Trump Stops Drone Death Reporting

“Donald Trump wants to be able to have the Pentagon commit war crimes, and crimes against humanity and do so with complete immunity and impunity.”

This is the brutal statement by Brian Becker, national coordinator of the anti-war Answer coalition, commenting on the latest disturbing news of military policy coming from the USA. US President Donald Trump has revoked the executive order requiring public reports on civilian casualties in drone strikes carried out by the CIA, as well as US military.

The new executive order, issued Wednesday, revokes the reporting requirement introduced by President Barack Obama in July 2016 – writes network Russia Today – The action required the Director of National Intelligence to release an unclassified summary of US strikes against terrorists “outside areas of active hostilities” and assessments of non-combatant deaths caused by those strikes.

The Pentagon still has an obligation to report on civilian casualties caused by US military operations, as it is mandated by the National Defense Authorization Acts of 2018 and 2019, Trump’s executive order noted. In a statement commenting on the decision, the White House National Security Council said that the order removes “superfluous reporting requirements” that “distract our intelligence professionals from their primary mission”.

MORE THAN ONE THOUSANDS VICTIMS IN PAKISTAN AND YEMEN

The first to react to this disposition that casts shadows on the attacks of drone-killers and their possible target errors was former NIC’s spokesperson for Obama, Ned Price, claiming that the reporting obligation had allowed the US to «To counter the disinformation by terrorist groups with data on the effectiveness and precision of our operations.

Canceling the reports will allow the Pentagon to carry out military commitments without any” responsibility”» highlighted the aforementioned Brian Becker to the RT reporters, underlining that Trump already seems to bet on a “hard” image for the 2020 campaign.

“These wars they are so important that we do not really need to talk about it” is the narrative that Trump is trying to push Becker said. As noted by Russia Today, the targeted drone program was created during the administration of George W. Bush and flourished under President Barack Obama, who even obtained the title “King of the Drones” from anti-war activists.

As soon as Trump became president, he not only changed his strategy but further eased restrictions on the use of drones by designating Yemen and Somalia in 2017 as areas of “active hostilities” where unmanned aircraft can be conducted with greater freedom.

The strikes are not exactly precise, as one in three deaths inflicted by them in Yemen were civilians, including children, AP reported in November last year – specify Russia Today – While military officials have repeatedly claimed that such operations are supposed to lower civilian casualties, the statistics of the killer UAVs usage tells another story.

For example, in a shocking 2014 figure on Pakistan and Yemen, provided by the human rights group Reprieve, US drones killed an estimated 1,147 people while – repeatedly – trying to take out 41 men with links to terror groups. Several of them even managed to live through repeated “targeted” attacks which killed no one but civilians.

THE THAAD SYSTEM DEPLOYED IN ISRAEL AGAINST IRAN

The intense US war policy, slowed in Yemen by a resolution of the Congress to block military finances to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after the horror of killing and destroying the body of journalist Jamal Kashoggi, is more frenetic than ever to the anti-aircraft missile batteries equipment to the allied countries.

As Russia Today always points out in another article, the US military has delivered the THAAD missile defense systems to Israel for the first time. As report Russia Today in oither article the US military has delivered THAAD missile defense systems to Israel for the very first time. The advanced systems were deployed to Israel in early March, US and Israeli military officials revealed on Monday.

The THAADs – Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems – will be stationed in the country’s south, alongside some 200 US military personnel. “During the deployment, our service members will work in various locations throughout Israel and will practice operational procedures for augmenting Israel’s existing air and missile defense architecture,” the US European Command said in a statement, adding that the exercise serves as a “demonstration of the United States’ continued commitment to Israel’s regional security.”

Footage from the scene shows THAAD launchers and other vehicles unloaded from military transport planes at the Nevatim Air Base, as well as US military personnel disembarking. THAAD is a system, built specifically to intercept short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles during their terminal phase – re-entry or descent – with a direct hit approach.

“The American THAAD system is considered among the most advanced systems in the world, and together with our defense systems, we are stronger in dealing with threats, close or distant, emanating from all areas of the Middle East” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

AMERICAN’S THREATS TO TURKEY FOR S-400 AIR DEFENSE

Although the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have pointed out that the deployment is exclusively defensive and “is not related to any specific current event” this occurs a few weeks after Iran has presented several new ballistic and cruise missiles and has held important naval exercises in the Persian Gulf. And a few days before the announcement of Netanyahu on the naval blockade of transit of Iranian oil tankers.

But even while the US is throwing heavy threats on the president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan that instead of buying the American anti-aircraft batteries he is carrying on the purchase from Russia for the supply of the equally effective and modern S-400 systems. “It’s done. You can never go back. This would not be ethical, it would be immoral. Nobody should ask us to lick what we have spat – Erdogan told Kanal 24 – We are an independent country, not slaves.

And the clamor about the agreement with the Russians of the ally Vladimir Putin is now forcing Turkey to consider switching to the next generation of Russian air defense systems, the S-500 which will come into operation in 2020. It also remains a big problem strategic and technical for NATO, of which Turkey is a part.

“The S-400 remains a problem for all of our aircraft, but particularly for the F-35 – commented Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti at the Senate Armed Services Commission, claiming that the United States should stop hunting relocation invisible in Turkey and renounce the sales of other military technologies to its NATO ally, if Ankara deploy the Russian-made defensive weapons as planned in July “.

The Pentagon has already threatened “serious consequences” and “broader implications” unless Turkey cancels the purchase. But we know that Erdogan, precisely by virtue of his alliance with Russia and, when it suits him, with Iran, is quite determined to any tug of war: as confirmed by the continued persecution of the US allied Kurds in Syria against ‘Isis.

Fabio Giuseppe Carlo Carisio
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SOURCES

GOSA NEWS – DRONE KILLERS REPORTS

http://www.gospanews.net/2019/03/07/droni-killer-trump-blocca-dossier-su-stragi-di-civili/

RUSSIA TODAY – DRONE CIVILIANS DEATHS

RUSSIA TODAY – THAAD AIR DEFENSE ISRAEL

RUSSIA TODAY – USA THREATS TURKEY FOR S-400