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4,700 Drone Deaths

For years the death toll associated with the United States’ unmanned aerial drone program has been a closely guarded secret. “The military’s estimates of civilian casualties do not distinguish between deaths caused by remote-controlled drones and those caused by other aircraft,” a 2011 memo from ACLU noted. ‘While each drone…

For years the death toll associated with the United States’ unmanned aerial drone program has been a closely guarded secret.

“The military’s estimates of civilian casualties do not distinguish between deaths caused by remote-controlled drones and those caused by other aircraft,” a 2011 memo from ACLU noted. ‘While each drone strike appears to be subject to an individual assessment after the fact, there is no total number of casualties compiled. Moreover, information contained in the individual assessments is classified – making it impossible for the public to learn how many civilians have been killed overall.”

Not anymore …

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (RINO-SC) coughed up the number at a Rotary Club meeting in Easley, S.C. last week.

“We’ve killed 4,700,” Graham said. “Sometimes you hit innocent people, and I hate that, but we’re at war, and we’ve taken out some very senior members of Al-Qaeda.”

U.S. drone policy has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks – with even liberals acknowledging that Barack Obama’s rationale for using targeted drone strikes on American citizens abroad is “extra-legal.”

Graham’s comments immediately stoked a political firestorm, with critics accusing the neocon whore of compromising our national security by releasing the information. Graham responded that he was using a publicly available figure compiled by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

“Although the drone attacks were started under the Bush administration in 2004, they have been stepped up enormously under Obama,” the Bureau reported more than a year ago. “There have been 260 attacks by unmanned Predators or Reapers in Pakistan by Obama’s administration – averaging one every four days. Because the attacks are carried out by the CIA, no information is given on the numbers killed.”

Hmmm …

So in addition to being no big secret, Graham’s info is more than a year out of date …

***

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14 comments

stickler February 25, 2013 at 12:33 pm

What makes you think this is an actual count? Politicians are not known for their math abilities. After all, Alan Clemmons believes that I-73 will create 29,000 jobs and potentially save 40,000 lives in a hurricane evacuation.

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bozmartin February 25, 2013 at 9:09 pm

Good point.

Reply
tomstickler February 25, 2013 at 11:33 am

What makes you think this is an actual count? Politicians are not known for their math abilities. After all, Alan Clemmons believes that I-73 will create 29,000 jobs and potentially save 40,000 lives in a hurricane evacuation.

Reply
EJB February 25, 2013 at 1:21 pm

I’m glad few people are jumping on Graham, it’s not like he’s some kind of military lawyer or has been to Afghanistan or anything like that. ;)

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bozmartin February 25, 2013 at 9:09 pm

Few people are jumping on Sic for slamming him, either. That SOB is going to have a really hard time getting re-elected.

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EJB February 25, 2013 at 12:21 pm

I’m glad few people are jumping on Graham, it’s not like he’s some kind of military lawyer or has been to Afghanistan or anything like that. ;)

Reply
Tyrone Butternuts February 25, 2013 at 2:00 pm

Go Drones ! Go Drones ! I say blow up as many asses as you can. We are at war with these bastards and if there is collateral damage, just think about the “collateral damage” done to those at the World Trade Center on 9/11. and I ‘m a progressive. We have to protect our people and our freedoms from these insane Muslims who want to take over the world and convert us all to Islam.

Reply
Tyrone Butternuts February 25, 2013 at 1:00 pm

Go Drones ! Go Drones ! I say blow up as many asses as you can. We are at war with these bastards and if there is collateral damage, just think about the “collateral damage” done to those at the World Trade Center on 9/11. and I ‘m a progressive. We have to protect our people and our freedoms from these insane Muslims who want to take over the world and convert us all to Islam.

Reply
BigTee Shirt February 25, 2013 at 2:29 pm

How is a Muslim killing Muslims? God, I’m confused…that seems like a Christian thing to do. That Obama sure is sneaky.

Reply
BigTee Shirt February 25, 2013 at 1:29 pm

How is a Muslim killing Muslims? God, I’m confused…that seems like a Christian thing to do. That Obama sure is sneaky.

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Smirks February 25, 2013 at 3:26 pm

“You see, we have to accidentally blow up innocent civilians in order to kill the bad guys who might purposefully blow up innocent civilians! I mean, I feel bad that it happens, so that makes it OK, right?”

Graham then wanted to add “At least we aren’t killing AMERICAN civilians!” but stopped himself from shoving his other foot into his mouth in the nick of time.

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Smirks February 25, 2013 at 2:26 pm

“You see, we have to accidentally blow up innocent civilians in order to kill the bad guys who might purposefully blow up innocent civilians! I mean, I feel bad that it happens, so that makes it OK, right?”

Graham then wanted to add “At least we aren’t killing AMERICAN civilians!” but stopped himself from shoving his other foot into his mouth in the nick of time.

Reply
JC February 26, 2013 at 3:59 pm

If it’s ok for us to kill civilians with drones, why is not ok for Muslims to kill us with planes?

Reply
JC February 26, 2013 at 3:59 pm

If it’s ok for us to kill civilians with drones, why is not ok for Muslims to kill us with planes?

Reply

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