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Subscribe to RSSTop White House counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan said today that Al Qaeda is now "on the path to its destruction" in a major speech that for the first time publicly acknowledged the role of "targeted strikes" using remotely piloted vehicles, otherwise known as drones.
The drone program against Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Yemen has long been officially classified, even though its use has been widely reported and become a central component of President Obama's counter-terrorism efforts.
But, on the eve of the one-year anniversary of Osama Bin Laden's death, Brennan essentially declassified the program, saying the use of such vehicles gives the government "laser-like" precision to target terrorists planning attacks on the United States.
Brennan also acknowledged -- again for first time -- "innocent civilians have been killed in these strikes." But he said such instances have been "exceedingly rare, but it has happened. When it does, it pains us and we regret it deeply, as we do any time innocents are killed in war."
Brennan did not give any details, and he declined to answer how many times the White House has declined to proceed with drone strikes recommended by intelligence agencies.
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Another decisive stroke against terror by the President.
Dear Pakistan:
If you lie down with dogs, you'll wake up with fleas. And with our new, improved HellFire flea scratching system, you won't have to worry any more. HellFire removes irritants to civilization and those that serve them. So if you're looking for a way to avoid the harsh collateral damage that is often a side effect of HellFire, shun those dogs.
Sincerely,
Your good buddy, the U.S.A.
Republican's will say not to "politicize" this either. Because they're chicken hawks!
The current Administration was left with this war, and is trying to end it and move on for the good of our country. Exactly that.
But we must start to recognize the interdependence of all life-forms, and increase our reverence for all of life on the planet, as well as what it takes to keep the earth itself in balance - oxygen, etc.
We're addicted to an idea that problems caused by technology can be solved by more technology...
Unlimited growth and consuming ever-larger quantities of the earth we love is creating crises. And is proving to be short-sighted model for the planet.
What we have are a handful of super-humungous, unimaginably wealthy corporations calling all the shots in the U.S. and globally.
Any loss of democratic empowerment is a terrible loss for human beings everywhere, and it is overdue time to address this globally.
But we must start to recognize the interdependence of all life-forms, and increase our reverence for all of life on the planet
Back - Do you mean like the same life forms that were trapped in the WTC on 9/11?
GT,
Even trekster Dr. Spock has universal rights, wherever he is.
Backhouse - Since you mentioned Spock, I guess I'm forced to apologize.
Obama/Biden - 2012
I agree that collateral damage occurs,however i disagree with prosecuting our GI's for collateral damage that this administration has a desire to. I would like to see any one from the administration go over there and see what these guys go through every day, and still can keep their wits about them. rebuild what you knock down and then work along side of the people who have seen thei homes and countrymen killed. This isn't war it is a way to use our peole to fight andd then be critisized for trying to do an impossible task. We wonder why we are hated in every country that we supposedly saved.
When has anyone been prosecuted merely for causing "collateral damage?"
Gee, Obama is actually getting something right! Great decision, this time.
RushIsaPig: Do you have anything, such as a few facts tlo offer, or is that ridiculous statement about Obama vs Romney going to be left to stand on its pitiful own?
I guess now we can expect other nations to send their drones over the U.S. to kill "suspected terrorists."
These people our govt is killing are only suspected of terrorism and there is likely a lot of collateral damage like when terrorists hide in schools. I just don't believe that any country can create an infallible program so that murder is always the right thing.
Ultimately, all this will not end well.
spider - President Obama has made many excellent decisions. Too bad you're too prejudiced to admit it.
BlueBurner - I don't think we're striking out indiscriminately. Clearly these are suspected Taliban and have been targeted with reason. I don't believe the President would have anyone targeted on a whim.
"BlueBurner - I don't think we're striking out indiscriminately. Clearly these are suspected Taliban and have been targeted with reason. I don't believe the President would have anyone targeted on a whim."
Translation: I have no idea what the criteria are for labeling someone a "terrorist" or a "militant," but as a good American I will take the President's word for it.
Seriously, what was the problem with George Bush illegally wiretapping American citizens? After all, he wouldn't ever have abused that power, right?
"Suspected" Taliban? OK go kill them. Heaven forbid we capture them and confirm they are Taliban and get information, that would be torture. So just kill the "suspected" ones.
I do agree with the strikes in most instances but the hypocrisy on the left is stunning.
Just kill the suspected ones?
I have my suspicions about you.
Obama was against water boarding, and as such prohibits its use. Calls it torture. But it is okay to play judge, jury, and executioner with drones. Drone strikes which should be noted that often kill more then just the intended target. So which leaves the country better off, water boarding for information, or just indiscriminate killing by the use of drones?
