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<div class="campaign-title" title="Basic - basic"
style="color: #505050;font-family: Arial;font-size:
14px;line-height: 110%;text-align: left;"><strong><span
style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-size:14px">Reprieve </span></span><span
style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-size:14px">
June 30th, 2016 <font size="-2"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/topic/drones/">http://www.reprieve.org.uk/topic/drones/</a></font><br>
<br>
</span></span><font size="+2">New report
demonstrates previous US Government claims<br>
<br>
on drones have been false</font></strong><br>
<br>
Ahead of an announcement from the White House on
civilian casualties from drone strikes, expected <a
href="http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-obama-drone-casualties-20160627-snap-story.html"
style="color: #06686B;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration: underline;">as early as
tomorrow</a> (Friday July 1<sup>st</sup>),
international human rights organization Reprieve has
released a <a
href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Obama-Drones-transparency-FINAL.pdf"
style="color: #06686B;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration: underline;">report</a>
demonstrating how the Administration’s previous
statements on the issue have proved to be false.<br>
<br>
>From CIA Director John Brennan’s June 2011 assertion
that “there hasn’t been a single collateral death” to
President Obama’s claim that strikes only take place
when there is “near certainty” that civilians won’t be
killed, the Administration’s statements, both on record
and off, have been undermined by Government leaks and
independent assessments.<br>
<br>
The CIA itself had <a
href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2013/04/11/secret-us-documents-show-brennans-no-civilian-drone-deaths-claim-was-false/"
style="color: #06686B;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration: underline;">recorded a
civilian casualty</a> from a Pakistan drone strike
just two months before Mr Brennan’s claim that there
hadn’t been any “for nearly a year.” Meanwhile,
independent investigation by the Bureau of Investigative
Journalism (TBIJ) and others identified 45 civilian
casualties from a strike on a meeting of local elders
in March 2011.<br>
<br>
The President’s claims on “near certainty” were
themselves contradicted by internal CIA documents which,
<a
href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article24747826.html"
style="color: #06686B;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration: underline;">according to <em>McClatchy</em></a>,
“show[ed] that drone operators weren’t always certain
who they were killing despite the administration’s
guarantees.”<br>
<br>
In addition, his 2013 policy on the 'Use of Force in
Counterterrorism Operations' has since been undermined
by revelations that ‘signature strikes,’ which target
people based on patterns of behavior without knowing
their identities, have secretly been allowed to continue
in Pakistan and possibly Yemen.<br>
<br>
According to the report, which is <a
href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Obama-Drones-transparency-FINAL.pdf"
style="color: #06686B;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration: underline;">available on
Reprieve’s website</a>,<br>
<br>
<em>What little the Obama Administration has previously
said on the record about the drone program has been
shown by the facts on the ground, and even the US
Government’s own internal documents, to be false. Any
claim of low numbers of civilian casualties will
therefore have to be read against the more rigorous
work of organizations such as the Bureau of
Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), which estimates a low
of 492 civilian casualties across Pakistan, Yemen and
Somalia, and a high of potentially 1138. </em><br>
<br>
<em>But more importantly, it has to be asked what bare
numbers will mean if they omit even basic details such
as the names of those killed and the areas, even the
countries, they live in. Equally, the numbers without
the definitions to back up how the Administration is
defining its targets is useless, especially given
reports the Obama Administration has shifted the
goalposts on what counts as a ‘civilian’ to such an
extent that any estimate may be far removed from
reality. In US drone operations, reports suggest all
“military aged males” and potentially even women and
children are considered “enemies killed in action”
unless they can “posthumously” and “conclusively”
prove their innocence.</em><br>
<br>
ENDS<br>
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Notes to editors</div>
<br>
1. Reprieve is an international human rights organization.
Reprieve’s London office can be contacted on: communications [at]
reprieve.org.uk / +44 (0) 207 553 8140. Reprieve US, based in New
York City, can be contacted on Katherine [dot] oshea [at]
reprieve.org / +1 917 855 8064.<br>
<br>
2. The report is available on Reprieve's website, <a
href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Obama-Drones-transparency-FINAL.pdf"
target="_blank" style="color: #06686B;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration: underline;">here</a>.
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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