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Incoming CIA boss says covert drone strikes are ‘last resort’

Published

February 8, 2013

Written by

Alice Ross

Web link

This page is archived from original Bureau of Investigative Journalism reporting on US military actions in Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Brennan talks with Obama in the president’s private dining room, 2010 (Photo: White House)

John Brennan, the incoming director of the Central Intelligence Agency, told US senators last night that the CIA does not carry out covert drone strikes ‘to punish terrorists for past transgressions’. He insisted instead that they are only used ‘as a last resort to save lives’.

In a lengthy confirmation hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), Brennan answered questions on topics ranging from torture and classified leaks to an abortive attempt in 1998 to kill Osama bin Laden.

Dianne Feinstein, chair of the SSCI, also used the nomination hearings to claim the tally of civilians killed by drones was typically in the ‘single digits’ for every year of the covert campaign. Brennan accused those of suggesting otherwise as spreading ‘falsehoods’.

Brennan is viewed as one of the chief architects of the rapid expansion of the drone programme under President Obama.

Focus on dronesThe opening of the three-hour hearing was repeatedly interrupted by activists from peace group Code Pink, protesting against the administration’s use of unmanned strikes, before Feinstein ordered the chamber to be cleared.

As each senator had a chance to question Brennan, the focus returned frequently to the controversial covert drone campaign.

In her opening remarks, Democrat Feinstein called for ‘increased transparency around targeted killing’ but said few civilians were killed in strikes.

‘The figures we have obtained from the executive branch, which we have done our utmost to verify, confirm that the number of civilian casualties that have resulted from such strikes each year has typically been in the single digits,’ she said.

In 2012 reported civilian casualties dropped significantly in Pakistan, with the Bureau recording a minimum of seven civilians killed. However, in almost all other years the reported civilian death toll has been significantly higher.

Feinstein’s claim only appears reconcilable with what is publicly known of drone strike casualties if all adult males are considered combatants. This is a definition used by the White House according to a report in the New York Times in May 2012, which revealed that under Obama the term militant was used for all adult males in a strike zone unless intelligence posthumously proved them innocent.

‘Falsehoods’Brennan used the hearing to mount a robust defence of drone usage, saying: ‘I think there is a misimpression on the part of some American people who believe that we take strikes to punish terrorists for past transgressions. Nothing could be further from the truth. We only take such actions as a last resort to save lives when there’s no other alternative to taking an action that’s going to mitigate that threat.’

He said opposition to the programme was based on ‘a misunderstanding of what we do as a government, and the care that we take and the agony that we go through to make sure that we do not have any collateral injuries or deaths’.

Activists were reacting to ‘a lot of falsehoods’ about civilian drone casualties, he added. ‘I do see it as part of my obligation… to make sure the truth is known to the American public and to the world.’

But critics rejected Feinstein’s claim of ‘single digit’ civilian casualties. Jennifer Gibson, who oversees the Pakistan drones project of legal charity Reprieve, said: ‘Last night, Brennan made repeated pledges to make the US drone programme more transparent. He can start by releasing the evidence upon which senator Feinstein repeatedly made claims of single-digit civilian deaths.

‘These are claims the administration has made before, claims which several independent sources, including two leading US universities, have found false.’

Reprieve supported the UK court case of Noor Khan, a Pakistani tribesman whose father was among an estimated 31-42 civilians killed in one strike alone, on Datta Khel, Pakistan on March 17, 2011.

Due process

Brennan acknowledged concerns expressed by independent senator Angus King about the lack of due process surrounding drone strikes that kill US citizens, but argued the US’s ‘judicial tradition’ was distinct from ‘decisions made on the battlefield’. He added that the decision to strike was not based on past guilt. Instead, he said, ‘we take action to prevent further action’.

‘The CIA should not be doing traditional military activities and operations’

– John Brennan

The judicial basis for drone strikes was a major focus in advance of the hearing. On the morning of the hearing, senators on the committee – though not their staff – were permitted for the first time to see the full 50-page classified legal opinions justifying drone strikes that kill US citizens.

Previously senators had only seen a 16-page Justice Department white paper, despite being responsible for holding the CIA to account. The white paper was leaked by NBC News on Monday and drew criticism for what the memo itself referred to as a ‘broader concept’ of the type of imminent threat that could justify killing US citizens without judicial approval.

Obama’s decision to release the legal opinions followed a letter on Monday from 11 members of the US Senate, who demanded to see the documents with the barely veiled threat: ‘The executive branch’s co-operation on this matter will help avoid an unnecessary confrontation that could affect the Senate’s consideration of nominees for national security positions.’

But in the hearing senators were largely muted on the legal ramifications of the drone programme.

Chris Coles, of campaign group Drone Wars UK, said: ‘Once the Code Pink protesters were ejected, the lack of any serious challenge to the notion that drones were a precise tool, carefully and legally used, was shocking.

‘Here was an opportunity to hold the CIA to account for its flagrant violation of international law – including the killing of hundreds of Pakistani civilians – but time and again, Brennan, one of the chief architects of drone warfare was merely thanked for his “valuable service”.’

Aberration

Brennan used the hearing to hint at a shift in the role of the CIA away from its increasingly paramilitary role. In response to concerns from Democratic senator Barbara Mikulski that the agency had seen ‘mission creep’ towards functions that more properly belonged to military special operations, Brennan appeared to agree: ‘There are things the agency has been involved in since 9/11 that in fact have been a bit of an aberration from the traditional role,’ he said, pledging to re-examine the role of the CIA if approved. ‘The CIA should not be doing traditional military activities and operations,’ he added.

Although the session saw some tough questioning, particularly around Brennan’s discussions of security matters with the press, it ended with endorsements of the prospective CIA director from Feinstein and others. The committee will make its formal decision after a closed hearing on February 12.

Support Naming the Dead, the Bureau’s major new investigation, by donating to the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

January 2013 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

Published

February 1, 2013

Written by

Alice Ross, Chris Woods and Jack Serle

Web link

This page is archived from original Bureau of Investigative Journalism reporting on US military actions in Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A fully armed Reaper taxis before a mission (US Air Force – Sgt Brian Ferguson).

In Pakistan a heavy CIA drone campaign targeted both so-called ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban. Three senior militants were among the dead.

Yemen was hit by the highest number of airstrikes in one month since June 2012, though none have been formally confirmed as US operations.

No US operations were reported in Somalia.

The United Nations also launched a major investigation into the legality and casualties of drone strikes by the United States, Britain and Israel.

