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Author Topic:   Innocents Killed By Drones Number In The Thousands!
Randall
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posted May 05, 2013 02:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Randall     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. -- In the secretive U.S. war of armed drones, the kill chain runs through a highly classified, windowless brick building here.

In the darkened spaces inside, hundreds of young Air Force intelligence analysts work 12-hour shifts, carrying out a controversial strategy of long-distance remote attacks which are reported to have killed thousands of militants -- but are also believed to have killed or injured thousands of innocents.

President Obama's increasing reliance on armed drones to kill terrorist suspects has sparked an international outcry and a fierce domestic debate about the government's assertion of its right to kill in secret.

Virtually unnoticed are those who are riveted to computer monitors here for hours at a time, the fast-paced pressure they endure, the demand for perfection and the constant risk of error in this new form of warfare: digitally-enabled high-altitude strikes managed from thousands of miles away.

Theirs are the unseen faces of Obama's drone war, a generation of Americans who are every bit engaged in combat even if they are not ducking incoming rounds and their fatigues are not soaked in the sweat and dust and blood of Afghanistan.

The human stress, senior commanders here acknowledge, is "extremely high."

When a U.S. special operations forces team is poised to raid a suspected insurgent compound, when a Marine squad in Afghanistan is alerted to an ambush, when a gathering of men identified as terrorists disappears in the bloom of an explosion in Pakistan, these analysts likely played a key role.

And with the White House driving an exploding demand for more flights by reconnaissance and attack drones, an increasing burden is falling heavily on the enlisted Air Force men and women here -- "airmen," in official terminology -- often just a few years out of high school.

The stress is already so high that concerned commanders have assigned a psychologist and a chaplain with top security clearances to work full time inside the facility.

The drone war is in full swing. U.S. armed drone strikes are reported to have killed more than 2,500 Taliban, al Qaeda and other extremist leaders killed in Pakistan alone. But in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, drones strikes have killed an estimated 900 civilians and injured more than 1,200 civilians since 2002.

In Afghanistan, the military struck at targets 494 times last year with armed drones, according to data that has since been removed from the Air Forces Central Command web site. Information on the number of Afghan civilians killed in these strikes is anecdotal, but powerful.

These attacks are often portrayed as a highly technical, robotic form of warfare. But behind every strike are hours, days and even weeks of surveillance and analysis by the airmen who work inside this Air Force Distributed Common Ground Station. It is the largest of five globally networked facilities that receive and analyze the data flowing back from drones and manned spy planes like the venerable U-2, and then package the intelligence for operations.

Senior Air Force officers acknowledge that in this vast, darkened room where hundreds of analysts struggle to keep up with the deluge of data, the potential for error -- the possibility of taking innocent life -- is ever-present, just as it is in ground combat operations.

"Burn-out is obviously a big concern for us," said Air Force Col. Mike Shortsleeve, a veteran intelligence officer who commands the 497th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group that mans and operates the center here.

Air Force researchers and others who have studied the airmen here know that the stress and tension that build during weeks and months of staring at monitors can lead to loss of concentration. What is not clear is whether fatigue plays a role in the tragic errors that occur in wartime, as happened in the NATO air strike in Aghanistan earlier this month that reportedly killed 11 children.

"Ultimately you do find incidents like that, and they are tragic and something that, obviously, we take very, very seriously, and we go back and find out why it occurred," said Shortsleeve, whose name is a translation of the French, courtemanche.

"That particular incident we didn't work, and I don't know what it entailed. It could be people never left the (targeted) facility and we didn't know they were in there. It could be a miscommunication, the guy on the ground thinking he had the right place," he said.

"Unfortunately these incidents happen, but I would say the effort that is put in to try to prevent them is enormous," he continued. "Any time we are working stuff on the ground, constantly in the back of our minds is, what is the possible collateral damage, what happens if the mission goes down, a missile hits it ... we are constantly working to prevent this, but inevitably you are not going to prevent everything."

The airmen here do labor under an immense workload.

For hours at a stretch, they search through an avalanche of video, still photos, communications intercepts and other data in an intense manhunt to identify, track and target insurgents or terrorists to be captured or killed. Digital chat rooms, email and phones connect them with drone pilots, special forces commandos, battalion operations centers and others to nail down "actionable intelligence."

Often, they'll stare at a suspicious compound for days, logging every detail of daily life, tracking women to the market and kids to school, determining by watching their behavior whether visitors are locals or outsiders. The presence of women or children puts the target off-limits.

