White House Won't Address Drone Strike Debate

[tekisui]

Source: Huffington Post

The Obama administration is refusing to acknowledge whether it is revisiting or even addressing its policy of predatory drone strikes after the Times Square bomber cited the tactic as a catalyst for his decision to launch the near-attack.

Asked what kind of discussions (if any) had taken place internally following a reported admission by Faisal Shahzad that drone strikes in Pakistan had compelled him to a life of terrorism, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was mum.

"None that I will get into publicly," he said, in response to a question from the Huffington Post.

The policy of launching drone strikes in Pakistan as a way of targeting and killing terrorist suspects was controversial well before Shahzad attempted to blow up a car in Times Square. Civilian deaths as a result of those attacks are believed to have caused a rise in anti-American sentiment within the country: spurring the question as to whether they are creating more terrorists than they are eliminating.

The White House has refused to discuss the matter at all, citing national security implications.

more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/10/white-house-wont-address_n_570500.html

[stevenleser]

1. They actually have addressed it.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/03/state-department-lawyer-defends-legality-drone-strikes-against-terror-targets.html

[tekisui]

2. Hoh legalized drone strikes like Yoo legalized torture.

[stevenleser]

3. Not Really. Sad that you don't see the difference.

Yoo was a member of the AG's office and his actions and letters had the imprimatur of that department. The history on that, in case you didnt know but I think you do, is that determinations regarding legality from the AG office are considered a veritable unbreakable shield against prosecution.

Hoh is not from the AG and he is merely making a legal argument. It is as different as night and day.

[tekisui]

4. I understand that. Hoh gave the Administration's legal argument for

the drone program, weak as it is.

What the Administration is refusing to speak to is whether or how the program has changed since the bungled Times Square attempt.

[tekisui]

5. Washington Finally Feeling Drone War Backlash

Back in early 2009, when guys like David Kilcullen and Andrew Exum warned that the American drone war in Pakistan could create more terrorists than they kill, they were pilloried by the national security establishment for their views. Since the failed Times Square bombing — a terror attack allegedly in response to the drone strikes — Kilcullen and Exum’s take is quickly becoming conventional wisdom in Washington.

“Have the stepped-up attacks in Pakistan — notably the Predator drone strikes — actually made Americans less safe?” asks David Sanger in the New York Times. “Are they inspiring more attacks on America than they prevent?”

“If you go into Pakistan and talk to college kids, which is what we did, these drone attacks are feeding this narrative: this is what we are aiming to do. We’re aiming to kill Muslims,” Leslie Stahl said today on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

“Let’s say China was launching drone attacks on Idaho, we would be pretty angry too. We are launching attacking against a people were not at war with, officially,” Joe Scarborough responded. “I would rather us go after the terrorists — individual terrorists — drag ‘em out, interrogate ‘em, get information — instead of dropping bombs that kill four year-old little girls. That dismember grandmoms that happen to be in the family compound. That seems immoral.”

Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/05/washington-finally-feeling-drone-war-backlash/#ixzz0naThIi9c

[IndianaGreen]

6. Soon to be followed by an indictment at The Hague

[tekisui]

7. Boeing's jet-sized drone on track to fly in December

ST. LOUIS - Boeing on Monday unveiled the fighter-sized Phantom Ray unmanned airborne system.

Phantom Ray is designed to support potential missions that may include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; suppression of enemy air defenses; electronic attack; strike; and autonomous aerial refueling.

Phantom Ray is scheduled to begin taxi tests this summer. The first flight in December will be followed by up to nine additional flights over approximately six months.

“We are on a fast track, and first flight is in sight,” said Darryl Davis, president of Boeing Phantom Works. “Phantom Ray is on schedule to fly in December, about two years after this project began. This is a tremendous accomplishment for Boeing and the Phantom Ray team.

http://www.nwcn.com/news/business/Times-boeing-jet-sized-drone-93300444.html

[Enrique]

8. is the Jonas Brothers joke the only time Obama has mentioned drones?

could be...