Time for the Truth about 'Targeted' Killings and US Drones' Civilian Victims

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/10/23-1



Nabeela, eight-year-old granddaughter of Pakistan drone strike victim Mamana Bibi. The US appears to be exploiting the lawless and remote nature of the region to evade accountability for its drone program, including killings that may constitute extrajudicial executions or war crimes, say human rights groups.

Time for the Truth about 'Targeted' Killings and US Drones' Civilian Victims
by Naureen Shah
Published on Wednesday, October 23, 2013 by The Guardian/UK

A year ago almost to the day, on 24 October 2012, a US drone strike killed a 68-year-old woman named Mamana Bibi. She was gathering vegetables in her family's large, mostly vacant fields in north Waziristan, Pakistan. We don't know whom the US intended to target, but it is hard to imagine that a policy that allows the killing of this grandmother, who was blown to pieces before the eyes of her young grandchildren, is anything but a catastrophic failure on the part of the US government.

The latest revelation from documents leaked by Edward Snowden, reported in the Washington Post, suggests the NSA cast a "surveillance blanket" over parts of northern Pakistan, feeding enormous amounts of data to the CIA's secret lethal drone program. Even if the NSA didn't pick up chatter after the killing of this grandmother, the US government claims that it conducts post-strike assessments of who is killed. It knew or should have known that something went wrong.

But like a hit-and-run driver, the US government never looked back. It never apologized or compensated Mamana Bibi's family. It never admitted what it did to the American public. Instead, top administration officials continued to tout the drone's precision capabilities. John Brennan, the architect of the drone program who now heads the CIA, has previously claimed that drone strikes caused absolutely no civilian casualties. He now admits they have, but says these deaths have been exceptionally rare.

Edward Snowden's revelations over the last few months make clear that government assurances like these cannot be trusted on faith alone. In the name of safeguarding national security, the government has withheld a whole universe of surveillance from the public. It has held back damning stories like the killing of Mamana Bibi. It may be holding back more horrific stories like this.