civilian casualties."
Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist specialising in U.S. national security policy. The paperback edition of his latest book, "Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam", was published in 2006.
23 Comments so far
Show AllWe will destroy every Al Qaeda and Taliban fighter if we have to kill every Afghan and Pakistani in their countries. Remember, it's sad, but we may have to destroy those countries to save them from (Fill in the blank)___________________________________ .
Does that ring a bell?
The majority of prisoners in Gitmo arrived as a result of bounties put out by the USA. Everyone in the world with the exception of a few idiot Amerikans know that did not work. Now we are paying the poor once again to find the bad guys. We have no people on the ground, no real intel and no reason to be there. The bad guys, if there are indeed any left were chased over the border by our troops. We are the cause of this entire mess. Killing civilians while testing high tech toys is wrong. Drone deaths are US state sponsored terrorism!
The following piece evidently is the Guardian, UK, article of May 31st referred to in the article by Gareth Porter, for anyone wanting the link.
Btw, or fyi, there's a note at the end of the article and it says the piece was slightly revised June 1st for a couple of corrections. People who haven't read the article should read that note, before reading the article; and people who read the piece before these revisions were made should check what they say. The corrections seem very small, but also of some real importance.
"Mysterious 'chip' is CIA's latest weapon against al-Qaida targets hiding in Pakistan's tribal belt
• Tribesmen plant devices to guide drone attacks
• Locals shun fighters for fear of becoming targets"
by Declan Walsh in Peshawar, May 31, 2009
(url broken over two lines)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/31/
cia-drones-tribesmen-taliban-pakistan
"Earthian June 13th, 2009 1:11 am
The referendum in July could change the date to July 31, 2010, UNLESS the Iraqis vote to extend the occupation."
THE REFERENDUM is not going to change anything; it'll be held or won't be, but it, itself, isn't going to do anything about changing dates. The date it will be held, and which is what Earthian clearly means, is to be switched from July to next January, to be held at the same time as the parliamentary elections in Iraq.
"Iraq Pact Referendum Delayed Until 2010
Delay Renders Vote Virtually Meaningless",
by Jason Ditz, antiwar.com, June 10, 2009
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=55018
QUOTE:
The only way the Iraqi government was able to ratify the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the United States in November was with the promise that the deal would be put before the Iraqi populace as a referendum to be held on July 30 of this year.
With less than two months before the promised vote and with no preparations made, it was hardly surprising today when the government announced that it would push back the referendum and hold it concurrently with the already-delayed parliamentary elections on January 30, 2010. The delay was ostensibly to "save time and money."
Yet in reality the delay has taken what was already a largely symbolic referendum and made it virtually meaningless.
END QUOTE
He says more on the topic of the referendum having been rendered "meaningless" and provides links.
Quote: "In April, The News, a newspaper in Lahore, Pakistan, published figures provided by Pakistani officials indicating that 687 civilians have been killed along with 14 al Qaeda leaders in some 60 drone strikes since January 2008 - just over 50 civilians killed for every al Qaeda leader."
Quote: "However, Nagl himself told IPS that he disagrees with the CNAS paper's position on drone strikes. He said he believes the benefits of the strikes are greater than have been publicly communicated by the administration, and suggested the failure to release any more figures on the results could be attributed to a "culture of secrecy"."
NAGL SHOULD carefully read the first paragraph quoted, above, and see if he can understand the basic arithmetic.
What kind of hellish benefits is he talking about, when the drone attacks and, therefore, the U.S. are killing more than ten times as many civilians as fighters; [resistance] fighters, btw? There can't be an benefits that outweigh the gravity of this extreme criminality against civilians, and, again, the fighters being targeted are resistance fighters and aren't and basically never have been more associated with Al Qa'ida than the US government has been; not in any meaningful way, for difference, anyway.
The first paragraph quoted above is of a nature that it could and should be used to indict the Obama administration and demand that they stand trial, etcetera, for their extreme crimes of war (war of aggression, too).
"Sorry folks, but it's colateral damage bla bla bla and these things just happen during war" is NOT an acceptable argument or excuse!
metamorph you are absolultely right, and i don't care whatever platform you use to promote the cause.
And, as for drones, yes they are absolutely the most cowardly form of imperialist terrorism. This is promoted by a Congress @ administration that pretend to abide by the teachings of Christ.
Can you say Bullshit??!!!
My apologies for changing the topic: RIGHT NOW we must focus on single payer health care legislation before it slips away and dissappears in 4 weeks! John Conyers has a bill HR 676 that is demanding single payer. Opposing him are powerful insurance lobby.
Medicare is 20% cheaper than private insurance and much better.
There are three stools on the chair of healthcare: they are COST-ACCESS-QUALITY.
The private sector has not met the cost or the access aspect of health care and the quality is only good for the wealthy and not even for them - toomany doctors are becoming businessmen who don't even provide immunization or follow-up etc and focus on expensive procedures that make their boat payments and are at times excessive and not recommended.
CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN soon and demand he endorse HR675 -- so far the numbers of Congressmen who are supporting it has jumped from 1 to 80 !! GO CONYERS!!!!! and pass this along.
These extrajudicial executions on the territory of an ally against whom we have not declared war are not only morally and legally wrong, they are counterproductive. Wholesale slaughter of innocent people recruits more terrorists than it eliminates, drives ambivalent Muslims into militancy, increases popular support for the insurgents while decreasing it for us and our allies, and offends our friends.