Pakistan

January 2013 actions

Total CIA strikes in January: 6

Total killed in strikes in January: 27-54, of whom 0-2 were reportedly civilians

All actions 2004 – January 31 2013

Total Obama strikes: 310

Total US strikes since 2004: 362

Total reported killed: 2,629-3,461

Civilians reported killed: 475-891

Children reported killed: 176

Total reported injured: 1,267-1,431For the Bureau’s full Pakistan databases click here.

The CIA began 2013 with six drone strikes in nine days – more in any single month since August 2012.

With double the strikes hitting Pakistan this month compared with January last year, 2013 could see renewed intensity in the CIA drone programme.

The month’s first strike killed powerful Taliban commander Maulvi (or Mullah) Nazir, ‘perhaps the most prized feather in [the] cap’ of the drone programme to date, according to one commentator. Nazir co-ordinated attacks on Nato and Afghan forces in Afghanistan and had long been a target of the CIA.

However his group refrained from terrorist attacks within Pakistan, earning the label ‘good’ Taliban. Brigadier Asad Munir, a retired commander of the ISI, told the Bureau his death could cause serious problems for Islamabad. He said peace with Nazir was essential since Pakistan’s army cannot simultaneously fight both Nazir’s militants and the TTP – the so-called ‘bad’ Taliban behind numerous lethal attacks in Pakistani cities.

Despite this, Pakistan’s response to the strikes in January was muted – notably so, according to Associated Press, as loud protestations had followed almost every strike in 2012.

This could indicate that relations between the allies have improved from their 2012 nadir. The CIA may also have tried to mollify Islamabad by killing senior TTP commander Wali Muhammad Mahsud and announcing that Maulana Fazlullah, commander of the Swat Taliban, is now high on its kill list. The Swat Taliban shot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai and launches attacks on Pakistan from its bases in Afghanistan. Islamabad has repeatedly called on Nato and Afghan forces to crack down on the group.

A third high-value target death in January was of senior al Qaeda paramilitary commander Sheikh Yaseen al Kuwaiti, reportedly killed at home with his wife and daughter by eight missiles.

Yemen

January 2013 actions

Confirmed US drone strikes: 0 Further reported/possible US strike events: 8 Total reported killed in US operations: 0-38Civilians reported killed in US strikes: 0-7Children reported killed in US strikes: 0-2

All actions 2002 – January 31 2013*

Total confirmed US operations: 54-64

Total confirmed US drone strikes: 42-52

Possible additional US operations: 135-157

Of which possible additional US drone strikes: 77-93

Total reported killed: 374-1,112

Total civilians killed: 72-178

Children killed: 27-37Click here for the full Yemen data.

* All but one of these actions have taken place during Obama’s presidency. Reports of incidents in Yemen often conflate individual strikes. The range in the total strikes and total drone strikes we have recorded reflects this.

Eight strikes hit Yemen in January, the most in a month since June 2012 when US attacks on al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) began to slow from their May peak.

News reports named 12 alleged militants killed in the strikes. Up to two children also reportedly died when a wayward airstrike missed its intended target, hitting Abdu Mohammed al-Jarrah‘s house. This is the first credible report of child casualties since a US strike killed 12 civilians, three of them children, on September 2, 2012.

It remains unclear who is behind the recent strikes. September was the last time the Bureau noted a confirmed US operation in Yemen, although Yemen’s state media appears to have stopped claiming that the ‘barely functional‘ Yemen Air Force is responsible for every strike. Attacks are now officially described simply as airstrikes.

There were more allegations that the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) is striking AQAP. A report claimed the RSAF targeted an AQAP training camp on January 22, right on the Saudi-Yemeni border. But it was also reported that US drones launched the strike, with help from Saudi intelligence.

An anonymous US intelligence official told the Times that Saudi jets have been striking other targets in Yemen in support of US operations – an allegation promptly denied by the Saudis. The paper reported that Saudi jets may have carried out a botched strike on May 15 2012 that killed 12-26 civilians. There were also questions raised regarding a September 2 strike by an unidentified aircraft that killed 12 civilians – three of them children. However, it emerged on Christmas Day that US drones or jets had carried out that attack.

In a rare display of opposition to the drone programme, Yemeni human rights minister Hooria Mashhour told Reuters the country should change its counter-terrorism strategy. Without directly mentioning drones, she advocated moving away from air strikes to ground operations to target AQAP ‘without harming civilians and without leading to human rights violations’.

On January 28 Sanaa sent up to 7,000 troops with tanks to drive AQAP-linked militants out of the central province of al Bayda and to free hostages including two Finnish and one Austrian. AQAP countered, sending ‘several hundred’ reinforcements to the province. At least 2,500 civilians have reportedly been displaced.

Somalia

January 2013 actions

Total reported US operations: 0

All actions 2007 – January 31 2013

Total US operations: 10-23

Total US drone strikes: 3-9Total reported killed: 58-170Civilians reported killed: 11-57

Children reported killed: 1-3

Click here for the Bureau’s full data on Somalia.

January was the fifth consecutive month without a reported US strike. But al Shabaab showed it remains a threat to Mogadishu, launching a suicide attack on the presidential palace. The bomber was reportedly ‘an al Shabaab defector‘ with a gate pass and a National Security Force identity card. He detonated his suicide vest, killing two soldiers, after it was uncovered in a routine search.

The US provided ‘limited technical support‘ to a failed French attempt to rescue a spy held hostage by al Shabaab since 2009. Five French helicopters carried 50 commandos into Somalia. US Air Force jets entered Somali airspace in support, although they did not fire their weapons. The French operation was reportedly timed to coincide with the French air and ground offensive in northern Mali, though Paris denied the two operations were linked.

France said militants executed the captured secret service officer, known by his alias Denis Allex, during the assault. Seventeen alleged militants, including their commander Sheikh Ahmed were reportedly killed.

But in the course of the night assault, French commandos also reportedly killed eight civilians, including a child and both his parents. One French commando was also killed and another wounded. Al Shabaab said the injured soldier subsequently died of his wounds in their custody, and posted pictures on Twitter of the dead commando as proof.

After al Shabaab also tweeted an image of the dead French spy, and threatened to kill two Kenyan hostages its account was suspended.

UN investigation

UN special rapporteur Ben Emmerson QC announced that the UN will investigate covert CIA and Pentagon strikes in Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia. He will also look at strikes by the UK and US in Afghanistan, and by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Emmerson has assembled a team of experts to scrutinise some 25 strikes, examining the legal framework for targeted killings and claims of civilian deaths. One area they are expected to explore is the deliberate targeting of rescuers and funeral-goers by the CIA in Pakistan, a tactic revealed in an investigation by the Bureau for the Sunday Times.