It's apparent that Hope and Change meant that once elected Obama Hoped to be able to Change many of his previous statements. Turns out he's just like most politicians, he has one position for when he is a Senator opposing the majority party or president and a completely different position when he is actually the president and finds himself in a real pickle. It's called fake it 'till you make it and he duped so many of you it isn't funny.
Didnt this clown win the Nobel Peace Prize .01 into his first term? Now we are supposed to believe he's the best commander in Chief since Jimmy Carter? Let's elect a leader the world respects. Popularity among liberals doesnt make you the best leader. We need some one who can lead by example. Obama's blame game has gotten us no where....
World Leaders and folks across Europe for starters,
Have appreciated and supported President Obama since he was elected.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-11-06/obama-g20-summit-economic-policies-europe/51099438/1
Extremely evident at the G-20 this year.
actually, President Obama is well respected throughout the world.
Of course, if you want to "take America back" you can elect Mitt Romney, who is more interested in getting into a war with Russia.
There is a reason why Obama hired a Republican to run the military. Let's get a Republican back in charge of the rest of the country now before it's to late. We can't all be on public assistance....
UAW Pleeeeeeeease - What a moronic post. That the best ya got?
no blame. just facts!
Seeking
I think UAW is right on. Look at the direction the country has gone since 2007 when the democrats took over. Let the shellacking continue in 2012.
Its nice to see our President Cheered instead of burned!! Cheers are better then arrest warrents!!
Obama isn't respected any more or any less in the world, he's done his share of bowing and making promises of "flexibility" while he's ordered drone attacks that kill innocent civilians, snubbed the leaders of some of our allies and pretty much gave Poland a slap in the face over missile defense. He's a hot mess. But he can sure sing......... oh yeah.
lololololol Wow just because you say it does not mean that it is true. Typical hater!!
And just because you aren't paying attention doesn't mean it hasn't been documented in the press, koolaid-drinker!
The current Administration was left with this war, and is trying to end it and move on for the good of our country.
But we must start to recognize the interdependence of all life-forms, and increase our reverence for all of life on the planet, as well as what it takes to keep the earth itself in balance - oxygen, etc.
We're addicted to an idea that problems caused by technology can be solved by more technology...
Unlimited growth and progress is proving to be short-sighted model for the planet. What we have are a handful of super-humungous, unimaginably wealthy corporations calling all the shots.
Any loss of democratic empowerment is a terrible loss for human beings everywhere, and it is overdue time to address this globally.
The current administration (Obama up scaled this war in Afghanistan and now we cannot get out and we are losing more and more soldiers in a war that cannot be won.) We are also being hated more by the people we are trying to assist.
Backhouse - you are a sh**head!
Reverence for life is a two-way street. Fanatic Muslims have opted for a one way street and so . . . "Pop goes he weasel!" day in and day out. The US can retire its fleet of drones when Islam decides to join mainstream humanity.
It is not Islam that needs to decide to join mainstream.. It is Al-Qaeda.. that is like saying all Christians belive in that magical underware (if you belive Mormans are also Christians)
"HellFire removes irritants to civilization and those that serve them."
And those who happen to be standing nearby. And those who are mistakenly identified as terrorists.
" So if you're looking for a way to avoid the harsh collateral damage that is often a side effect of HellFire, shun those dogs."
Yeah, take that little kids! It's not our fault that you were wiped off the face of the earth by our death robots! It's Pakistan's!
So true, and these chicken hawks are full of of the fake outrage.
Listening to O'Bama is heaqring the height of mendacity.
chas11 - can you say that in English????
SeekingSanity:
That sentence has ONE errant 'q' in the word hearing. Other than that it is in clear English.
I'm sorry if 'mendacity' is a word you are unfamiliar with. But online dictionaries exist in abundance.
Top White House adviser David Axelrod said today that the GOP is now "on the path to its destruction" in a major speech that for the first time publicly acknowledged the role of "targeted strikes" using remotely piloted journalists, otherwise known as MSNBC drones.
The MSNBC moonbat drone program against the Republicans long been officially classified, even though its use has been widely reported and become a central component of President Obama's re-election efforts....
moonbat drone program
V-Bob, I hope its working as well against Republicans, as it is against terrorists.
Obama/Biden - 2012
"moonbat drone program"..... *chuckle*
Good thing I wasn't drinking anything, or you would owe me a screen cleaning.
I don't have a problem killing terrorists wherever they may be.
I don't have a problem with the government killing anyone who they believe may be a terrorist and/or anyone who happens to be standing near them. As a loyal American, I know that the military is never wrong when they label a target as a terrorist. Even if they are wrong, who could possibly care about the life of some disgusting little foreigner who is accidentally killed when our death robots start blasting away?
