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

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140 posts
1 Mar, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

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

John Brennan – leading proponent of the drone programme and the CIA’s director-designate (C-Span). CIA drones kill two alleged al Qaeda commanders in two strikes on Pakistan. US operations drop to zero in Yemen a year after President Saleh was ousted from power. No operations reported in Somalia. Pakistan February 2013 actions Total CIA strikes […]
27 Feb, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

No evidence Congressional committee does ‘utmost’ to follow up drone civilian death claims

Are Congressional oversight bodies really doing their ‘utmost’? (Photo L’ennnui/ Flickr) Claims by a powerful Senate oversight committee that it is doing its ‘utmost’ to verify claims of civilian casualties from covert US drone strikes have been undermined by the discovery that it has made no contact with any group conducting field studies into civilian […]
27 Feb, 2013
Update
Somalia

Former British citizens killed by drone strikes after passports revoked

Passport cancelled: the Coalition government has stripped 16 people of their British citizenship. (Image: Shutterstock) An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and published in the Independent has established that since 2010 the Home Secretary Theresa May has revoked the passports of 16 individuals many of whom are alleged to have had links to […]
8 Feb, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

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

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 […]
1 Feb, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

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

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. […]
24 Jan, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

UN launches major investigation into civilian drone deaths

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 […]
9 Jan, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

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

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 […]
3 Jan, 2013
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Emerging from the shadows: US covert drone strikes in 2012

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 […]
6 Dec, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

UK parliament to investigate drones

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 […]
4 Dec, 2012
Update
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

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

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 […]
3 Dec, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

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

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 […]
3 Nov, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

‘OK, fine. Shoot him.’ Four words that heralded a decade of secret US drone killings

Predator drones increasingly a museum piece thanks to more lethal models (Justinpickard/ Flickr) The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) usually gets all the credit for the first US drone targeted killing beyond the conventional battlefield. But it was the military which gave the final go-ahead to kill on November 3 2002. Lt General Michael DeLong was […]
1 Nov, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Analysis: How Washington Post strips casualties from covert drone data

The Washington Post: is it telling the whole story? Alongside the Washington Post’s latest blockbuster reports on the Obama administration’s drone kill list is a new graphic, depicting US covert strikes since 2002. Based on studies by monitoring organisations, the graphic lists hundreds of US drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, in what the […]
1 Nov, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

October 2012 update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

A new squadron of armed Reapers will soon be remotely operated from the UK (Photo: RAF) Pakistan: Reported casualties from CIA drone strikes in Pakistan double this month compared with September. Agency targets include a North Waziristan madrassa, killing at least 16. Yemen: Thirteen named militants are among those killed in Yemen, with US operations continuing below their […]
25 Oct, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

GCHQ intel sharing for drone strikes may be ‘accessory to murder’

In the loop? Officers at GCHQ have reportedly shared Taliban commanders’ locations with the CIA (Photo: Ministry of Defence UK intelligence officers may be assisting in murder or war crimes by sharing information with the CIA that leads to deaths in Pakistan drone strikes, a London court heard this week. Pakistani tribesman Noor Khan, whose father […]
25 Oct, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

UN team to investigate civilian drone deaths

London-based UN expert says Geneva unit will investigate civilian drone deaths The United Nations plans to set up a special investigation unit examining claims of civilian deaths in individual US covert drone strikes. UN investigators have been critical of US ‘extrajudicial executions’ since they began in 2002. The new Geneva-based unit will also look at the legality of […]
18 Oct, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

UK parliament launches group to focus on drones

Under scrutiny: The Watchkeeper surveillance drone, on its maiden UK flight. (Photo: Defence Images) Members of parliament Tom Watson and Zac Goldsmith are to lead a new parliamentary group set up to scrutinise the rapid spread of drones both on the battlefield and in civilian life. The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drones launched yesterday, with […]
1 Oct, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

September 2012 update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

A US Reaper drone on the tarmac at Creech, Nevada – achesonblog/Flickr Pakistan: CIA drone strikes pause for a short period as Muslims protest around the world against a US-made video. A senior al Qaeda leader is killed in resumed strikes. Yemen: Eleven named civilians die in a strike in central Yemen, the worst civilian tally since May. […]
30 Sep, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Obama risks handing ‘loaded gun’ drone programme to Romney

