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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe names of nations we’re in a drone war with is classified, so don't ask
Even who were in a drone war with is classifiedBy Pro Publica
Friday, July 26, 2013 11:22 EDT
In a major national security speech this spring, President Obama said again and again that the U.S. is at war with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their associated forces.
So who exactly are those associated forces? Its a secret.
At a hearing in May, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked the Defense Department to provide him with a current list of Al Qaeda affiliates.
The Pentagon responded 2013 but Levins office told ProPublica they arent allowed to share it. Kathleen Long, a spokeswoman for Levin, would say only that the departments answer included the information requested.
A Pentagon spokesman told ProPublica that revealing such a list could cause serious damage to national security.
Because elements that might be considered 2018associated forces can build credibility by being listed as such by the United States, we have classified the list, said the spokesman, Lt. Col. Jim Gregory. We cannot afford to inflate these organizations that rely on violent extremist ideology to strengthen their ranks.
Its not an abstract question: U.S. drone strikes and other actions frequently target associated forces, as has been the case with dozens of strikes against an Al Qaeda offshoot in Yemen.
During the May hearing, Michael Sheehan, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, said he was not sure there is a list per se. Describing terrorist groups as murky and shifting, he said, it would be difficult for the Congress to get involved in trying to track the designation of which are the affiliate forces of Al Qaeda.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/26/even-who-were-in-a-drone-war-with-is-classified/
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)wouldn't drone turkey shoot be more apt?
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)You know, the kind of government that is based on an "informed electorate" deciding how the government should be run.
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. Friedrich Nietzsche
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Afghanistan.
Pakistan.
Yemen.
Somalia.
Who else?
nebenaube
(3,496 posts)bvar22
(39,909 posts)...with which no Declaration of WAR exists,
that is an Act of Aggressive WAR,
and a WAR CRIME by most International Treaties and Agreements.
It is especially despicable when the "target" has no military value,
and innocent civilian Women and Children are Killed and Maimed.
Can you imagine if another country dropped a BOMB on YOUR neighborhood,
killed your children and you neighbors children,
and THEN that country claimed it was OK and "LEGAL" because they "SUSPECTED" that a "terrorist" might be hiding somewhere in YOUR neighborhood?
Can you IMAGINE how YOU would feel?
Its OK if you can't do that,
because that requires something called "empathy",
and I have been told that there is a special group of people do who NOT have that ability.
1-Old-Man
(2,667 posts)And the sheep will tell you to move on, there's nothing to see here. Hell, Bush did it, so it must be legal for Obama to do it too, right? After all, Bush was never prosecuted for his murderous overreach and Obama deserves no less. Right?
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)Who knew that Mr. Hope & Change would bring us a 100% Saturation-Surveillance State,
with secret kill lists, for secret reasons, with secret laws, through secret "courts", et. al.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)War is Peace.
Freedom is Slavery.