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THE OBAMA WARS: Drone On Me

Drone Documents: Why The Government Won't Release Them

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• ProPublica 

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• martysmith006@yahoo.com

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Monday, June 25, 2012 1:08 PM

Monday, June 25, 2012 Drone Documents: Why The Government Won't Release Them by Cora Currier | @coracurrier | The government has rebuffed attempts by the American Civil Liberties Union and The New York Times to obtain documents related to drone strikes and targeted killing. We look at the legal motions to find out why. More coverage: Obama Administration's Drone Death Figures Don't Add Up #MuckReads Reader-recommended collection of watchdog reporting elsewhere. Submit stories via Twitter using the hashtag #MuckReads or e-mailmuckreads@propublica.org. Special Report: Chesapeake and Rival Plotted to Suppress Land Prices Reuters Lax Oversight Jeopardizes Tax Credit Projects Toledo Blade See all of today's #MuckReads

The OBAMA WARS Part I: Drones of Mercy

Interactive: How Obama Drone Death Claims Stack Up

by Justin Elliott, Cora Currier and Lena Groeger
ProPublica, Yesterday, 4:15 p.m.

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Obama administration assertions about the number of civilians killed by U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan have varied significantly over the years. The assertions, which almost always come from unnamed officials, are sometimes contradictory and sometimes imply improbable conclusions. Below we've charted the administration’s assertions about civilian deaths with their corresponding date ranges.| Related: Obama Administration’s Drone Death Figures Don’t Add Up

Mouse over the bars in the timeline or click on the links in the right sidebar for more information.

Drones Strikes per Year.............

1

2

2

4

33

53

118

70

24

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Claimed Civilian Deaths....................

"single digits"

"a handful"

"60"

"50"

"zero"

"about 30"

"under 40"

"at most a few dozen"

"30"

"roughly 30"

"about 30"

"about 30"

"fewer than 50"

"no more than 30"

"fewer than 30"

"under 30"

"just over 20"

"about 20"

"just over 20"

Mouse over the bars in the timeline to see the official claim, and click on the links within each bar to go to the source article.

Numbers don’t add up

A “senior administration official” told the New York Times that the number of civilians killed under President Obama in Pakistan was in the “single digits.” But “U.S. officials” told McClatchy that 30 Pakistani civilians were killed by drones in just the 12-month period between August 2009 and August 2010.

More killed under Bush?

Unnamed officials asserted that just over 20 civilians were killed between January 2009 and August 2011, and that 50 civilians had been killed over the length of the entire drone program. Taken together, those assertions imply that more civilians were killed under President Bush, when the program was still in its infancy, than under Obama, who has greatly increased the number of drone attacks.

Long stretches of zero civilian deaths

These three assertions are mathematically possible, but they imply that there were zero or almost zero civilians killed between the beginning of 2008 and August 2009, and again between August 2010 and July 2011. There were over 180 strikes in those two periods.

Sources: The figures on number of drone strikes per year are from a New America Foundation tally.

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