Obama’s Final Drone Strike Data

Council on Foreign Relations. ^ | January 20, 2017 | Micah Zenko

[daniel1212]

As Donald Trump assumes office today, 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 killed as many as twenty civilians. Two terms and 540 strikes later, Obama leaves the White House after having vastly expanding and normalizing the use of armed drones for counterterrorism and close air support operations in non-battlefield settings—namely Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia.

Throughout his presidency, I have written often about Obama’s legacy as a drone president, including reports on how the United States could reform drone strike policies, what were the benefits of transferring CIA drone strikes to the Pentagon, and (with Sarah Kreps) how to limit armed drone proliferation. .... many needed reforms were left undone—in large part because there was zero pressure from congressional members, who, with few exceptions, were the biggest cheerleaders of drone strikes.

More on:

Heads of State and Government

Military Operations

On the first day of the Trump administration, it is too early to tell what changes he could implement. .... Should he opt for an even more expansive and intensive approach, little would stand in his way, except for Democrats in Congress, who might have newfound concerns about the president’s war-making powers. Or perhaps citizens and investigative journalists, who may resist efforts to undermine transparency, accountability, and oversight mechanisms.

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TOPICS: Education; History; Military/Veterans; Society
KEYWORDS: doublestandard; foreignaffairs; government; iranisrael; usconstitution

[daniel1212]

Where were Democrat opposition then?

Countries bombed by the U.S. under the Obama administration (as of just 2014)

- https://www.cnn.com/2014/09/23/politics/countries-obama-bombed/

Obama Administration Claims Unchecked Authority To Kill Americans Outside Combat Zones

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration today argued before a federal court that it should have unreviewable authority to kill Americans the executive branch has unilaterally determined to pose a threat. Government lawyers made that claim in response to a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) charging that the administration's asserted targeted killing authority violates the Constitution and international law. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia heard arguments from both sides today. - https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/obama-administration-claims-unchecked-authority-kill-americans-outside-combat-zones

[VAFreedom]

let’s emulate israel and put assassination on the table for the likes of china and russia.... but of course we’re against that publicly.

[daniel1212]

let’s emulate israel and put assassination on the table for the likes of china and russia.... but of course we’re against that publicly.

The latter is what happens when you help help Hell Angels to defeat Devil disciples so much that they either become an advancing enemy with which you fight proxy wars for 70+ years, while the former (China) is a result of the latter, in which you help as a type of ally, so much that they become the world's factory upon which you are dependent even for military hardware.

And which prevented dealing with N. Korea as Israel did with Iran.

Short-term gains, ling term loss.

[ChronicMA]

Trump used a lot of drones in his first term.

Trump is clearly against large ground troop commitments, but he has never excluded drones and fighter jets from use. Today too many people want to pretend he has excluded our airpower flexibility.

I say we trust his decisions, he makes good decisions.

[SomeCallMeTim]

He ,but…. He was the “chosen one “