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All major publications from Airwars’ documentation, research, investigations and policy teams

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140 posts
15 Apr, 2015
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Podcast: Tell us the whole truth about your drone killing program, ACLU chief warns White House

The ACLU has been fighting the US government in courthouses in New York and Washington DC, above (Wikimedia Commons) The US government’s tactic of releasing details about its targeted killing programme in only a piecemeal way is “very dangerous”, the American Civil Liberties Union warns in this week’s Drone News. Jameel Jaffer, the ACLU’s deputy legal director, […]
1 Apr, 2015
Update
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia

Monthly Drone Report, March 2015: US drone strikes drop 50% as chaos envelops Yemen

Saudi jets have began bombing Houthi targets across its southern border in Yemen EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i. Key points: US drone strike frequency halves from Q4 2014 to Q1 2015 Strikes appear to target the Pakistan Taliban in Afghanistan A single CIA strike kills three in Pakistan as Islamabad forces hammer the tribal areas Yemen sinks […]
6 Feb, 2015
Update
Somalia

Podcast: US drone strikes in Somalia considered a badge of honour by al Shabaab

US drone strikes are raising al Shabaab’s profile and inflating its importance, BBC World Service Africa editor Mary Harper told the Bureau’s Drone News podcast. Focusing on al Shabaab with sophisticated drone technology “gives [al Shabaab] almost a legitimacy in terms of the kind of group that they are claiming to be,” said Harper. The […]
6 Feb, 2015
Update
Somalia

Does al Shabaab strike signal change in US tactics in Somalia?

A US drone strike which killed a senior al Shabaab leader in Somalia last Saturday appears to have been part of a change of tactics by the Americans since it started targeting the militant group in 2007. It was the fifth consecutive such strike against al Shabaab’s leadership, with drones now appearing to have superseded other, […]
3 Feb, 2015
Update
Somalia, Yemen

The CIA appears to have cut civilian deaths from drone strikes in Pakistan: why can’t the US do the same in Yemen, asks Owen Bennett-Jones

Pakistani tribesmen offer funeral prayer -Thir Khan/AFP/Getty Images In May 2013, faced with persistent reports of drones killing civilians, President Obama announced that no strike would be authorised unless there was: “near certainty that no civilians would be killed or injured.” It was, he said, “the highest standard we can set.” The new rule seemed […]
2 Feb, 2015
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Almost 2,500 now killed by covert US drone strikes since Obama inauguration six years ago: The Bureau’s report for January 2015

At least 2,464 people have now been killed by US drone strikes outside the country’s declared war zones since President Barack Obama’s inauguration six years ago, the Bureau’s latest monthly report reveals. Of the total killed since Obama took his oath of office on January 20 2009, at least 314 have been civilians, while the number of […]
7 Jan, 2015
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

US drone war: 2014 in numbers

CIA Pakistan drone campaign reported to have killed nearly five times more people under Obama than under Bush No confirmed civilian casualties in Pakistan for second year running Domestic buildings continue to be the most frequently hit target in Pakistan Highest ever number of drone strikes in a year in Somalia Total people killed per […]
3 Dec, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Podcast: An interview with the makers of new drone documentary

For this week’s Drone News, Abigail Fielding-Smith went to Copenhagen to interview the maker of a new documentary on drone warfare, Tonje Hessen Schei. The documentary, Drone, draws on interviews from Washington DC to Waziristan. The director explains that she is alarmed at the direction the technology is going in. Listen to this week’s episode. […]
1 Dec, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

November 2014 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

Three drone strikes hit houses and vehicles in Pakistan’s North Waziristan area (Flickr/Maverick bashoo) Report of children killed in drone attack in Pakistan. Four strikes hit Yemen – most in a month since April. No strikes reported in Somalia. Four names added to Naming the Dead, including two children. Pakistan November 2014 actions Total CIA […]
3 Nov, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

October 2014 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

CIA drone strikes rocket in Pakistan while the casualty rate is relatively low (US Air Force/Sr Airman Andrew Lee) Obama drone strikes in Pakistan reach 350. US drones kill at least four in Yemen. Al Shabaab lose ground in Somalia but remain a threat. Seven names added to the Bureau’s Naming the Dead project. Pakistan October 2014 actions Total CIA […]
17 Oct, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Podcast – Casualty Recording

Nek Mohammed, the first recorded casualty in the US drone war in Pakistan, attends a jirga in May 2004 – three weeks before his death (REUTERS/Kamran Wazir) This week’s Drone News looks at casualty recording; how it’s done, and what we know about the victims of airstrikes by the US and its allies. The Bureau’s […]
2 Oct, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

September 2014 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

US strike jets have bombed targets in Iraq and Syria this month (Senior Airman Matthew Bruch/US Air Force) CIA drones end a 49-day pause in strikes in Pakistan Alleged al Qaeda fighters killed in Yemen strikes US military drones kill al Shabaab leader in Somalia Pakistan September 2014 actions Total CIA strikes in September: 2 […]
5 Sep, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Podcast: a round-up of news from the drone war with the Bureau’s reporters

Nato is building its surveillance capacity with a new drone system (Anguskirk/Flickr) Bureau journalists discuss the use of drones in Iraq as part of the US military response to the brutality of Islamic State (ISIS) in the latest drones podcast. The US has been attacking ISIS positions in Iraq since August 8. It has launched […]
3 Sep, 2014
Update
Somalia

First US drone strike in seven months hits Somalia

African Union and Somali troops advance on al Shabaab positions (UN Photo/Tobin Jones) A US drone strike hit Somalia, the first in seven months, in an attack aimed at killing al Shabaab leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane (below). The attack killed “six al Shabaab officers” but it is not clear if Godane was among them, said […]
31 Aug, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