LevTolstoy2: I truly hope you were being facetious. If not, stop and consider that an American was murdered by Obama's drones without having so much as a single charge brought against him. The Constitution guarantees due process and doesn't allow for special circumstances to nullify those rights. Remember, if it weren't for the limitations placed on government by the US Constitution, it will be only a matter of time before someone decides you are their enemy.
I was being facetious. It's pretty scary that we live in a time when the comment I made could be taken as a serious statement.
I guess we should have just let that American citizen terrorist continue unabated until we can capture him, send him to Guantanamo forever.
Nah, let's just airstrike him.
I guess we could have used existing laws to indict him, which would actually compel the government to provide actual evidence that this citizen was the terrorist he was claimed to be. Or we could just take the military's word at face value like good Americans.
This is the best political topic that MSNBC could come up with? We have Backhouse talking some interdependence of life forms which scares me because I am pretty sure he values the snail darter more than human life forms but come on, could we have something like
The white house admits that maybe while unemployment is so high and personal economic suffering is so great that all the million dollar vacations by Michelle will be put on hold. The Obamas want the world know that they feel their pain.
Or, The white house admits that the GSA is squandering taxpayer money and will investigate.
Or, the White house admits that the Buffett rule doesnt solve medicare nor solve our fiscal crisis.
Or, the White house admits that the new EPA regs actually created more suffering and economic harm than the so called benefits to the planet that it was supposed to help.
Of, The white house admits that its Energy policies have been a disaster and decides to investigate
Or, the White house admits its proposed corporate tax policy will actually drive more employment offshore.
Or, the white house admits that for the next six months dont believe anything we say as we are just pandering for votes and dont expect us to actually live up to our promises if we were to get reelected.
Or, the white house admits that ACA cost figures were way off and it will cost 10 times as much but so what, we want to move to universal care anyway
Or, fill in the hundred other admits more interesting than drone strikes. MSNBC lets talk about the economy ok?
I've never heard so much "Crapp", as I've heard from the Republicans, now they get mad when we kill terorrist and "Crapp" all over themselfs complaing the most-Not one bill came out of the Republican Congress on any Jobs in almost two years since they took over, except take take take, in Nov. they will leave-leave-leave.
Obama/Bidden in Nov. 2012
plenty of legislation came out of the Republican House, who have been doing their job, whether the Dem-led Senate sits on their donkey butts and do nothing or not
Just a few weeks back, First Read was putting big headlines on polls which showed Obama way ahead nationally, and also ahead in swing states like Virginia...
Shhhhh..Gallup now has Romney up one nationally.. and 2 recent polls in Virginia show Obama's big lead, if it ever existed, has disappeared...
Bad news for Obama seems to disappear, or never appear , on MSNBC...
A lot of wishful thinking there Bob don't ya think? Last week Gallup had Obama leading Romney on the economic issues by more than 2 points... Foreign Policy & Domestic Polices there are no questions about, Obama wins
Romney still defeats Romney --- He is doubling down on Bushonomics that led our nation to economic collapse & Cold Wars with more wars in the Middle East
Going against another Free Market republican idea of expanding Medicare & the Health Care Industry shows without a doubt that Romney is very bad for American business
So now we are just like the enemy - intent on murder.
And this is a foreign policy accomplishment ??
Is this an acknowledgement or a re-acknowledgement? That is important, because it would help determine if further groups of innocents have gotten hit.
Well, if it was a "re-acknowledgement" that would probably mean we hit the same "innocent" civilians twice. Since it was only an acknowledgement, I guess it means we've only hit the same groups one time. They are just as dead, but it is important to keep track of how many times we hit them.
I'd bet the first strike against AQ in a country other than Iraq or Afg came well before Mr Obama's inaugiration.
Collateral damage is unavoidable. Anyone who would espouse otherwise does not comprehend the realities of war.
The people crying about collateral damage from drone strikes are probably the same people demanding we pull all troops out. You can have one or the other, but not both.
Yep, either we kill foreigners up close and personal or we kill them by drones. Not killing foreigners is never an option for the greatest country on the face of the earth.
Well....
Official: White House Slow to OK Drones to Kill Bin Laden
June 25, 2003
FoxNews
WASHINGTON — When President Bush took office in January 2001, the White House was told that Predator drones (search) had recently spotted Usama bin Laden as many as three times and officials were urged to arm the unmanned planes with missiles to kill the Al Qaeda (search) leader. But the administration failed to get drones back into the Afghan skies until after the Sept. 11 attacks later that year, current and former U.S. officials say.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,90318,00.html
President Bill Clinton had opportunites but refused to approval taking out Osama Bin Laden during his term...but you wont mention that, will you?
