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Classified Report Shows America's Drones Aren't Just Killing Al Qaeda Members

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TheDemSocialist

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The Obama administration's drone attacks have not just targeted Al Qaeda leaders, but a wide variety of groups and individuals in Pakistan, according to classified intelligence documents obtained by McClatchy's Jonathan Landay.
[FONT=Georgia, times new roman, times, serif]"At least 265 of up to 482 people who the U.S. intelligence reports estimated the CIA killed during a 12-month period ending in September 2011 were not senior al Qaida leaders but instead were 'assessed' as Afghan, Pakistani and unknown extremists," Landay writes in the story, published today.
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[FONT=Georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Read more @:[/FONT]Classified Report Shows America's Drones Aren't Just Killing Al Qaeda Members - Alexis C. Madrigal - The Atlantic

[FONT=Georgia, times new roman, times, serif]An "[/FONT][FONT=Georgia, times new roman, times, serif]unknown[/FONT][FONT=Georgia, times new roman, times, serif] extremist"? WTF... Looks like yet again we have been lied to on the "drone war" [/FONT]
 
Why would we only kill terrorists from one particular group?
 
ecofarm said:
Why would we only kill terrorists from one particular group?
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So whats an "unknown extremist"?
Seems like a very very broad term to me.
None of the less seems like the gov got caught up in their lies...
 
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TheDemSocialist said:
So whats an "unknown extremist"?
Seems like a very very broad term to me.
None of the less seems like the gov got caught up in their lies...
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Its just a bad comma placement.

"were 'assessed' as Afghan, Pakistani and unknown extremists"

is actually

"were 'assessed' as Afghan extremists, Pakistani extermists, and unknown country origin extremists"
 
TheDemSocialist said:
So whats an "unknown extremist"?
Seems like a very very broad term to me.
None of the less seems like the gov got caught up in their lies...
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That would be a terrorist, known and confirmed, that is not a member of AlQ. I seriously doubt it means "anyone they feel like droning".

Are you under the impression that only AlQ members should be targeted and other terrorists should be ignored?
 
ecofarm said:
That would be a terrorist, known and confirmed, that is not a member of AlQ. I seriously doubt it means "anyone they feel like droning".
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Really? If they are a terrorist then why give them the title "unknown"
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Really? If they are a terrorist then why give them the title "unknown"
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Because the specific organization or cell that they serve is not AlQ but another group, and which group is unknown. It does not mean that their terrorist status is unknown, merely their specific affiliation. I figure there are many small groups that interact with AlQ.

Were you confused and thinking that unknown meant the person's status as a terrorist or involvement in terrorism is unknown? I think that's illogical and I believe you will as well once you've examined the context.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Really? If they are a terrorist then why give them the title "unknown"
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"were 'assessed' as Afghan extremists, Pakistani extermists, and unknown country origin extremists"

Please check a box
[ ] AQ terrorist
[ ] Afghani extremist
[ ] Pakistani extremist
[ ] Unknown extremist
[ ] Chuck Norris
 
ecofarm said:
Because the specific organization or cell that they serve is not AlQ but another group, and which group is unknown. It does not mean that their terrorist status is unknown, merely their specific affiliation. I figure there are many small groups that interact with AlQ.

Were you confused and thinking that unknown meant the person's status as a terrorist or involvement in terrorism is unknown? I think that's illogical and I believe you will as well once you've examined the context.
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So why the need to lie about targets then?
 
TheDemSocialist said:
So why the need to lie about targets then?
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No one is lying about anything. As the title of your article clearly states: not only AlQ is killed by drone strikes. Other terrorists that are not specifically AlQ are targeted, and their specific cell or organization is unknown. In most cases, this is probably because the cell or organization is too small and there simply is not much knowledge about the specific group. I also expect that groups are rather fluid, changing organization titles as members flow between regions and organization shifts to accomodate casualties.

I really don't quite see how one could misconstrue "not all people targeted with drones are AlQ" into "the US targets people that it knows nothing about". Honestly, such a confusion is absurd and almost must be taken as intentional intellectual dishonesty.
 
they are taking out bad guys
i can live with that
(and glad they can't)
 
TheDemSocialist said:
So why the need to lie about targets then?
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Who ever said that we were only targeting Al-Qaeda in Pakistan in the first place?

I seem to recall groups like the Taliban and the Haqqani Network being pretty high on our hit list as well. It would seem to be the case that no one is "lying" here and that you, and the author of the article you have posted, are simply incredibly ignorant as to the actual strategic situation surrounding our usage of drones in Pakistan.

ecofarm said:
No one is lying about anything. As the title of your article clearly states: not only AlQ is killed by drone strikes. Other terrorists that are not specifically AlQ are targeted, and their specific cell or organization is unknown. In most cases, this is probably because the cell or organization is too small and there simply is not much knowledge about the specific group. I also expect that groups are rather fluid, changing organization titles as members flow between regions and organization shifts to accomodate casualties.
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Exactly. There are more anti-US militias running around the Tribal Regions of Pakistan than you can shake a stick at.

It can be a pain to specifically name them all.
 
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Look! The word "unknown"! The US is clearly targeting random people!!


Really? I think we need some presstv.ir or rt to clarify this issue.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
CIA, White House.
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Who told you that?

George W. Bush vastly accelerated the drone strikes during the final year of his presidency. A list of the high-ranking victims of the drones was provided to Pakistan in 2009.[26] Obama has broadened these attacks to include targets seeking to destabilize Pakistani civilian government and the attacks of 14 and 16 February 2009 were against training camps run by Baitullah Mehsud.[27] On 25 February 2009 Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, indicated the strikes will continue.[28] On 4 March 2009 The Washington Times reported that the drones were targeting Baitullah Mehsud.[29] Obama was reported in March 2009 as considering expanding these strikes to include Balochistan.[30]

On 25 March 2010 US State Department legal advisor Harold Koh stated that the drone strikes were legal because of the right to self-defense. According to Koh, the US is involved in an armed conflict with al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their affiliates and therefore may use force consistent with self-defense under international law.[31]

Former CIA officials state that the agency uses a careful screening process in making decisions on which individuals to kill via drone strikes. The process, carried out at the agency's counterterrorist center, involves up to 10 lawyers who write briefs justifying the targeting of specific individuals. According to the former officials, if the briefs' arguments are weak, the request to target the individual is denied.[32]
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Drone attacks in Pakistan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Anyone taking bets on TDS being like "Oh, ok! I get it now!" ?
 
ecofarm said:
Who told you that?
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Wait, I think I know. It was that guy who wrote an article for the Atlantic in the technology section, right?
 
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