The UN’s Human Rights Council asked its special rapporteurs to investigate drone strikes after nations including Russia, China and Pakistan called for action last June. Emmerson will present his recommendations to the General Assembly in October.

Follow Chris Woods, Alice Ross and Jack Serle on Twitter.

To sign up for monthly updates from the Bureau’s Covert War project click here.

UN launches major investigation into civilian drone deaths

Published

January 24, 2013

Written by

Alice Ross and Chris Woods

Web link

This page is archived from original Bureau of Investigative Journalism reporting on US military actions in Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Ben Emmerson QC addresses reporters in London (Photo: TBIJ)

A UN investigation into the legality and casualties of drone strikes has been formally launched, with a leading human rights lawyer revealing the team that will carry out the inquiry.

The announcement came as the latest reported US drone strike in Yemen was said to have mistakenly killed two children.

Ben Emmerson QC, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, told a London press conference that he will lead a group of international specialists who will examine CIA and Pentagon covert drone attacks in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

The team will also look at drone strikes by US and UK forces in Afghanistan, and by Israel in the Occupied Territories. In total some 25 strikes are expected to be examined in detail.

The senior British barrister will work alongside international criminal lawyers, a senior Pakistani judge and one of the UK’s leading forensic pathologists, as well as experts from Pakistan and Yemen. Also joining the team is a serving judge-advocate with the US military ‘who is assisting the inquiry in his personal capacity.’

Emmerson told reporters: ‘Those states using this technology and those on whose territory it is used are under an international law obligation to establish effective independent and impartial investigations into any drone attack in which it is plausibly alleged that civilian casualties were sustained.’

But in the absence of such investigations by the US and others, the UN would carry out investigations ‘in the final resort’, he said.

Related story – UN team to investigate civilian drone deaths

Early signs indicate Emmerson’s team may have assistance from relevant states. He told journalists that Britain’s Ministry of Defence was already co-operating, and that Susan Rice, the US’s ambassador to the United Nations, had indicated that Washington ‘has not ruled out full co-operation.’

Those states using this technology and those on whose territory it is used are under an international law obligation to establish effective independent and impartial investigations into any drone attack in which it is plausibly alleged that civilian casualties were sustained.’Ben Emmerson QC

The UN Human Rights Council last year asked its special rapporteurs to begin an investigation after a group of nations including Russia, China and Pakistan requested action on covert drone strikes. Emmerson told the Bureau: ‘It’s a response to the fact that there’s international concern rising exponentially, surrounding the issue of remote targeted killings through the use of unmanned vehicles.’

Related story – Obama terror drones: CIA tactics in Pakistan include targeting rescuers and funerals

Emmerson said he expects to make recommendations to the UN general assembly by this autumn. His team will also call for further UN action ‘if that proves to be justified by the findings of my inquiry’.

He added: ‘This is not of course a substitute for effective official independent investigations by the states concerned.’

One area the inquiry is expected to examine is the deliberate targeting of rescuers and funeral-goers by the CIA in Pakistan, as revealed in an investigation by the Bureau for the Sunday Times.

In October 2012 Emmerson said: ‘The Bureau has alleged that since President Obama took office at least 50 civilians were killed in follow-up strikes when they had gone to help victims and more than 20 civilians have also been attacked in deliberate strikes on funerals and mourners. Christof Heyns [UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killing] … has described such attacks, if they prove to have happened, as war crimes. I would endorse that view.’

The American Civil Liberties Union welcomed the UN inquiry, and called on the US to aid investigators. ‘Whether it does or not will show whether it holds itself to the same obligation to co-operate with UN human rights investigations that it urges on other countries,” said Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU’s Human Rights Programme.

Who’s who on the UN’s team

Dr Nat Cary – One of the UK’s most respected forensic pathologists, Cary is the president of the British Association of Forensic Medicine and has worked on high-profile cases including the second autopsy of Ian Tomlinson and that of Joanna Yeates. He is an expert in injuries caused by explosions.

Imtiaz Gul – Gul is an eminent observer of terrorism and security in Pakistan. The executive director of the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies, which tracks terrorist activity and violence throughout Pakistan, he is also a prominent journalist. He has written four books on al Qaeda, the Taliban and Pakistan’s militants, and is a regular contributor to both Pakistani and international titles.

Abdul-Ghani Al-Iryani – A long-established analyst of and commentator on Yemeni politics, Iryani also leads the Democratic Awakening Movement. This campaign group, formed as President Saleh’s regime weakened during the Arab Spring, campaigns for human rights, strong civil society and the rule of law in Yemen.

Professor Sarah Knuckey – Human rights lawyer Knuckey runs the Global Justice Clinic at New York University’s law school. Last year she co-authored a major study into the impact of drones on civilians, Living Under Drones, which found that the CIA’s drone campaign in Pakistan had a ‘damaging and counterproductive’ effect on those who lived within the strike zone.

Lord Macdonald QC – A former director of public prosecutions for the UK government, Liberal Democrat peer Ken Macdonald is a leading defence barrister at Matrix Chambers, where Emmerson also practices. He has authored a major review of governmental counter-terrorism policy. He is chair of legal charity Reprieve’s board of trustees.

Sir Geoffrey Nice QC – A war crimes specialist, Nice spent eight years as a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, culminating in leading the team that prosecuted Slobodan Milosevic. Many of his cases still centre on international law and war crimes – and last year he caused controversy by questioning whether Sudan’s President Bashir was responsible for genocide in Darfur.

Captain Jason Wright – The US Army lawyer who defended Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in his trial for plotting the September 11 attacks, Wright spoke out about his client’s torture in Guantanamo Bay. He is now a judge-advocate with the US military and is assisting the inquiry in a personal capacity, Emmerson noted at the investigation’s launch.

Justice Shah Jehan Khan Yousafzai – Yousafzai has spent two decades as senior judge in the circuit of Peshawar high court, working in towns and cities adjacent to the Pakistani tribal regions that have been the epicentre of covert drone warfare. Peshawar high court has heard high-profile legal challenges to the drone campaign.

Jasmine Zerini – A former diplomat, Zerini is a specialist in Pakistan and Afghanistan, having worked as deputy director for South Asia for the French foreign ministry.

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New questions over CIA nominee Brennan’s denial of civilian drone deaths

Published

January 9, 2013

Written by

Chris Woods

Web link

This page is archived from original Bureau of Investigative Journalism reporting on US military actions in Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Obama’s CIA choice. But Brennan civilian death claims raise issues. (White House/ Pete Souza)

Claims by the Central Intelligence Agency’s new director-designate that the US intelligence services received ‘no information’ about any civilians killed by US drones in the year prior to June 2011 do not appear to bear scrutiny.

