The White House has acknowledged for the first time that
strict standards President Obama imposed last year to prevent civilian
deaths from U.S. drone strikes will not apply to U.S. military
operations in Syria and Iraq.
A
White House statement to Yahoo News confirming the looser policy came
in response to questions about reports that as many as a dozen
civilians, including women and young children, were killed when a
Tomahawk missile struck the village of Kafr Daryan in Syria's Idlib
province on the morning of Sept. 23.
The
village has been described by Syrian rebel commanders as a reported
stronghold of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front where U.S officials
believed members of the so-called Khorasan group were plotting attacks
against international aircraft.
But
at a briefing for members and staffers of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee late last week, Syrian rebel commanders described women and
children being hauled from the rubble after an errant cruise missile
destroyed a home for displaced civilians. Images of badly injured
children also appeared on YouTube, helping to fuel anti-U.S. protests in a number of Syrian villages last week.
...
Asked about the strike at Kafr Daryan, a U.S. Central Command spokesman said Tuesday that U.S.
military “did target a Khorasan group compound near this location.
However, we have seen no evidence at this time to corroborate claims of
civilian casualties.” But Caitlin Hayden, a spokesperson
for the National Security Council, told Yahoo News that Pentagon
officials “take all credible allegations seriously and will investigate”
the reports.
At
the same time, however, Hayden said that a much-publicized White House
policy that President Obama announced last year barring U.S. drone
strikes unless there is a “near certainty” there will be no civilian
casualties — "the highest standard we can meet," he said at the time —
does not cover the current U.S. airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.
The
“near certainty” standard was intended to apply “only when we take
direct action ‘outside areas of active hostilities,’ as we noted at the
time,” Hayden said in an email. “That description — outside areas of
active hostilities — simply does not fit what we are seeing on the
ground in Iraq and Syria right now.”
That's a hole you could drive a truck - or fly a fighter jet - through. When would it ever be the case that a democracy takes 'direct action' in an area that is 'outside areas of active hostilities.' I would argue that there are always 'active hostilities' in Gaza. Heck, the IDF has caught two infiltrators from there in the last three days trying to carry out terror attacks.
So I think the IDF should announce that it is adopting President Obama's 'near certainty' standard, except when President Obama wouldn't adopt it.
Otherwise, we'd be condoning a double standard.
Aren't you glad that Obama never got around to adopting the Rome Statute and joining the International Criminal Court? Otherwise, the US could find itself in the dock for that statement.
(Fat chance the IDF would adopt Obama's 'near certainty' standard. The IDF really is the most moral army in the world).
U.S.-led air strikes hit grain silos and other targets in Islamic State-controlled territory in northern and eastern Syria overnight, killing civilians and wounding militants, a group monitoring the war said on Monday.
The
aircraft may have mistaken the mills and grain storage areas in the
northern Syrian town of Manbij for an Islamic State base, said the
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. There was no
immediate comment from Washington.
...
The strikes in Manbij appeared to have killed only civilians, not
fighters, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Observatory which gathers
information from sources in Syria.
"These
were the workers at the silos. They provide food for the people," he
said. He could not give a number of casualties and it was not
immediately possible to verify the information.
...
In eastern Syria, U.S.-led forces bombed a gas plant controlled by
the Islamic State outside Deir al-Zor city, wounding several of the
militant group's fighters, the Observatory said.
The
United States has said it wants strikes to target oil facilities held
by Islamic State to try to stem a source of revenues for the group.
The
raid hit Kuniko gas plant, which feeds a power station in Homs that
provides several provinces with electricity and powers oil fields
generators, the Observatory said.
I want to make it clear that I have no problem with classifying grain silos or gas plants as military targets. Depending on how they're being used, that classification could well be accurate. In fact, there's something to be said for targeting an opposing army's sources of fuel and food.
But it's hypocritical for Obama to condemn Israel for doing the exact same thing in Gaza. And it's not the first time Obama has done it.