When a target is identified and the absence of non-combatants verified, a word will flash from the pilot of a circling armed drone -- "Rifle!" -- indicating that a Hellfire missile or other munition is streaking toward the target. Analysts here will watch to make sure no children wander into the target area -- the laser-homing Hellfire missile often fired from drones can be diverted at the last second if needed, Air Force officials said.

After a strike, drones swoop in for a close look so analysts here can assess the damage.

This facility is not involved in the drone strikes managed by the CIA, which include three attacks during the past week in Yemen, said to have been aimed at senior members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The CIA and the Defense Department manage separate armed drone operations, a division which the Obama administration is seeking to end by bringing all drone operations under the Pentagon. Officials said the transition of the armed drone programs is not yet underway.

Eventually, though, the task of conducting the drone war will fall entirely on airmen like these, who represent a new phase of warfare. For centuries, man has struggled to find ways to kill the enemy without exposing himself to harm. This is a partial success: Here, they can kill without being exposed to physical harm. But the killing can impose a cost nonetheless.

Much of the stress "comes from the helplessness they can feel," said Air Force Maj. Shauna Sperry, the psychologist who has worked inside this facility since November. "They are so young," Sperry told The Huffington Post. "They do what they have to do, but there is a toll that is taken."

Asked about "moral injury," the violation of one's moral principles, she said: "That's a pretty accurate description of what some of the individuals here experience. Things are happening, they see it happening and there's nothing they can do to change it."

The amount of data that pours into the five intelligence centers every hour is overwhelming. Since 9/11, the "take," just from drones, has skyrocketed by 6,811 percent, according to the Air Force. Every day, drones transmit back 1,600 hours of full-motion video -- the equivalent, officers here like to say, of two entire seasons of NFL football. Every day.

This one facility's servers handle 125 terabytes of data per day (one terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes, or 1 trillion bytes).

The data stream is still growing, thanks in part to new data-gathering technology such as Gorgon Stare, a drone-mounted sensor with nine cameras that can scan an entire city at once. And the number of drone combat air patrols (CAPs), defined as having one drone aloft on a mission 24/7, is currently at 61 and is scheduled to increase to 65 later this year.

To try to meet the dramatic expansion of the workload, the number of personnel assigned here to process and analyze data has more than doubled in the past two years, from 350 to about 800. Already, this facility, built only three years ago, is bursting at the seams. There are not enough desks for everyone.

During a 12-hour shift, analysts stare at their screens an average of eight hours, with four hours off for meals and administrative work, according to data provided by the Air Force. But the high pace of operations often requires more: last month some airmen spent as much as 11 hours of their 12-hour shift at their stations.

"We are classified as a weapon system, and the work goes on 24/7 and they are involved in the kill chain -- they are helping make the calls of what we're seeing down there," Shortsleeve told The Huffington Post. "In the event something has to be struck, the airman out there will be making some of these calls in conjunction with the crew flying the platform, to make sure we are going after what we need to."

"When you do this every day, day in and day out, to be mentally in the fight every single day, that does eventually take a toll on you," he said. "There are definitely moments of sheer -- you're on fire, the stress level is extremely high, especially when they're going to take somebody down or a strike is going to occur."

There are also long hours when airmen are starting at a screenful of Nothing Much Happening. But there is always the fear of missing something critical.

Officers and airmen who have served in Afghanistan or Iraq say this work resembles the the mix of boredom, loneliness and stress of being deployed on a combat tour -- but not being able to come home and relax when the deployment is over. Some of these airmen work the night shift here, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., for four or five years before being transferred to another facility of the same kind, to again work the night shift.

"It's pretty fast-paced sometimes," said Samuel, a 25-year-old Air Force staff sergeant who gave only his first name for reasons of personal security. He said he works between 36 and 46 hours a week, with a mandatory 10 hours of rest between shifts.

That rest period may not be enough. According to a 2012 study of this facility by the policy think tank RAND, over 40 percent of the intelligence personnel said shift scheduling and long hours were a top source of stress affecting job performance. The RAND study said such high levels of stress can include of exhaustion and cynicism, and low levels of concentration.

"Even as intelligence analysts are expected to remain alert and focused at all times, they are faced with conditions that would directly affect their ability to sustain this vigilance," the study concluded, adding: "The leadership likely has good reason to be concerned both for subordinate airmen and their ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) mission."

That report, and another commissioned by the Air Force, helped the command here win positions for the full-time chaplain and the psychologist, Maj. Sperry. Each holds 30 to 40 formal counseling sessions a month, and they often walk the halls, stopping to chat with airmen informally.

In all her counseling sessions, Sperry said the goal is "to return them to their pre-morbid -- normal -- condition. They come, they get some quick interventions, we get them back on track."