John Brennan, President Obama’s nominee to take over the CIA, had claimed in a major speech in summer 2011 that there had not been ‘a single collateral death’ in a covert US strike in the past year due to the precision of drones. He later qualified his statement, saying that at the time of his comments he had ‘no information’ to the contrary.

Related article: US claims of ‘no civilian deaths’ are untrue

Yet just three months beforehand, a major US drone strike had killed 42 Pakistanis, most of them civilians. As well as being widely reported by the media at the time, Islamabad’s concerns regarding those deaths were also directly conveyed to the ‘highest levels of the Administration’ by Washington’s then-ambassador to Pakistan, it has been confirmed to the Bureau.

This confirmation suggests that senior US officials were aware of dozens of civilian deaths just weeks before Brennan’s claims to the contrary.

Jirga deaths

The CIA drone strike in Pakistan on March 17, which bombed the town of Datta Khel in North Waziristan and killed an estimated 42 people, has always seemed a contradiction of Brennan’s official statement.

The attack was later justified by an anonymous US official as a so-called ‘signature strike’ where the identities of those killed was unknown. They insisted that ‘a large group of heavily armed men, some of whom were clearly connected to al Qaeda and all of whom acted in a manner consistent with AQ-linked militants, were killed.’

In fact the gathering was a jirga, or tribal meeting, called to resolve a local mining dispute. Dozens of tribal elders and local policemen died, along with a small number of Taliban.

Within hours of the attack Pakistan’s prime minister and army chief publicly condemned the mass killing of dozens of civilians. Pakistan’s president also later protested about the strike to a visiting delegation from the US House Armed Services Committee, led by Congressman Rob Wittman.

An official Pakistani government document issued at the time reports that Washington’s then-ambassador Cameron Munter was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad on March 18 for a dressing-down.

A strongly worded statement reported that ‘Ambassador Munter was categorically conveyed that such strikes were not only “unacceptable” but also constituted “a flagrant violation of humanitarian norms and law”.’

Munter also intended ‘to convey Pakistan’s message to the US Administration at the highest levels,’ the Foreign Ministry press release claimed.

While some challenge Pakistan’s portrayal of some aspects of the meeting, it is not disputed that the Ambassador did indeed convey Pakistan’s concerns to the highest levels in the US government.

‘Not a single collateral death’

Yet three months after the Datta Khel strike, John Brennan would insist that covert US drone strikes were so accurate that they were no longer killing civilians, and had not done so for the previous 12 months.

He told an audience on June 29 that ‘I can say that the types of operations… that the US has been involved in, in the counter-terrorism realm, that nearly for the past year there hasn’t been a single collateral death because of the exceptional proficiency, precision of the capabilities that we’ve been able to develop.’

It is not disputed that the Ambassador did indeed convey Pakistan’s concerns to the highest levels in the US government.

The Datta Khel attack was not the only time that civilians had died in the period referred to by Brennan. Working with veteran Pakistani reporter Rahimullah Yusufzai and field researchers in the tribal areas, the Bureau identified and published details of 45 civilians known at the time to have been killed by CIA drones in ten strikes between August 2010 and June 2011, the date of Brennan’s speech. Many of those killed had died at Datta Khel.

The Bureau presented a summary of its findings to the White House and to John Brennan’s office in July 2011. Both declined to comment.

Nine months later, George Stephanopoulos of ABC News challenged Brennan on his original claims.

‘Do you stand by the statement you have made in the past that, as effective as they have been, [drones] have not killed a single civilian?’ the interviewer asked. ‘That seems hard to believe.’

Brennan was robust, insisting that ‘what I said was that over a period of time before my public remarks that we had no information about a single civilian, a noncombatant being killed.’

Military-aged malesA later report in the New York Times provided a possible explanation for Brennan’s robustness. The paper revealed that Washington ‘counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent.’

Since all of the civilians killed at Datta Khel were adult males, officials may simply have discounted their deaths. There are no indications that the CIA has amended its records since.

Do you stand by the statement you have made in the past that, as effective as they have been, [drones] have not killed a single civilian?’ the interviewer asked. ‘That seems hard to believe.’

The Bureau has now raised its estimate of the number of civilians killed in the period Brennan claimed none had died to 76, including eight children and two women. The new figures are based in part on our own research and on studies by Associated Press and Stanford and New York universities.

John Brennan, 57, is Barack Obama’s first choice as the new director of the CIA. As the president’s chief counter-terrorism adviser he helped to bring Yemen’s Arab Spring to a reasonably peaceful conclusion. And he also played a key role in the killings of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaqi and a host of other senior militant leaders.

Brennan also spearheaded a massive expansion of US drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

The American Civil Liberties Union urged caution in appointing him as CIA chief. Calling on the Senate to investigate any recent involvement by John Brennan or the CIA in ‘torture, abuse, secret prisons, and extraordinary rendition,’ the ACLU’s Laura Murphy also urged an end to the CIA’s ‘targeted killing program.’

Mr Brennan’s office did not respond when asked to confirm whether he had been directly informed of the Pakistan government’s concerns over civilian deaths back in March 2011.

Follow Chrisjwoods on Twitter.

Emerging from the shadows: US covert drone strikes in 2012

Published

January 3, 2013

Written by

Alice Ross, Chris Woods and Jack Serle

Web link

This page is archived from original Bureau of Investigative Journalism reporting on US military actions in Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

An MQ-9 Reaper at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada (USAF/Lance Cheung)

Reported civilian deaths fell sharply in Pakistan in 2012, with Bureau data suggesting that a minimum of 2.5% of those reported killed were civilians – compared with more than 14% in 2011. This suggests the CIA is seeking to limit non-militant casualties, perhaps as a result of sustained criticism.

Drone strikes in Pakistan are now at their lowest level in five years, as Islamabad protests almost every attack. The CIA also appears to have abandoned ‘signature strikes’ on suspected militants fitting certain patterns of behaviour – at least for the present. Almost all attacks in recent months have been against named al Qaeda and other militant leaders.

As drone strikes fell in Pakistan they rose steeply in Yemen, as US forces aided a major military campaign to oust al Qaeda and other Islamists from southern cities. A parallel CIA targeted killing programme killed numerous alleged militants, many of them named individuals. Yet US officials took more than three months to confirm that American planes or drones had killed 12 civilians.

