“Between 2010 and 2020 the Bureau [of Investigative Journalism] tracked US drone strikes and other covert actions in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia. The comprehensive reporting on civilian deaths helped lead to greater official transparency on targeted killing, and provided the data needed to hold the White House to account. Minimum Confirmed Strikes: 14,040 Total […]
10/29/2019
“Almost 40 strikes hit Afghanistan every day in September [2019], new Pentagon figures show, working out as more than 1,100 over the month, a significant rise. The number of US strikes has been increasing in recent months, but this latest jump is dramatic. There were 1,113 strikes in September compared with 810 strikes in August, […]
10/16/2019
“A child has been killed in a US air strike in Afghanistan, the American military confirmed, in a rare admission of responsibility for civilian harm. The US has, to our knowledge, so far admitted to killing only six civilians in strikes in 2019. The UN claims the number is much higher, with 430 deaths and […]
9/7/2019
“President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday [9/7/2019] that he canceled a secret meeting with Taliban leaders that was poised to be held at Camp David on Sunday [9/8/2019]. In a series of tweets, Trump cited the death of a US soldier in a recent Taliban attack as his reasoning and said he’s also canceling ongoing peace […]
3/7/2019
“President Donald Trump has revoked a policy set by his predecessor requiring US intelligence officials to publish the number of civilians killed in drone strikes outside of war zones. The 2016 executive order was brought in by then-President Barack Obama, who was under pressure to be more transparent. Since the 9/11 terror attack, drone strikes […]
3/13/2018
“A Berlin-based civil rights group has filed a criminal complaint to the German authorities to issue an arrest warrant for [Gina] Haspel, over claims she oversaw the torture of terrorism suspects. Following Haspel’s promotion to CIA deputy director last year [2017], the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) updated its legal briefing requesting […]
2/28/2017
“Counting the value of lives lost as well as property damage and lost production of goods and services, losses already exceed $100 billion. Including the loss in stock market wealth — the market’s own estimate arising from expectations of lower corporate profits and higher discount rates for economic volatility — the price tag approaches $2 […]
2/22/2017
“A retired CIA officer has been taken into custody in Portugal and faces extradition to Italy within days to serve a four-year sentence for her role in the 2003 kidnapping of a radical Muslim cleric. Sabrina De Sousa, 61, was among 23 Americans convicted in absentia in 2009 for the kidnapping of Egyptian-born cleric Hassan […]
1/20/2017
“As Donald Trump assumes office today [1/20/2017], he inherits a targeted killing program that has been the cornerstone of U.S. counterterrorism strategy over the past eight years. On January 23, 2009, just three days into his presidency, President Obama authorized his first kinetic military action: two drone strikes, three hours apart, in Waziristan, Pakistan, that […]
1/19/2017
“Batches of newly disclosed documents [stamped “Salim v. Mitchell – United States Bates Stamp #001949, 12/20/2016] about the Central Intelligence Agency’s defunct torture program are providing new details about its practices of slamming terrorism suspects into walls, confining them in coffinlike boxes and subjecting them to waterboarding — as well as internal disputes over whether two psychologists […]