Obama ‘in thrall to the technological potential of drones’ says Columbia Law School author (Photo: spirit of America/Shutterstock). President Obama’s personal involvement in selecting the targets of covert drone strikes means he risks effectively handing a ‘loaded gun’ to Mitt Romney come November, says the co-author of a new report aimed at US policymakers. ‘If […]
24 Sep, 2012
Update
Somalia

US and others have ‘licence to ignore international law’ in Somalia

African Union troops advance on al Shabaab positions, May 2012 (AU/UN IST/Stuart Price) The Somali government has given free rein to international forces including the US and African Union to act with impunity in the country, a number of sources have told the Bureau. During the country’s two decades of conflict, its frail government invited […]
21 Sep, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Judges greet US government drone secrecy with skepticism

Appeals court judges scrutinised the US government’s secrecy bid. (www.shutterstock.com) Three federal appeal court judges greeted US government efforts to block the release of information on the CIA’s targeted killings programme with skepticism on Thursday, as they grilled the administration’s lawyers for double the scheduled time. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is challenging the […]
21 Sep, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

British PM Cameron: ‘We expect drone strikes to avoid civilian casualties’

Prime Minister Cameron and President Obama at the White House. (Photo: UK Government) David Cameron has called for those carrying out covert drone strikes ‘to act in accordance with international law’ and to take ‘all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties.’ However the British prime minister has carefully avoided any direct criticism of the US, […]
6 Sep, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Obama’s five rules for covert drone strikes

President Obama takes a phone call aboard Air Force One, July 2012 (Photo Official White House/ Pete Souza) In his most comprehensive public comments yet on the US covert drone war, President Barack Obama has laid out the five rules he says the United States uses to target and kill alleged terrorists – including US citizens. […]
3 Sep, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

August 2012 update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

Somalia’s parliamentarians meet for the first time in for two decades on August 20 2012. (AU-UN IST / Stuart Price) Pakistan: August sees the highest number of CIA strikes in Pakistan since October 2011. A number of senior militants are killed along with at least two named civilians. Yemen: At least 26 people are killed […]
30 Aug, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Apple rejects app built from the Bureau’s data

This is what it could have looked like… An app that uses the Bureau’s covert war data to alert people to the far reaches of the US government’s secret wars has been blocked from Apple’s app store. Drones+, the creation of NYU student Josh Begley, was meant to be a simple way of notifying users […]
1 Aug, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

July 2012 update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

A US Predator drone flying at sunset – Charles McCain/Flickr The Bureau’s covert war investigation tracks drone strikes and other US military and paramilitary actions in Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. Here we summarise our key work and findings for July 2012. Pakistan: CIA drones kill more people in July than any month so far this […]
2 Jul, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

June 2012 update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

An armed US military Reaper drone over Afghanistan (US Air Force/ Lt Col Lesley Pratt/ Flickr) The Bureau’s covert war investigation tracks drone strikes and other US military and paramilitary actions in Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. Here we summarise our key work and findings for June 2012. We also compare the first six months of […]
29 Jun, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

‘A journey into moral depravity’ – US Congressman Dennis Kucinich on covert wars

When 26 members of the US Congress wrote to President Obama recently urging him to get a grip on his use of drones as ‘faceless ambassadors that cause civilian deaths,’ one man in particular was responsible. Congressman for Ohio Dennis Kucinich has been a career politician for more than 40 years – but he’s no […]
21 Jun, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

UN expert labels CIA tactic exposed by Bureau ‘a war crime’

The United Nation’s Human Rights Council in Geneva (UNHRC/ Flickr) The UN’s expert on extrajudicial killings has described a tactic used by the CIA and first exposed by a Bureau investigation as ‘a war crime’. Earlier this year the Bureau and the Sunday Times revealed the CIA was deliberately targeting rescuers and funeral-goers in its Pakistan drone strikes. […]
19 Jun, 2012
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Analysis: Oversight failures help oil Obama’s killing machine

Revelations that President Barack Obama presides over key aspects of secret kill-list machinery that has sentenced thousands to death by drone have disturbed many. Torture and extraordinary rendition under Bush, it turns out, have been replaced with industrial-scale extrajudicial execution by his successor. Today, CIA and Pentagon armed drones range at will over Pakistan, Yemen […]