Furthermore, we make no attempt to provide medical or economic assistance to what military types and foreign policy officials call collateral damage and we call victims of war crimes. This hurt us in Vietnam and Iraq, and we still don't learn.
Not only criminal but cowardly U.S. actions. But this has been the modus operandi of the U.S. military for decades now -- engaged in illegal wars of aggression and occupation utilizing cowardly weapons of terror and mass destruction, be they under cover of dark, clouds, altitude, supersonic speeds or laser guidance, with continual civilian deaths written off as "collateral damage". A day is indeed coming when people are united against a common enemy...
David Brookbank -- "Hasta donde debemos practicar las verdades?"
*
My, how the times they are a changin... it is gonna be robotic wars against folks without robots.
Home of the Brave!
Obama better hope that some nut case with military connections doesn't get a chip and drop it in the White House.
I think if it wasn't for secrecy, we could all get along.
A friend of mine made chessboard pieces out of modeling clay in the shape of cavemen fighting robots...
I didn't realize how prescient his artistic joke really was until now...
Since we are talking about military matters, we might as well widen the perspective on Empire a bit.
According to the Department of Defense's "Base Structure Report" for fiscal year 2008, there are 761 U.S. military bases on foreign soil and 104 on U.S. territories. The 761 do not include the ones (built or being built) in Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel.
The estimated annual cost of foreign military bases totals about $ 110 billion a year.
Incidentally, the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq is required by the 2008 agreement signed by Iraq and the United States and ratified by the Iraqi parliament. Obviously, that agreement was made before Obama became president. Why, then, does Obama feel that he has to state publicly that he "intends" to withdraw from Iraq by 12/31/2011? Why does he not say that he will honor the agreement? Or why does he not simply remind everyone of the agreement in question?
If this agreement is a genuine agreement, not some maneuver destined to placate the people of Iraq to gain some time, all U.S. troops should be leaving Iraq by 2011 and the bases should be dismantled.
Of course, the U.S. fortress-embassy erected in Baghdad (21 buildings on 104 acres at the cost of $ 592 million) seems to argue for prolonged occupation of Iraq.
The referendum in July could change the date to July 31, 2010, UNLESS the Iraqis vote to extend the occupation. That is the deal Parliament made with the people of Iraq and the US in order to ratify the 2008 agreement. The Iraqis will likely vote down the extended occupation. There will then be a showdown between the imperial ambitions of the Obama administration and the self-determination of the Iraqi people. Should be interesting . . . We can predict that the corporate media will ignore the referendum as much as possible, notwithstanding the progressive voices in the media: Democracy Now, Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, Keith Olbermann, Rachael Maddow and Bill Moyers.
The Iraqis, Afghans, and Pakistanis know well enough who is killing and exploiting them, and they know that Viet Nam kept killing the Americans until the Americans went away. 700 some military bases in 130 countries is probably enough, I'll bet they're thinking.
Next thing you know, there will be black helicopters overhead. However we can fight back. Radio controlled model airplanes are reasonably priced and they probably have a payload capacity to handle a mobil phone, so we will be able to do some local recon around our homes.
During WWII the Boeing plant in Seattle was covered to look like just another street with houses and washing drying on the line. The Brits made inflatable jeeps and trucks and even tanks to fool Adolph. I suppose such things might still work. Can you see sending a remote controlled UAV half way around the world to shoot Hellfire missiles at a house made of cardboard or inflatable Hummers? A fake wedding party would be a surefire hit. As for recon about the home - loose the hounds!
I'm sure all this stuff is recorded but the real trick is to get the militant arm of the Bush Crime Family (CIA) to play the tapes. Lacking CIA cooperation then congress must rely entirely on local Afghani and Pakistani reports. Indict the heads, the homocidal Vegas 'Game' Boys and disband the CIA.
The evidence is so overwhelming, yes you can trust these paid informants to put the electronic device on the right house.
Just like shooting at helicopters from your enemies house, a few bullets and we end up bombing our friends.
Soon we won't have any friends over there except power hungry dictators.
Well, yes, when one conducts immoral and criminal activities, one must conceal them and misinform the citizenry about them.
Every drone strike is an act of terrorism. These planes and their bombs, all computer guided by recruits in a Nevada desert, bring the horror and immorality of war to a new level of detachment.
Have you ever watched the ONE Video released by the Department of Defense showing the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon? It wasn't a 757! And, President Obama declared that there is no doubt about the attacks of 9/11, "Al Qaeda was to blame."....Al Qaeda was the "Data Base" of 100,000 Islamic Militants that the CIA had used from 43 Muslim Countries.....That "Data Base" was used: to get rid of the Soviet Union, to help the Kosovars, to put the Taliban in power, and to recruit more militants.
I am sorry, this group in power is no different than the other group. None of the Generals who were against "The Invasions" have been asked to return to get us out. It is "The Never Ending War" that the "Power Elite" wanted and have used to enrich themselves.
World Trade Center #7 went down with explosives....Preventing the investigation of a crime is a crime in and of itself. The attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan are not legal and are not moral and those who are covering up, with secrecy. are guilty of "Obstruction of Justice".....
The Invasions have killed and murdered well over 1 MILLION civilians and every single politician is guilty of being "An Accessory" to murder. You don't send your armies out "To Protect The American Way Of Life".......The United States was not attacked by Iraq or Afghanistan and neither country was a threat to "The American Way Of Life"...........
yeah...so, you give a drone a cell phone number, it triangulates, and BOOM...?
can't wait for those satellite-based lasers...
"The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades"...(Timbuk3)