[pjw] US halts reporting of civilian deaths by drone outside war zones | Reuters 3/6

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hi
Certainly this will be one of the articles we discuss tomorrow (Monday) at 
the Iraq Affinity Group meeting (at 7 PM). Hope folks can make it.

But more so, I hope people will contact elected officials to object to 
this reversal in policy. Of course, the main message should be to end 
drone warfare, as it is only causing more proliferation of violence and 
death.

For example, on Friday Saudi Arabia shot down a drone they say was fired 
by the  Houthis in Yemen, which ended up injuring people and damaging 
property.

https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/3/8/five-injured-after-saudi-arabia-downs-houthi-kamikaze-drone

Imagine if every country or militant group in the world decided to start 
flying drones over the US. It's just immoral.

dan h
peace and justice works iraq affinity group

   https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-drones/us-halts-reporting-of-civilian-deaths-by-drone-outside-war-zones-idUSKCN1QN2PD
    March 6, 2019 / 9:18 PM / 3 days ago
U.S. halts reporting of civilian deaths by drone outside war zones

     WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump signed an executive order
     on Wednesday that revoked an Obama-era policy requiring U.S.
     intelligence officials to report civilian deaths in drone strikes
     outside of active war zones.

     President Barack Obama put the policy in place in 2016 as part of an
     effort to be more transparent about drone strikes after he had
     dramatically increased their use against Islamist militants.

     Trump's rescinding of the policy was done with little fanfare. The
     White House released the text of his executive order.

     "This action eliminates superfluous reporting requirements,
     requirements that do not improve government transparency, but rather
     distract our intelligence professionals from their primary mission,'
     an administration official said.

     The Obama policy had required the U.S. director of national
     intelligence to release by May 1 each year an unclassified summary of
     the number of strikes undertaken by the United States against militant
     targets outside areas of active hostilities.

     "The United States government is fully committed to complying with
     its obligations under the law of armed conflict, minimizing, to the
     greatest extent possible, civilian casualties, and acknowledging
     responsibility when they unfortunately occur during military
     operations," the administration official said.

     U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat who chairs the House of
     Representatives Intelligence Committee, in a statement called the
     requirement issued by Obama "an important measure of transparency,"
     and said "there is simply no justification" for canceling it.

     "Today's decision underscores the need for Congress to make this
     reporting mandatory, something I intend to pursue through the
     Intelligence Authorization Act this year," he said.

     Reporting by Steve Holland and Jeff Mason; Editing by Susan Thomas and
     Leslie Adler