The Institute for Public Accuracy has just put Jesselyn Radack and Ray on a press release focusing on today’s revelations by The Intercept re the use of drones, in particular:
Assassination Complex
by Jeremy Scahill, et al.
https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/the-assassination-complex/
The press release cites a piece Ray wrote three years ago:
Silence of the Drones
Ray McGovern, Oct. 1, 2012
Here’s an excerpt from the article, which is interesting in retrospect:
Tight Leash?
Just four months later, a May 29 New York Times article on Obama’s secret “Kill List” revealed how the President rationalized his claim that the number of civilians killed was “not huge.” Far from “a very tight leash,” it was a numbering gimmick.
The Times report quoted several Obama administration officials admitting that all military-age males in a strike zone are counted as combatants, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent. (Yes, you read that right – posthumously.)
Small wonder that counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan could claim in June 2011 that there had been zero civilians killed in Pakistan for almost a year. And small wonder that another senior administration official could tell the Times several months later that the number of civilians killed by drone strikes in Pakistan was in the “single digits.”
In April 2012, Brennan was still at it, describing civilian casualties from drone strikes as “exceedingly rare” – as if saying something often enough can make it true.
One former senior intelligence officer did express serious misgivings. “It bothers me when they say there were seven guys, so they must all be militants,” the former officer told the Times. “They count the corpses and they’re not really sure who they are.”
So much for posthumous exoneration.
For people with a conscience this is a lot to take in; to reflect on; and to take responsibility for as an American citizen. Serious though these issues are, there are times when a satirical touch can cut to the chase – not to trivialize this sadder-than-sad reality, but rather to render it easier to understand and to drive home its full import.
Stephen Colbert performed a useful service with his commentary on the New York Times report on Obama’s “Kill List.”
As for Congressional oversight:
Lest anyone lose sight of how closely Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein was riding herd on the use of drones, here’s more:
Intel Chair: Civilian Drone Casualties in Single Digits Year-to-Year
NYT February 7, 2013
by Lee Ferran
“The chairman of the Senate’s Intelligence Committee said today that the number of civilians killed in America’s drone strikes each year ‘has typically been in the single digits.’
“The chairman, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), made the claim in her opening remarks at the Senate’s confirmation hearing for CIA Director nominee John Brennan. Brennan, currently President Obama’s counter-terrorism advisor, is widely described as the architect of the administration’s counter-terrorism policy, including its increased reliance on targeted drone strikes.
“’I’ve… been attempting to speak publicly about the very low number of civilian casualties that result from such strikes, [but] I’ve been limited in my ability to do so,’ Feinstein said. ‘But for the past several years, this committee has done significant oversight of the government’s conduct of targeted strikes and 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 has typically been in the single digits.’
“Feinstein’s assertion appears to challenge data compiled by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism from media [now apparently including The Intercept], human rights and purported eye-witness reports, which say that American drones have killed hundreds of civilians since 2008 from Pakistan to Yemen and Somalia. …