Let's go to the videotape. Make sure to check out Scott Shane around the five-minute mark. Obama was very unhappy when Israel claimed that all of the male casualties between the ages of 18 and 40 in Gaza were probably terrorists.
Awesome video: Spy drone can see what you're wearing from 17,500 feet high - and that's not all
A new camera developed by the Pentagon's research arm was highlighted in
a recent special on PBS' "Nova" in an episode called "Rise of the
Drones." It's a camera system so detailed it can discern specific
movements and even what a subject is wearing.
The Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency's (DARPA's) Autonomous Real-Time Ground
Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System (ARGUS) has 1.8 billion pixels
(1.8 gigapixels), making it the world' highest resolution camera. The
sensors on the camera are so precise, PBS stated it is the equivalent to
the capabilities of 100 Predator drones in a medium city.
In the
clip from PBS, it is said this is the first time the government has
allowed information to be shared about these capabilities.
"It is
important for the public to know that some of these capabilities exist,"
Yiannis Antonaides with contractor BAE Systems said in the clip, but
noted the sensor itself cannot be revealed. "Because we are not allowed
to expose some of the pieces that make up this sensor, so you get to
look a pretty plastic curtains."
The technology allows the user
to open up a specific windows of interest in the camera's view while
still keeping up an image of the larger picture (sort of like split
screen). Antonaides explained that the colored boxes in the image show
that the sensor recognized moving objects. "You can see individuals
crossing the street. You can see individuals walking in parking lots.
There's actually enough resolution to see the people waving their arms
or walking around or what kind of clothes they wear," he said. PBS noted
that ARGUS can actually see much more details than just attire. It can
see objects as small as six inches.
At 2:23
in the clip, Antonaides points out that from 17,500 feet, a white
object in the field of view is a bird flying. PBS pointed out that DARPA
put a time crunch on creating the camera, which lead Antonaides to look
into technology that you probably have in your purse or pocket at this
very moment. Taking similar imaging systems used in smartphones and
putting 368 together, is essentially how Antonaides and other engineers
at BAE Systems created ARGUS. It is this "mosaic" of cameras that allows
the system to zoom in on specific sections in extreme detail. As for
data, the system stores up to 1 million terabytes a day. Putting this
into perspective, PBS notes this is equal to 5,000 hours of HD footage.
"You
can go back and say 'I would like to know what happened at this
particular location three days, two hours, four minutes ago' and it
would actually show you what happened as if you were watching it live,"
Antonaides said.
It is still classified information whether ARGUS has been used in the field yet.
"If
we had our choice, we would like ARGUS to be over the same area 24
hours a day, seven days a week. That's not very achievable with manned
platforms. This is where UAVs come in and they're absolutely the perfect
platform," Antonaides said.
It starts: Iran fires on unarmed US drone, Obama to file lawsuit?
Iran knew something we didn't last Thursday. On Thursday morning (US time), Iran fired at a US Predator drone doing routine surveillance in international air space. Fortunately, their aim was poor.
Iran fired on an unarmed U.S. drone last week as it was hovering in international airspace, the Pentagon announced Thursday.
Spokesman George Little said the incident, which marks the first time
the Iranians have fired on a U.S. drone, occurred Nov. 1 at 4:50 a.m.
ET. He said the unarmed, unmanned drone was conducting "routine
surveillance" over the Persian Gulf when it was "intercepted" by Iran.
He said the MQ1 Predator drone, which was not hit, was not in Iranian
airspace.
According to Little, two Iranian jets fired twice, missing on both
attempts -- the drone headed away from the Iranian coast, landing safely
soon after at an undisclosed location. The Iranian jets pursued the
drone for a short period before giving up.
Little said the U.S. government has protested to the Iranians. Asked
about how the U.S. could respond, he said: "We have a wide range of
options from diplomatic to military."
He would not say whether there were actually plans for a military
response. Asked if this should be considered an act of war, Little said
he didn't want to get into "legal characterizations" of the event.
