<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p class=""><em class=""></em></p><p class="">"During his Presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump said that he would
continue the Obama Administration’s drone killing program. Indeed, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/23/politics/drone-strikes-president-trump/index.html" class="">drone strikes</a> against Al Qaeda in Yemen on January 19, 20, and 21 overlapped the Obama and Trump Presidencies.</p><p class="">"President Trump did not sign off on any of these attacks. The
strikes were conducted under the authority President Obama had delegated
to CENTCOM commander General Joseph Votel. Still, a Trump-authorized
drone strike even this early in his Administration would not break with
precedent established by Obama. <a href="http://blogs.cfr.org/zenko/2017/01/20/obamas-final-drone-strike-data/" class="">Micah Zenko</a>
of the Council on Foreign Relations reminds us that: 'On January 23,
2009, just three days into his presidency, President Obama authorized
his first kinetic military action, two drone strikes, three hours apart,
in Waziristan, Pakistan, that killed as many as twenty civilians.' According to the <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2017/01/17/obamas-covert-drone-war-numbers-ten-times-strikes-bush/" class="">Bureau of Investigative Journalism</a>, there were <em class="">ten times</em>
as many drone strikes under Obama than under President George W. Bush.
The Bureau also notes that there were more drone strikes during Obama’s
first year in office than during eight years of the Bush
Administration. To some extent, these facts reflect Bush’s preference
for capturing Al-Qaeda and Taliban rather than killing them.</p><p class="">"Thank goodness for the Obama Nostalgia Industry which had gotten into
high gear even before Obama left the White House. They have been
busily burnishing Obama’s legacy as a Man of Peace. Thanks to them, we
can rest comfortably in the knowledge that even when Obama killed
innocent foreigners with Hellfire missiles he killed them peacefully…”</p><p class=""><br class=""></p><p class=""><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/01/26/the-year-in-drones-2016/" class="">http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/01/26/the-year-in-drones-2016/</a></p><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">—CGE</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>