To..Bob"""
Okay...I will ...
U.S. Was Foiled Multiple Times in Efforts To Capture Bin Laden or Have Him Killed
Sudan's Offer to Arrest Militant Fell Through After Saudis Said No
By Barton Gellman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 3, 2001; Page A01
The government of Sudan, employing a back channel direct from its president to the Central Intelligence Agency, offered in the early spring of 1996 to arrest Osama bin Laden and place him in Saudi custody, according to officials and former officials in all three countries.
The Clinton administration struggled to find a way to accept the offer in secret contacts that stretched from a meeting at a Rosslyn hotel on March 3, 1996, to a fax that closed the door on the effort 10 weeks later. Unable to persuade the Saudis to accept bin Laden, and lacking a case to indict him in U.S. courts at the time, the Clinton administration finally gave up on the capture.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A61251-2001Oct2
CIA Trained Pakistanis to Nab Terrorist But Military Coup Put an End to 1999 Plot
By Bob Woodward and Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, October 3, 2001;
In 1999, the CIA secretly trained and equipped approximately 60 commandos from the Pakistani intelligence agency to enter Afghanistan for the purpose of capturing or killing Osama bin Laden, according to people familiar with the operation.
The plan was set in motion less than 12 months after U.S. cruise missile strikes against bin Laden's training camps in Afghanistan that Clinton administration officials believe narrowly missed hitting the exiled Saudi militant. The clandestine operation was part of a more robust effort by the United States to get bin Laden than has been previously reported, including consideration of broader military action, such as massive bombing raids and Special Forces assaults.
It is a record of missed opportunities that has provided President Bush and his administration with some valuable lessons as well as a framework for action as they draw up plans for their own war against bin Laden and his al Qaeda network in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/18/AR2007111800629.html
To Bob """
You forget nobody would listen to Clinton ...and If charges weren"t bought against bin laden till Nov 1998 and wasn't put on the FBI most wanted till 1999...at least Clinton tried...
SALON | Aug. 27, 1998
Is bin Laden a terrorist mastermind --
or a fall guy?
The Clinton administration accuses Saudi renegade Osama bin Laden of being directly responsible for almost every terrorist act of the last decade. But where's the evidence?
For while there is little doubt that bin Laden is a sworn enemy of the United States with the financial means to put some teeth in that enmity, his exact role in anti-American terrorism is unclear. The administration’s claims are based more on conjecture — mostly bin Laden’s own braggadocio and the bad company he apparently keeps — than hard and convincing evidence.
Clinton and his security staff have now blamed bin Laden for being behind almost every terrorist act in the past decade — from plotting the assassinations of the pope and the president of Egypt to the planned bombing of six U.S. jumbo jets over the Pacific, with massacres of German tourists at Luxor and the killings of U.S. troops in Somalia, fatal car bombings of U.S. military personnel in Saudi Arabia and this month’s truck bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam thrown in. Not since the ’70s heyday of the terrorist Carlos has there been such a Prince of Darkness, if the allegations are to be believed.
But so far, for all of the accusations, no government, not even that of the United States, has established enough credible evidence against bin Laden to conclusively prove his direct participation in, much less leadership of, any of the ugly plots and acts he stands accused of. To date no formal request for his extradition has ever been made, either to the Sudanese government that once housed him or to his current hosts, Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders.
http://www.salon.com/1998/08/27/news_102/
"Al Qaeda is now "on the path to its destruction""? These radicals will probably (or already have) just take on another name/affiliation. I'm glad that Bin Laden was finally taken out, but I'm not so naive to I believe that it was all attributable to Obama's leadership. What's the long-term plan for these operations Mr. President and Mr. Romney? Everywhere and anywhere... and only with quasai consent of those nation's government? Or is it going to be everywhere they are PERIOD? I opt for the later. The radicalism and terrorist activities has to stop!!!! Drones are perfect for surgical strikes to either keep these wacos on the run, become non-issues (dead), or get them working on different ways of staying alive and living in peace. Again, I opt for the later.... PEACE!!!
Candidate Barack Obama: "The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."
Oh, pardon me. I must have forgotten that drone strikes aren't "military attacks." They are merely "kinetic actions," whatever the hell that may mean. Hey, Mr. Noble Peace Prize Winner-- George Orwell is calling: he says you're about 30 years behind schedule, but doing well otherwise.
*Nobel Peace Prize, of course.
Levtolstoy - I believe it would fall under "imminent threat to the nation."