Little is still known about US drone strikes in Somalia, with only two credibly reported incidents in 2012. One of those killed was a British-Somali militant, Bilal al-Barjawi.

In 2012,the US also chose to loosen the bonds of secrecy on its 10-year-old drone targeted killing programme. A number of senior officials went on the record about aspects of the covert war. But details of those killed – still a highly contentious issue – remain classified.

The year also saw a number of significant legal challenges to the campaign, most of them ultimately unsuccessful. UN experts also announced a study into possible war crimes, partly in response to a Bureau/Sunday Times investigation.

A year of drones

President Obama became the first senior US official in eight years openly to discuss the covert drone programme in January, telling viewers of a Google Town Hall session that ‘a lot of these strikes have been in the FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Area], and going after al Qaeda suspects.’

And he insisted that ‘actually drones have not caused a huge number of civilian casualties, for the most part they have been very precise precision strikes against al Qaeda and their affiliates.’

Days afterwards, the Bureau and the Sunday Times published evidence in February showing that the CIA has deliberately targeted rescuers and funeral-goers in Pakistan, leading to the reported deaths of civilians. The administration has yet to deny the claims – although one anonymous senior official appeared to claim that the Bureau was ‘helping al Qaeda.’

Reported civilian deaths fell sharply in Pakistan in 2012, with Bureau data suggesting that 2.5% of those killed were civilians – compared with more than 14% in 2011.’

A major covert US military offensive in Yemen began in March. Its aim – in which it was successful – was to break al Qaeda’s grip on a number of towns and cities in the south of the country. By late spring, drone strikes were occurring more frequently in Yemen than in Pakistan.

One reason for a decline in Pakistani strikes may have been growing hostility. Some 74% of polled citizens said they viewed the US as an enemy, and uniquely Pakistan bucked a global trend to register as the only nation favouring Mitt Romney for president. In contrast, the American public appears to staunchly support covert drones – in one poll 83% of respondents were in favour of the strikes.

The British High Court was called on in April to look into US covert drone strikes and possible British co-operation, which some lawyers in the UK insist is illegal. Days before the end of the year the High Court declined to investigate. After years of inactivity, US and Pakistani courts also began to consider legal questions surrounding the campaign.

In one of the biggest news stories of the year, in May the New York Times revealed that President Obama was personally deciding whether to kill some individuals. The paper also revealed that the administration ‘counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent.’

As the Bureau noted at the time, ‘The revelation helps explain the wide variation between credible reports of civilian deaths in Pakistan by the Bureau and others, and the CIA’s claims that it had killed no ‘non-combatants’ between May 2010 and September 2011 – and possibly later.’

In June, Washington partially declassified aspects of the secret campaign, with officials openly acknowledging ‘direct action’ in Yemen and Pakistan. However the CIA’s parallel campaign remains classified – and Pentagon officials still refuse to release information relating to specific drone strikes.

CNN found itself in the firing line in July when it claimed there had been ‘zero civilian casualties’ from US drone strikes in Pakistan in the first six months of the year. The Atlantic was among a number of publications which attacked the broadcaster for relying on error-filled data.

One reason for a decline in Pakistani strikes may have been growing hostility. Some 74% of polled citizens said they viewed the US as an enemy. Uniquely Pakistan bucked a global trend to register as the only nation favouring Mitt Romney for president.’

One of Pakistan’s most senior diplomats told the Bureau and the Guardian in August that drone strikes were now undermining democracy. And in September, President Obama laid out the five rules he said need to be followed in covert US strikes, as it emerged that US ‘consent’ for strikes in Pakistan appears to rest on a monthly unanswered fax.

October saw the publication of a major academic report by Columbia Law School into the reporting of drone strike casualties. Noting the problems all casualty recorders face, the study concluded that only the Bureau appeared to be accurately reflecting reported civilian deaths. An earlier study by Stanford and New York universities reached similar conclusions.

The tenth anniversary of the first US covert drone strike in November received little US coverage, coming as it did days before the presidential elections. Both Obama and Mitt Romney had told voters that it would be business as usual if elected.

And days after the 300th Pakistan drone strike of Obama’s presidency, the Bureau exclusively reported in December on declassified data which showed 1,200 US and British conventional drone strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

Country by country

Pakistan: The drop in strikes from their 2010 peak continued, and proportionally civilian casualties plummeted. Of at least 246 people killed in 2012 only 7 were credibly reported as civilians. Last year 68 non-combatants were reported among a minimum of 473 dead.

Yemen: After al Qaeda took and held a swathe of land in southern Yemen, the US responded by massively increasing the rate of drone and air strikes. At least 185 people were killed. But up to two thirds of the strikes and casualties exist in a limbo of accountability.

Somalia: The US fight in the Horn of Africa is the most secretive in the covert war on terror. There were only two confirmed US strikes in Somalia this year despite evidence that operations are continuing unreported.

Pakistan

Under President Bush the CIA launched 52 drone strikes. Since then the Agency has launched 306 attacks under President Obama.

The big story of 2012 was the steep fall in both the number of CIA strikes and casualties in Pakistan.

Attacks resumed on January 10 after a 54-day break, following a Nato airstrike which killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers. Throughout the year prolonged pauses between strikes indicated the vulnerability of the drone campaign to external events.

The tenth anniversary of the first US covert drone strike received virtually no coverage – coming as it did days before the US presidential elections.’

In April attacks again halted as Islamabad and Washington haggled over the reopening of supply lines into Afghanistan. There was no halt for the fast of Ramadan, the ‘month of peace’, as both the CIA and Pakistani Taliban continued their deadly operations.

Overall there was a significant fall in the number of CIA drone strikes in 2012 – down two thirds on their peak of 2010. Even more marked was the proportional fall in the numbers of reported civilians killed – down from an estimated 14% to 2.5% of those killed year-on-year. The majority of non-combatants killed this year were close relatives – often the wives – of named militants.

All CIA strikes in Pakistan 2012

Total strikes: 48

Total reported killed: 246-397

Civilians reported killed: 7-54

Children reported killed: 2

Total reported injured: 107-167

Pakistan: December 2012 actions

Total CIA strikes in December: 5

Total killed in strikes in December: 17-28, of whom 1-4 were reportedly civilians

All Pakistan actions 2004 – 2012

Total Obama strikes: 304

Total US strikes since 2004: 356

Total reported killed: 2,604-3,407

Civilians reported killed: 473-889

Children reported killed: 176

Total reported injured: 1,259-1,417

For the Bureau’s full Pakistan databases click here.

Yemen

US operations have escalated over Yemen in the last 12 months. However the Bureau cannot yet confirm responsibility for 127 strikes since 2010 which may have been the work of US aircraft.