Sounds to me like Obama's going to file a lawsuit again.
Now that the Obama administration has pulled all US troops out of Iraq, the United States is using drones to protect American contractors who are still present in the country. And the Iraqis are said to be furious (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
American contractors say they have been told that the State Department is considering to field unarmed surveillance drones in the future in a handful of other potentially “high-threat” countries, including Indonesia and Pakistan, and in Afghanistan after the bulk of American troops leave in the next two years. State Department officials say that no decisions have been made beyond the drone operations in Iraq.
The drones are the latest example of the State Department’s efforts to take over functions in Iraq that the military used to perform. Some 5,000 private security contractors now protect the embassy’s 11,000-person staff, for example, and typically drive around in heavily armored military vehicles.
When embassy personnel move throughout the country, small helicopters buzz over the convoys to provide support in case of an attack. Often, two contractors armed with machine guns are tethered to the outside of the helicopters. The State Department began operating some drones in Iraq last year on a trial basis, and stepped up their use after the last American troops left Iraq in December, taking the military drones with them.
The United States, which will soon begin taking bids to manage drone operations in Iraq over the next five years, needs formal approval from the Iraqi government to use such aircraft here, Iraqi officials said. Such approval may be untenable given the political tensions between the two countries. Now that the troops are gone, Iraqi politicians often denounce the United States in an effort to rally support from their followers.
A senior American official said that negotiations were under way to obtain authorization for the current drone operations, but Ali al-Mosawi, a top adviser to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki; Iraq’s national security adviser, Falih al-Fayadh; and the acting minister of interior, Adnan al-Asadi, all said in interviews that they had not been consulted by the Americans.
Mr. Asadi said that he opposed the drone program: “Our sky is our sky, not the U.S.A.’s sky.”
If the US stops these drone missions, we have a clear shot at Iran.
Cyprus stands up to Turkey on oil and gas exploration
The legitimate government of Cyprus is standing up to demands by Turkish thugs, who already occupy the northern third of Cyprus, that Cyprus stop exploring for oil and gas in its territorial waters.
Cyprus’ President Dimitris Christofias says Saturday exploratory drilling for offshore oil and gas deposits will continue despite Turkey’s strong opposition.
Christofias says the divided island’s right to search for potential mineral deposits inside its exclusive economic zone is non-negotiable and that any foreign meddling is unacceptable.
...
Turkey says the south’s gas search disregards Turkish Cypriot rights and has sent a warship-escorted research vessel to also look for gas off Cyprus.
Christofias repeated on Saturday that the island’s natural resources belong to all Cypriots.
On Friday, a Turkish newspaper reported that two IAF F-15 jets and a helicopter circled above a Turkish exploration ship in Cypriot waters on Thursday night. The IDF said that it was not familiar with the incident.
Meanwhile, Turkey claims that the United States has agreed to provide Turkey with Predator drones for its battle against the Kurds and the US Ambassador to Turkey has announced that the United States will provide the Turks with three SuperCobra attack helicopters to replace helicopters lost in battles with the Kurds. The Americans continue to play along in Erdogan's plan to cause a World War.
Iran claims to have shot down a US spy plane over its Fordu uranium enrichment site near the 'holy city' of Qom.
"An unmanned US spy plane flying over the holy city of Qom near the uranium enrichment Fordu site was shot down by the Revolutionary Guards' air defense units," MP Ali Aghazadeh Dafsari was quoted as saying by the Youth Journalists Club, affiliated to Iran's state TV.
"The plane ... was trying to collect information about the site's location ," he said, without giving details. He did not say when the incident happened.
In January Iran announced it had shot down two unmanned western reconnaissance drone aircraft in the Gulf.
The Pentagon denied that report but acknowledged some spy planes had crashed in the past due to mechanical failure.
An American predator drone crashed in Yemen on Tuesday. But you won't believe what happened next....
A suspected US spy drone crashed near the south Yemen town of Loder on Tuesday before Al-Qaeda gunmen made off with the wreckage, a police official and witnesses said.