August 2014 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

US Predator drone (Doctress Neutopia via Flickr) Pakistan military offensive against the Taliban continues. Two possible US drone strikes in Yemen, bringing seven-week pause in reported US attacks to an end. The seventh successive month without a reported US attack in Somalia. Pakistan August 2014 actions Total CIA strikes in August: 1 Total killed in strikes in August: 5-7 All […]
19 Aug, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Interactive: 21 calls for transparency around US drone strikes

In February 2011 the Bureau began investigating CIA drone strikes in Pakistan. At that time there was a lethal US drone strike in Pakistan every four days or so, and there had been one hundred and eighty drone strikes there since Barack Obama became president. The US was publicly denying the drone strike campaign. On August […]
1 Aug, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

July 2014 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

Troops advance during an anti-al Shabaab operation in Somalia (UN Photo/Stuart Price) Pakistan has the bloodiest month of drone strikes in two years. July is the first month of the year with no drone attacks in Yemen. Six months without a reported US attack in Somalia. Naming the Dead database records 700 names. Pakistan July 2014 actions Total CIA strikes in […]
4 Jul, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Podcast: the changing face of international terrorism

International terrorism has changed and that change is making lethal drone strikes more likely, according to Paul Rogers, Professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University. ‘The whole thing has really made a transition from what you would probably just about call a movement 10 years ago to an idea that really has spread and has […]
1 Jul, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Six-month update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

An MQ-9 Reaper waits to take flight (Photo: US Air Force/Staff Sgt John Bainter) Drone strikes restart in Pakistan after a pause of almost six months. US drone strike casualty rate in Yemen jumps to 8.3 people killed in each attack on average. Kenyan jets strike al Shabaab in Somalia. The Naming the Dead project approaches 700 names. Pakistan […]
3 Jun, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

May 2014 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

CIA drones have not hit Pakistan for over five months – some now suggest it is a permanent end to strikes. The hiatus in drone strikes continues as Pakistan’s military takes the fight to the Taliban. A US drone strike kills at least four amid an ongoing Yemen military offensive against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Another month […]
1 May, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

April 2014 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

The wreckage of a four-wheel drive destroyed by CIA drones in Yemen (EPA/stringer). More than four months without a drone strike in Pakistan. US drones and special forces launch barrage of attacks in Yemen. ‘Western’ special forces support peacekeeper offensive in Somalia. The Bureau has added more than 100 names to its Naming the Dead project since launch. Pakistan […]
14 Apr, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Drones podcast: An ethics special

Ethicists and drone experts discuss the morality of drone warfare in the latest episode of the Bureau’s podcast Drone News. Dr Alex Leveringhaus of Oxford University and Dr Peter Lee, Portsmouth University lecturer of military ethics who teaches at the RAF College Cranwell, spoke to the Bureau about what they see as the key ethical […]
10 Apr, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

US should gather accurate drone civilian casualty data, says military analyst

The US should gather accurate figures of civilians killed in its drone strikes and subject them to Congressional oversight, a leading US military analyst has said. Dr Larry Lewis, principal research scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), a federally funded military research organisation, also called for better training and intelligence analysis in order […]
5 Apr, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

New bill would force Barack Obama to publish US drone strike casualties

A bill before the House of Representatives could force Washington to be more transparent about drones (Architect of the Capitol). A bipartisan Bill that would force President Obama to reveal casualties from covert US drone strikes has been put before the US Congress. If successful, the bill would require the White House to publish an […]
1 Apr, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

March 2014 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

US drones were under scrutiny at the UN Human Rights Council this month (UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré) There have been no reported drone strikes in Pakistan for more than three months Strikes hit Yemen at an intensity not seen since July 2013 Another month without a US operation in Somalia, while African Union forces make advances Naming […]
25 Mar, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

UK government must clarify position on drone intelligence-sharing, MPs say

The £1bn Watchkeeper drone will not be used in Afghanistan, the report reveals (Photo: Defence Images) The British government should be more transparent about intelligence-sharing that leads to covert drone strikes, say MPs in a report published today. The call for greater transparency ‘in relation to safeguards and limitations the UK Government has in place […]
14 Mar, 2014
Update
Somalia

Drones podcast: Al Shabaab still a potent threat, says BBC’s Somalia editor Mary Harper

Al Shabaab remain a violent threat, even in Mogadishu (Albany Associates) Somali militant group al Shabaab are still capable of indiscriminate violence, the BBC’s Somalia editor Mary Harper told the Bureau. Al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab is still a considerable threat despite almost a decade of Western interventions, including drone strikes. It remains effective because it […]
12 Mar, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Countries must investigate civilian drone death claims, says UN investigator Ben Emmerson

UN investigator Ben Emmerson said investigating civilian casualties is a legal obligation (United Nations). Yesterday UN investigator Ben Emmerson presented his latest report on drone strikes to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva. Emmerson, a British lawyer and UN special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, said countries are under a ‘present and […]
11 Mar, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

John Brennan marks first year at CIA amid no confirmed civilian drone deaths in Pakistan

John Brennan accepted President Obama’s nomination as CIA director on January 7 2013. (Peter da Souza/White House) John Brennan has now completed his first year as director of the CIA. In that time there has not been a confirmed report of a civilian casualty from a CIA drone strike in Pakistan, according to an analysis […]
4 Mar, 2014
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

February 2014 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

US drones launched no attacks in Pakistan for the second month in a row (Photo: US Air Force photo/Senior Airman Andrew Lee). Pakistan military attacks Pakistan Taliban as the pause in drone strikes enters its third month. One possible drone strike hits Yemen. More details of December 12 wedding strike emerge. No US operations are reported in […]