Southern Yemen was gripped by a civil war in 2012 as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and allies established their ‘Islamic Emirates‘ in the south of the country, exploiting the chaos of a popular uprising to tighten their grip.

Once entrenched it proved too difficult for Yemen’s army alone to dislodge them. But in February President Ali Abdallah Saleh was overthrown and his replacement Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi invited the United States to help do the job for him.

As drone strikes fell in Pakistan in 2012 they rose steeply in Yemen, as US forces aided a major military campaign to oust al Qaeda and other Islamists.’

In March the number of airstrikes rose steeply, and the following month the CIA was given permission to launch signature strikes in Yemen. US operations peaked in May. Even after militants were driven out the violence continued. A suicide bomber penetrated security in the capital to kill 100 Yemeni soldiers and injure at least 200 more, a bloody portent of AQAP’s return to guerilla tactics.

Following the ousting of AQAP from its southern stronghold US operations declined sharply. At present drone attacks are most frequently on named militants in moving vehicles, suggesting an effort by the US to limit the risk of civilian casualties.

US or Yemeni officials often claim responsibility when senior militants are killed. In contrast there are rarely admissions of responsibility when civilians die in US airstrikes, as between 18 and 58 did in 2012. Only in December – three months after a dozen civilians died in Rada’a – did anonymous US officials admit that an American drone or plane had carried out an attack.

Questions have also been asked about how effective US operations are. Analyst Gregory Johnsen has pointed out that AQAP membership had grown steeply since the US began targeting militants in 2009.

As reported US air strikes have increased in Yemen so too have reported casualties.

All Yemen actions in 2012

Total confirmed US operations: 32-39

Total confirmed US drone strikes: 29-36

Possible additional US operations: 127-149

Of which possible additional US drone strikes: 55-69

Total reported killed: 185-705

Total civilians killed: 18-58Children killed: 3-9

Yemen: December 2012 actions

Confirmed US drone strikes: 0

Further reported/possible US strike events: 4-7

Total reported killed in US operations: 10-14Civilians reported killed in US strikes: 0

All Yemen actions 2002 – 2012*

Total confirmed US operations: 53-63

Total confirmed US drone strikes: 42-52

Possible additional US operations: 124-143

Of which possible additional US drone strikes: 66-79

Total reported killed: 362-1,059

Total civilians killed: 60-170

Children killed: 24-35Click here for the full Yemen data.

Somalia

US operations remained largely a mystery throughout 2012. One more confirmed strike was reported this year compared with last. However the Washington Post reported that armed US drones continue to fly sorties over Somalia from a US base in Djibouti.

Little is still known about US drone strikes in Somalia with only two credibly reported incidents in 2012. One of these killed a British-Somali militant, Bilal al-Barjawi.’

And the Bureau learned that as much as 50% of US military and intelligence operations go unreported in Somalia. A UN study said that so many drones were operating over Somalia that several air traffic accidents were narrowly avoided.

Because of the dangers of reporting from Somalia – Reporters Without Borders says 18 journalists have been killed in Somalia this year – there are no trustworthy reports of strikes or casualties. Only Iranian broadcaster Press TV consistently reports alleged US strikes. But while the Bureau monitors Press TV’s coverage we do not consider these reports reliable, and do not count them in our data.

In September, Somalia’s first elected government for 20 years was finally installed in the capital, with new president Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud inaugurated. But days later, al Shabaab suicide bombers tried to assassinate him as he gave a press conference with the Kenyan foreign minister, indicating that the country remains in crisis.

Amisom peacekeepers made slow progress against al Shabaab. But in September they drove militants out of their southern stronghold of Kismayo. (Albany Associates/Flickr)

All Somalia actions in 2012

Total US operations: 4

Total US drone strikes: 2 Total reported killed: 11-14Civilians reported killed: 0

Children reported killed: 0

Somalia December 2012 actions

Total reported US operations: 0

All Somalia actions 2007 – 2012

Total US operations: 10-23

Total US drone strikes: 3-9Total reported killed: 58-170Civilians reported killed: 11-57

Children reported killed: 1-3Click here for the Bureau’s full data on Somalia.

UK parliament to investigate drones

Published

December 6, 2012

Written by

Alice Ross

Web link

This page is archived from original Bureau of Investigative Journalism reporting on US military actions in Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A Reaper drone at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan (Photo: Ministry of Defence)

The British parliament will examine the use of drones as part of an overarching inquiry into the future of the UK’s armed forces.

The defence select committee – a panel of 12 politicians led by James Arbuthnot MP – has published its programme of inquiries for the remainder of this parliament. This includes an investigation that will touch on, among other areas, ‘the effect of changes in the interpretation of the law on the prosecution of operations, and the use of remotely piloted aircraft [drones]’.

Alongside this, the select committee will examine broad strategic issues such as the legitimate use of force, and the balance between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ power. No further details or schedule have yet been published.

Reflecting the rising parliamentary interest in unmanned aircraft, a briefing paper on drones was added to the parliamentary library yesterday.

Related story – Revealed: US and British drones launched 1,200 strikes in recent wars

The increasingly important role played by British drones in Afghanistan was highlighted earlier this week, when the Bureau published research showing that UK-piloted drones fire a high proportion of all drone-fired missiles in the conflict. The UK had a fleet of just five drones in Afghanistan last year, but 38% of all missiles released in the conflict last year were fired by British pilots. This year to date the proportion is over a quarter.

A defence spokesman pointed out to the Bureau that the ratio of missiles fired to hours flown had actually fallen since its 2008 peak, and the increased number of missiles being fired reflects the increasingly important role played by drones.

The UK also flew US-owned drones in Libya, the Ministry of Defence revealed earlier this year.

The role of drones in modern wars and counter-terrorism operations is coming under increasing scrutiny. In October, MPs and peers led by Labour MP Tom Watson and Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith launched an all-party parliamentary group to examine issues surrounding drones.

The UN recently announced it will set up a special unit to examine claims of civilian deaths in US drone strikes, led by special rapporteur Ben Emmerson QC.

While in the US, in recent months academic studies – including two by Columbia Law School and one by Stanford University and New York University – examined the impact of the US’s drone campaigns on civilians, and the legal structures for overseeing drone strikes.

Revealed: US and Britain launched 1,200 drone strikes in recent wars

Published

December 4, 2012

Written by

Alice Ross and Chris Woods

Web link

This page is archived from original Bureau of Investigative Journalism reporting on US military actions in Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

An MQ-9 Reaper returns to Kandahar from an Afghan mission. (USAF/Tech Sgt Chad Chisholm)

Recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq have seen almost 1,200 drone strikes over the past five years, according to new data released to the Bureau.

