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Durbin is such a lapdog for mainstream Democrat hushuobadao <br>
that I can't imagine that his "hearings" are anything more<br>
than a mock inquiry designed to exonerate the Obots from<br>
any wrongdoing.<br>
<br>
But I have anticipated some hypothetical answers below.<br>
<blockquote type="cite"><br>
On 04/14/13 6:17, Stuart Levy wrote:<br>
<br>
Sen. Durbin is holding hearings on drone use and policy soon. It's
encouraging that they're even undertaking such a thing - they are
empowered to ask questions that will make the Administration
uncomfortable, which it should be. And maybe if pushed they will
actually do that.<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote cite="mid:5169D95D.7090301@gmail.com" type="cite"> <br>
Robert Naiman spoke about doing just this at the ACLU-CU meeting last
weekend. He proposes calling Durbin's office and urging that Durbin -
as chair of the Constitution subcommittee of the Sen. Intelligence Cmte
- raise at least these four specific questions:<br>
<br>
1- How many civilians have US drone strikes killed in Pakistan, and
why has this number been classified?<br>
(Naiman mentioned that he'd learned last year that such a count
*is* being kept, *and* that it is classified, from Richard Hoagland of
the US Embassy in Pakistan.)<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<font color="#000099">That is classified information. We don't release
the reasons for classifying information<br>
as classified as that is also classified information.<br>
</font><br>
<blockquote cite="mid:5169D95D.7090301@gmail.com" type="cite"> <br>
2- Is it true that the US has performed *secondary strikes* in
Pakistan? (... where a strike at some site is followed, after other
unknown people have arrived to help those hurt, by a second strike)
Hoagland told them that this is not happening, but mainstream press
reports allege that it has on a number of occasions. It would be a
clear war crime, if true.<br>
</blockquote>
<font color="#000099"><br>
We consider all drone strikes to be primary. <br>
Of course there will be some geographic overlap,<br>
and it depends upon how you consider the time frame.<br>
We consider the bombing of Dresden to have been either a clustered
series of primary strikes<br>
or a single prolonged primary strike. We consider time to be a<br>
non-constraining variable in our analysis.<br>
<br>
It could not be a clear war crime since we clearly are not at war with
Pakistan.<br>
</font><br>
<blockquote cite="mid:5169D95D.7090301@gmail.com" type="cite"> <br>
3- Is it true - as reported in the NYTimes last May - that the CIA
counts any military-aged male killed by a drone strike as a presumed
militant? (Sen. Feinstein, chair of the full Intelligence Cmte,
later claimed she was unaware of such a report.) If this is true,
what does it mean for the estimates of civilians killed?<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<font color="#000099">We usually try to count the number of smoldering
sandals, boots, and other footwear<br>
in the reconnaissance zone and divide by two to get the kill count. Of
course<br>
there is a margin of error in such estimates due to factors like
infants and children<br>
and pregnant women without footwear, and individuals with a leg missing
due to <br>
a previous primary strike. Sen Feinstein suffers from the mathematical
equivalent<br>
of dyslexia. Her opinions do not affect our estimates. <br>
By the way, we consider "full intelligence committee" to be just a name,<br>
not really an oxymoron.</font><br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:5169D95D.7090301@gmail.com" type="cite"> 4-
What fraction of those killed by drone strikes in Pakistan have been
high-level militants?<br>
(The strikes' stated purpose had been to kill specifically those
people. Yet other estimates (including from the Knuckey and Sonnenberg
report, <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.livingunderdrones.org/report/">http://www.livingunderdrones.org/report/</a>
and detailed reporting from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism such
as <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2013/04/02/march-2013-update-us-covert-actions-in-pakistan-yemen-and-somalia/">this,</a>
suggest only about 2% of the 2500-3500 people killed by US drone
strikes since 2004 were high level militants. Some 10-30% of those
killed were reported to be civilians, including 5% children.)<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<font color="#000099">Not all of those killed are high-level per se. <br>
Some were in valleys, some were crouching behind donkeys and pushcarts,<br>
some were lying flat in ditches and behind rocks. We got 'em anyway.<br>
<br>
It is really difficult to determine the civilian/military percentage of
a dead Pakistani. Some<br>
of the dead individuals are totally hardened against our aggression
(100%)<br>
and some only have smoldering antipathy (50% or less). We consider
those children <br>
that flee from the drones to have relatively low committment<br>
so we give them a 5% rating. Not many children are all that willing to
stand up<br>
to an incoming drone attack so we think our scaling is appropriate.<br>
<br>
Any more questions?</font><br>
<font color="#000099"><br>
Thank you for your interest in Senator Dick. Durbin.<br>
<br>
</font><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:5169D95D.7090301@gmail.com" type="cite"> <br>
Durbin's office phone numbers - <br>
<tt> Washington, DC: 202-224-2152. or if that's busy, you can
also call his</tt><tt> ...</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt> </tt><tt>Springfield, IL: 217-492-4062. </tt><tt><br>
</tt><br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 4/13/13 11:27 AM, C. G. Estabrook
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:814976FB-CD4B-4FAB-BD18-D18CAD5ECAC0@newsfromneptune.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap=""><a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/04/12-2">http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/04/12-2</a>
For years, senior Obama officials, including the president himself, have been making public claims about their drone program that have just been proven to be categorically false. The evidence of this falsity is so conclusive that even establishment sources are using unusually harsh language - including "lies" - to describe Obama's statements. McClatchy's national security reporter, Jonathan Landay, obtained top-secret intelligence documents showing that "contrary to assurances it has deployed US drones only against known senior leaders of al-Qaida and allied groups, the Obama administration has targeted and killed hundreds of suspected lower-level Afghan, Pakistani and unidentified 'other' militants in scores of strikes in Pakistan's rugged tribal area." That article quotes drone expert Micah Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations as saying that "McClatchy's findings indicate that the administration is 'misleading the public about the scope of who can legitimately be tar
g
eted.'"
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