The fact that someone is a belligerent somewhere far off does not constitute an "imminent threat to the nation." If it did, then there would be no reason to ever declare war, rendering the whole argument completely meaningless.
A voice of reason.
Thank you.
The only critique that I have with respect to President Obama is that he is not getting us outta of middle east fast enough. Get us out of ALL countries for that matter. We need to get back to some isolationist policies so we can fix our economy. Let religious idiots blow themselves to hell if they want to. They can have some of ours if it makes them feel better. Start with westboro baptist church....
A question for all those who support drone strikes: Let's say that the United States takes in a refugee from China whom the Chinese government considers to be a terrorist. Is it ok for them to launch a drone strike on his car as it goes down the highway, killing five or ten innocent people who happen to be driving next to him? Is that an act of war?
Still waiting...
Right GPotts!!! That's the only thing I'm worried about is that thing like military young men urinating on a dead Ai Queda member and the burning of the Quarn's and the young man who went on the suicide mission and killed innocent men, women and children are all war fatigue issues that can be more prevelant the more the war goes on.
The Beat goes ON!!!
This government worked!!! Bill Clinton reversed Reagan's course, raising taxes on the wealthy, and lowering them for the working and middle classes. This produced the longest sustained economic expansion in American history. Importantly, it also produced budgetary surpluses allowing the government to begin paying down the crippling debt begun under Reagan. In 2000, Clinton's last year, the surplus amounted to $236 billion. The forecast ten year surpluses stood at $5.6 trillion. It was the last black ink America would see for decades, perhaps forever.
Republicans who have destroyed America!!! And the beat goes on!!!!!!!!!!
1- Nixon
2- Reagan
3- H.W. Bush
4- George W. Bush
The U.S. is starting to look like it is entering just such a death spiral. It is foretold not simply by the large and growing deficits, nor by the fact that their carrying costs will rise quickly as interest rates rise. Rather, it is the fact that these trends are becoming irreversible, a structural part of the U.S. economy.
Richard Nixon: INFLATION!!! Our money is not worth ANYTHING!!! Nixon convened a summit of his economic advisers at Camp David. He then announced temporary wage and price controls, allowed the dollar to float against other currencies, and ended the convertibility of the dollar into gold, which made the dollar’s value POLITICAL DOLLARS!!!!
Herbert Stein, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Richard Nixon was fond of saying, Things that can't go on forever, don't.
Ronald Reagan: Reagan cut the marginal tax rate on the wealthiest of Americans from 70% to 38%. He promised it would spur an orgy of investment and rocket the economy to new levels of production and prosperity. Instead, his supply side economics did the exact opposite. It produced the deepest recession since the Great Depression.
H.W.Bush: By 1992, interest and inflation rates were the lowest in years, but by midyear the unemployment rate reached 7.8 percent, the highest since 1984.[11] In September 1992, the Census Bureau reported that 14.2 percent of all Americans lived in poverty.
George W. Bush: Initiated a 1.35 trillion tax cut program—one of the largest tax cuts in U.S. history.
Bush argued that such a tax cut would stimulate the economy and create jobs. Others, including the Treasury Secretary at the time Paul O'Neill, were opposed to some of the tax cuts on the basis that they would contribute to budget deficits and undermine Social Security.
By October 2008, due to increases in domestic and foreign spending, the national debt had risen to $11.3 trillion.
Bush's tax cuts and the 10 year deficit explodes to a mind-boggling $7.9 trillion. Within ten years, the government will owe more than $15 trillion. And this, at precisely the time the government needs fiscal solvency to begin paying the Baby Boomers their Social Security.
"The general fund has been borrowing from Social Security and we've borrowed well over $2 trillion," he said. "That money has got to be paid back.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
America
What you going to do!!!!! War is WAR!!! you should have been in Vietnam You would learn what DIEING IS!!!!
The Drone program is quite brilliant if you think about it. Particularly in these guerrilla type situations where many boots on the ground just aren't that effective.
I agree that the drones are useful military weapons. I don't agree that any country that has them can deploy them wherever they desire to kill whomever they please based upon unreviewable suspicions without any due process of law or formal declaration of war.
I wouldn't like to live in a world in which an unaccountable foreign power can deploy military weapons to kill my family and innocent bystanders because I have criticized their government.
Obama "militarized" the CIA and diminished its clandestine collection/analysis role by putting his favorite general in charge...
Cant wait for the 2012 elections for things to get better...because it would appear he is trying to destroy that very important institution
Curious Bob:
You think things will get better with a figurehead president like Romney signing off on the policies of the fascist proteges of people like Rove, Libby, Cheney, Yoo, Haynes, Hadley, Rice, Rumsfeld, Gonzalez, et al?