The information, much of it classified until now, shows that US Air Force drones carried out most of the 1,168 attacks. However British crews are also responsible for a significant portion of the strikes in Afghanistan.

The Bureau has obtained data from the US armed forces, Nato and the UK’s Ministry of Defence. It reveals, for example, that more than a quarter of all armed Coalition air sorties in Afghanistan are now carried out by drones.

While only a fraction of those missions result in strikes, drone strikes in Afghanistan are now taking place on average five times each week.

Afghanistan – the US’s most intense conflictThe US’s secret drone campaign in Pakistan and elsewhere is now in its eleventh year and is attracting increasing scrutiny, including academic studies, court cases and, soon, a UN investigation. Ironically, less is known about the use of drones in conventional theatres of war.

The US military and its allies have carried out almost 1,200 drone strikes since 2008 in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq.

Click here to visit the Bureau’s Covert Drone War project

When the Bureau first approached the US military in August seeking drone data for recent conflicts, we were told the information was classified. Central Command (Centcom) later relented after the Bureau argued there was a strong public interest in releasing the information.

Centcom now says it is committed to publishing statistics on the number of missiles fired by drones in Afghanistan, as part of its monthly reports.

The newly declassified figures provided to the Bureau show armed drones flown by the Coalition have carried out 1,015 drone strikes in Afghanistan since 2008. This is three times more than the 338 attacks the CIA has carried out in neighbouring Pakistan over the same period.

Of more than 7,600 armed drone missions flown by Coalition forces between January and October 2012, ‘kinetic events’ – drone strikes – occurred 245 times, a ratio of about one strike for every 30 missions flown. In Iraq, however, only one in every 130 armed drone missions in 2008 resulted in a strike.

For context, there were an additional 1,145 attacks by conventional aircraft in Afghanistan during that period, official figures show. The proportion of airstrikes carried out by drones has risen steeply to 18%, up from 11% in 2009.

While no British drones went to Libya, the MoD has revealed British pilots had flown US drones in the campaign.

While Coalition drones fly thousands of armed sorties in Afghanistan, drone strikes are ‘the exception, not the norm’, a Centcom spokeswoman told the Bureau.

The number of strikes has increased steadily year-on-year – but there is ambiguity over who is carrying them out. The majority are by the US Air Force, with the remainder by the British military and – possibly – US Special Forces. Here there is some confusion.

A senior US Army spokesman said: ‘Of the thousands of UAS [unmanned aerial systems] we have, only a very small number (well less than 100) are armed.’

But another senior US military official, speaking on background terms, said: ‘The Army doesn’t have UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] in service that carry munitions… Any UAVs that can carry munitions are/were under the charge of the Air Force in Afghanistan and Iraq.’

Military officials were unable to explain the discrepancy between the two statements. The Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) has its own classified fleet of Reaper drones, however, which may account for the apparently contradictory statements.

In Afghanistan drone strikes are ‘the exception, not the norm’US Central Command spokeswoman

Britain’s small, active fleet

The UK’s drone fleet in Afghanistan is small compared with that of the US – Britain will shortly double its number of Reapers from five to ten aircraft.

Yet British-piloted aircraft launched a high proportion of the total missiles fired from drones.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has released new data on the number of missiles fired in each of the past five years. In 2011, almost four missiles of every ten fired by drones in Afghanistan were the work of UK forces, the new figures indicate. In 2010 and 2012 the proportion was over a quarter. An MoD spokesman pointed out that the rate of missiles released in comparison to total hours flown had fallen significantly from its peak in 2008.

The MoD refused to reveal the number of strikes it had carried out, and indicated it would be inaccurate for the Bureau to infer a number of attacks by comparing British data with Centcom’s more complete numbers, ‘because of differing rules of engagement’.

‘Protecting civilians is the cornerstone of our mission. The use of all Afcent weapons and methods are tightly restricted, carefully supervised, and applied by only qualified and authorised personnel.’US Air Force spokeswoman

The missing numbers

The US has so far refused to release casualty data for its drone campaigns, although an Air Force spokeswoman insisted that ‘protecting civilians is the cornerstone of our mission’. She added: ‘The use of all Afcent weapons and methods are tightly restricted, carefully supervised, and applied by only qualified and authorised personnel.’

Only Britain has issued estimates of the non-combatants it has killed. According to officials at the Ministry of Defence, four civilians have died in UK-piloted drone strikes in Afghanistan – although campaigners such as Drone Wars UK have questioned this figure.

David Cameron visits troops in Afghanistan, December 2010 (Corporal Mark Webster/MoD)

A ministry spokesman said: ‘Every effort, which includes in some circumstances deciding not to release weapons, is made to ensure the risk of collateral damage, including civilian casualties, is minimised.’

Although Britain has not officially estimated the number of militants killed, prime minister David Cameron told reporters in December 2010 that by that point UK drones ‘killed more than 124 insurgents’. More than 200 missiles have been fired by British drones since that date.

Libya: a short, bloody campaign

In contrast to the long-running Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, figures supplied by Nato and the Pentagon on last year’s Libyan air campaign give an insight into the brutal intensity of that short conflict.

Nato provided the Bureau with figures for the operation, first published in a letter to the head of the UN’s investigation into Libya in January 2012. Differences in how data is recorded makes it difficult to draw a comparison between Libya and other recent campaigns. What is clear is that armed drones played a small yet significant role.

Prime minister David Cameron in December 2010 said UK drones ‘killed more than 124 insurgents’. Since then more than 200 missiles have been fired by British drones.

In April 2011, the US announced it was sending Reaper and Predator drones to Libya as part of Operation Unified Protector. ‘They are uniquely suited for urban areas,’ Marine General James Cartwright, the vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a press conference at the time.

While no British drones went to Libya, the MoD later revealed British pilots had flown US drones in the campaign.

Nato aircraft – piloted by the US, France and UK – flew around 18,000 armed sorties during the brief campaign, firing 7,600 missiles.

A tiny proportion of these armed missions – 250 in total – were flown by drones. US Predators flew 145 strike sorties, according to a Department of Defense briefing published in October 2011. A Nato spokesman explained ‘strike sorties’ is the term used for ‘identifying and engaging targets’, while armed sorties could also be for surveillance, and carrying weapons for self-defence.