The drone crashed in Jahayn village near Loder, in Yemen's Abyan province where Al-Qaeda has a strong presence, and was found by local residents, the official told AFP.
Witnesses said residents called in police, who collected the debris.
But as they headed to a police station about 30 kilometres (18 miles) away, Al-Qaeda gunmen in cars intercepted the police and hijacked the wreckage. There were no reports of casualties.
The police official said the drone was a Predator, which is used for reconnaissance but can also be armed with missiles. The US military has widely used Predator drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he believed the drone was "monitoring the movements of Al-Qaeda partisans, who have a strong presence" in Loder.
Awesome. Soon we'll have al-Qaeda drones flying around.
When 'good' weapons get into the hands of bad people
War is becoming more high tech by the day. Let's look first what happens when these weapons are in the hands of the good guys and then we'll talk a bit about these weapons getting into the hands of bad guys.
This is a US Army video from Iraq, circa 2005. Let's go to the videotape.
But what happens when countries that may not be the United States (or Israel) get these drones? For example, in Friday's Washington Post, David Ignatius tells the story of the Saudis' border war with the Houthi's in Yemen in 2009 (Hat Tip: Daily Alert):
A year ago, Saudi Arabia was fighting a nasty border war against the Houthi rebels across its frontier with Yemen. The Saudis began bombing Houthi targets inside Yemen on Nov. 5, 2009, but the airstrikes were inaccurate, and there were reports of civilian casualties.
The Saudis appealed to America for imagery from U.S. surveillance satellites in space, so they could target more precisely. Gen. David Petraeus, who was Centcom commander at the time, is said to have backed the Saudi request, but it was opposed by the State Department and others. They warned that intervening in this border conflict, even if only by providing targeting information, could violate the laws of war.
So the Saudis turned elsewhere for help - to France, which has its own reconnaissance satellites. The French, who were worried that imprecise Saudi bombing was creating too many civilian casualties in Yemen, agreed to help. The necessary details were arranged within days.
When French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Riyadh on Nov. 17, he was ready to open the new intelligence liaison channel. A Saudi official recalls that by the first night of Sarkozy's visit, detailed pictures of the Yemeni battle space began to move electronically to the Saudis.
Using this precise satellite intelligence, the Saudis were able to monitor the Houthis' hideouts, equipment dumps and training sites. Saudi warplanes then attacked with devastating effectiveness. Within a few weeks, the Houthis were requesting a truce, and by February this chapter of the border war was over.
Well, now the Saudis want more and better satellite imagery. After all, it was such a success last year.
The lid on Pandora's box is coming open: The Saudis, understandably, now want their own satellite capability, and they will soon request bids from Western companies for such a system. Riyadh also wants drones that can see and attack enemy targets in remote places. Washington has been weighing whether to include versions of its Predator drones in an arms sale to the kingdom. Such weapons would boost Saudi ability to deter Iran, but they could also threaten Israel.
Remember those promises of maintaining Israel's qualitative superiority? They're looking pretty big right now, aren't they? After all, it's much easier to make war if you don't have to send in any troops, isn't it? (It also isn't necessarily successful - ask former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, who tried fighting the Second Lebanon War from 35,000 feet).
Here's another example of drones at work that may not please you.
Consider the case of Turkey: For years, Ankara has sought U.S. technology to fight what it sees as an insurgency by Kurdish rebel groups, especially the "PKK" that hides in northern Iraq. Now, that high-tech help has arrived.
The United States has quietly created a joint "centralized command center" with Turkey for surveillance drones flying over northern Iraq. Turkish officers look over the shoulders of their U.S. counterparts at the imagery and are free to target suspicious activity when they see it. The United States doesn't pull the triggers; it just shows the pictures.
And recall that Israel has been selling drones to Turkey.
It would be nice if the democracies kept these kinds of technologies to themselves. Unfortunately, greed and stupidity make it unlikely that will happen. What could go wrong?
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
