Leaking the Drone War [View all]

A courageous new whistleblower has revealed the terrible extent of President Obama’s drone program.
by Nicole Colson ~ 10.23.15

For fourteen years, America has relied on drone warfare as a key method for carrying out the so-called “war on terror.” But aside from occasional news stories about another botched bombing that killed civilians instead of the intended targets, little information has ever been made available about the inner workings of the drone warfare program.

Until now.

Last week, the Intercept website published a series of articles titled “The Drone Papers,” based on a trove of leaked documents from an unnamed whistleblower who is reportedly a member of the intelligence community and worked on the programs described in the files. As journalist Jeremy Scahill, one of the lead authors, explained: "The series is intended to serve as a long-overdue public examination of the methods and outcomes of America’s assassination program . . . The public has a right to see these documents not only to engage in an informed debate about the future of US wars, both overt and covert, but also to understand the circumstances under which the US government arrogates to itself the right to sentence individuals to death without the established checks and balances of arrest, trial, and appeal."

While drone warfare was used under George W. Bush, it has arguably become the chief weapon of the “war on terror” under Barack Obama — used to hunt down and kill those deemed to be terrorist threats around the globe ...

Much more here: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/10/drone-war-obama-intercept-leak-yemen-pakistan-war-on-terror/