The Pentagon confirmed to the Bureau that US-piloted drones carried out 105 strikes between the start of April and September 2, 2011. This figure does not reflect the full campaign, which continued until October 31. However, it does indicate a very high ratio of strikes to armed sorties – more than one in three total armed missions led to a strike – reflecting the intensity of the Libyan conflict compared to the more drawn-out wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where drones often fly armed missions without firing weapons.

Following the end of the campaign, in November 2011 Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen claimed: ‘We conducted our operations in Libya in a very careful manner, so we have no confirmed civilian casualties caused by Nato.’

But the following month, a New York Times investigation reported 40-70 civilians died in Nato bombings. The findings were supported by an Amnesty International investigation published in March 2012, which named 55 civilians including 16 children and 14 women – all killed in strikes on urban areas, including in Tripoli, Zlitan, Majer and Sirte.

‘We conducted our operations in Libya in a very careful manner, so we have no confirmed civilian casualties caused by Nato.’Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen

But it is not clear how many – if any – of these deaths were caused by drones.

Iraq: a rapid wind-downThe Bureau has also obtained previously classified details of US drone strikes in Iraq for the final years of the conflict.

These demonstrate how swiftly the US Air Force scaled down its drone strikes as withdrawal approached.

The number of armed drone sorties dropped steadily between 2008 and December 2011, when US forces finally withdrew.

Actual drone strikes – or ‘kinetic events’ – collapsed by more than 90% between 2008 and 2009, Obama’s first year in office, from 43 strikes to four. In comparison, the CIA carried out 55 drone strikes in Pakistan in 2009.

There were no US Air Force drone strikes in Iraq in 2010, and just one in 2011. All US military drone sorties in the country have now ceased.

Follow @chrisjwoods and @aliceross_ on Twitter

November 2012 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

Published

December 3, 2012

Written by

Alice Ross, Chris Woods and Jack Serle

Web link

This page is archived from original Bureau of Investigative Journalism reporting on US military actions in Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A US Reaper taxis at Kandahar Airbase, Afghanistan (ChuckHolton/Flickr).

Pakistan: CIA drone strikes return to Pakistan after a 36 day pause, as Washington sets out to codify its covert drone strikes policy.

Yemen: A strike nine miles from Sanaa targets a Yemen army colonel and alleged militant. But his family and others question why he was not arrested.

Somalia: Once again no operations are reported in Somalia.

Pakistan

November 2012 actions

Total CIA strikes in November: 1

Total killed in strikes in November: 0-4, of whom 0 were reportedly civilians

All actions 2004 – November 30 2012

Total Obama strikes: 299

Total US strikes since 2004: 351

Total reported killed: 2,586-3,379

Civilians reported killed: 472-885

Children reported killed: 176

Total reported injured: 1,255-1,405For the Bureau’s full Pakistan databases click here.

A CIA drone strike killed up to four on November 29, ending a 36 day pause between attacks. This is the longest break between strikes since the 54 day hiatus from November 17 2011 to January 10 2012.

Pauses between strikes are often a consequence of external events. The unusual length of this pause – and reports of US officials trying to develop a drone strike rule book – might indicate that the CIA paused strikes while the drone programme was reviewed.

In November CIA drone strikes in Pakistan dropped to their lowest since April as the Agency paused operations for 36 days.

The break in drone operations also followed a controversial strike on October 24. Mamana Khan, a 67-year-old woman, was one of up to five killed. Her six grandchildren were reported injured in the strike.

The pause was not for a lack of targets, according to a US intelligence official. ‘Pakistan is a target-rich environment,’ the official told the Long War Journal. ‘We’re only scratching at the surface, hitting them in the tribal areas, while the country remains infested with al Qaeda and their allies.’

The November 29 strike hit its target 20km outside Wana, capital of South Waziristan, where a few hours earlier Taliban commander Maulvi Nazir was injured by a suicide bomber. It was the first drone strike in South Waziristan since June 3.

Yemen

November 2012 actions

Confirmed US drone strikes: 0

Further reported/possible US strike events: 1

Total reported killed in US operations: 0-3

Civilians reported killed in US strikes: 0

All actions 2002 – November 30 2012*

Total confirmed US operations: 53-63

Total confirmed US drone strikes: 42-52

Possible additional US operations: 122-141

Of which possible additional US drone strikes: 66-79

Total reported killed: 362-1,052

Total civilians killed: 60-163

Children killed: 24-34Click here for the full Yemen data.

A possible US drone strike killed up to three people driving through Beit al Ahan, ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s home town. However allegations that the targets were militants are disputed.

On November 7 an explosion targeted Adnan al Qathi, a colonel in the Yemen Army and a relative of prominent general Ali Mohsen al Ahmar. It destroyed al Qathi’s vehicle less than 24 hours after President Obama’s re-election.

While al Qathi’s family acknowledges he supported al Qaeda’s cause, they dispute claims he was a militant. Yemeni journalist and analyst Abdulrazzaq Jamal told McClatchy Newspapers: ‘There were connections [with al Qaeda], but there wasn’t perceptible tangible support.’

Al Qathi had been arrested once before, in 2008 after an attack on the US embassy in Sanaa. And as he lived in the ‘hometown of much of the top leadership of the Yemeni armed forces,’ according to analyst Abdulghani al Iryani ‘it is nearly inconceivable to imagine that he could not have been taken into custody alive.’

Also in November, the Saudi Arabian assistant military attache was gunned down while driving through Sanaa’s diplomatic quarter. He was assassinated by gunmen dressed in Yemen security service uniforms. It is the latest in a series of high-profile assassinations on the streets of the capital.

Somalia

November 2012 actions

Total reported US operations: 0

All actions 2007 – November 30 2012

Total US operations: 10-23

Total US drone strikes: 3-9Total reported killed: 58-170Civilians reported killed: 11-57

Children reported killed: 1-3

Click here for the Bureau’s full data on Somalia.

Once again no US operations were recorded in Somalia in October, as al Shabaab continue to exercise control in rural parts of the country.

The militant group is reportedly moving away from its bases in the south and centre of the country and shifting further north, according to the president of Puntland, the autonomous northern region. While African Union peacekeepers (Amisom) have forced al Shabaab out of the cities the group remains a threat. The group has launched bomb attacks on targets in Mogadishu and Nairobi.

In related news, the UN Security Council extended Amisom’s mandate to March 7 2013. However the future of the multilateral force is in doubt after Uganda threatened to withdraw its contingent of soldiers. Kamapala is the largest troop contributor to Amisom and issued the threat after a UN report alleged the Ugandan government is arming the M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Follow Chris Woods, Alice Ross and Jack Serle on Twitter.

To sign up for monthly updates from the Bureau’s Covert War project click here.

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