Surprisingly, the Air Force has not made much progress in automating the work of scanning video and other data to ease the human workload.

The Pentagon is working feverishly to develop software that can scan the flood of data and alert analysts to unusual activity, much the way the National Security Agency scans data streams for pre-programmed words or phrases in English and other languages.

Nothing like that exists for the airmen here. Air Force officers acknowledge they have much to learn from Google.

"There are some things we do with software that can help us, but in reality, it's in the infancy stage," said Shortsleeve. "It's something the Air Force is really pushing hard on, because we realize we can never sustain [the growing workload]."

But machines will never replace the analysts. What they do "inherently is a human endeavor," Shortsleeve said. When it comes to judgments about whether to strike or not, for instance, "It's going to require something between the ears to make that call."

Even so, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel recently rejected a proposal to award drone operators with a combat medal. The idea had come from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta as he prepared to retire in February.

"I've seen first-hand how modern tools, like remotely piloted platforms and cyber systems, have changed the way wars are fought," Panetta said at the time. He said the work done by those who operate these systems "does contribute to the success of combat operations, particularly when they remove the enemy from the field of battle, even if those actions are physically removed from the fight."

But the proposal drew such an embittered outcry from military traditionalists that cancelling it was one of the first actions Hagel took after he was sworn in at the Pentagon Feb. 27.

In a memo to the Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and to his personnel chief, Hagel said combat medals should be reserved for those "who incur the physical risk and hardship of combat."

Maybe so, but the risks and hardships are real -- as is a war with a new kind of battlefield, a war with no end in sight.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-wood/obama-drone-war_b_3149660.html

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doommlord
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posted May 05, 2013 02:33 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for doommlord     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Oh i think there are similiar militairy positions here.... i know i was in evaluation tests for one.

And the people here are JUST after high school so no comparing the stress damages

Those people should really work regular shifts and just get more analysts cause it really ruins peoples lives...all that stress...

About the drones thing.... if they are just as accurate (if not more) than regular troops and they save the costs of on-field manpower who can get itself killed....whats the problem? Too costly?

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PixieJane
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posted May 05, 2013 10:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for PixieJane     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by doommlord:
About the drones thing.... if they are just as accurate (if not more) than regular troops and they save the costs of on-field manpower who can get itself killed....whats the problem? Too costly?

If they were replaced by troops I'd still have a problem with it. Actually, if people were to do on our soil what drones do on theirs they'd be the most hated terrorists ever.

Tactics include sending drones to bomb funerals in the MERE HOPE that one among many might be a terrorist or insurgent. They also hit civilian targets and then hit again minutes later on the belief that maybe anyone guilty might be trying to help their wounded but ignores that rescue workers and good Samaritans will also be there so that cops and firefighters are killed, or it prevents emergency personnel from responding at all. Of course killing innocents, especially children, means making enemies faster than we can kill them, too.

Doing it with live people on the scene instead of drones wouldn't change my opposition to the practice. Furthermore, I think that drones can be used for good purpose, even in combat, but that's not what's happening now.

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Randall
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posted May 05, 2013 10:06 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Randall     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It is absolutely indefensible. And Obama's hand is virtually on the trigger.

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iQ
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posted May 06, 2013 01:56 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for iQ     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Obama's biggest failure as President is his continuation of the Drone Program.

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doommlord
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posted May 06, 2013 02:19 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for doommlord     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by PixieJane:
If they were replaced by troops I'd still have a problem with it. Actually, if people were to do on our soil what drones do on theirs they'd be the most hated terrorists ever.

Tactics include sending drones to bomb funerals in the MERE HOPE that one among many might be a terrorist or insurgent. They also hit civilian targets and then hit again minutes later on the belief that maybe anyone guilty might be trying to help their wounded but ignores that rescue workers and good Samaritans will also be there so that cops and firefighters are killed, or it prevents emergency personnel from responding at all. Of course killing innocents, especially children, means making enemies faster than we can kill them, too.

Doing it with live people on the scene instead of drones wouldn't change my opposition to the practice. Furthermore, I think that drones can be used for good purpose, even in combat, but that's not what's happening now.


true.

one might say they become much lighter with the trigger since no live forces are at risk.

the drones should be kept for surveillance or for direct combat cause hte way they are using it now is far too problematic (no offence to the air force troops)

though in the end the drones are one effective solution to combat losses.

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mockingbird
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posted May 06, 2013 07:29 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for mockingbird     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I think drone use for combat use is disgusting.

I also think that using advanced (jet) bombers in urban areas is disgusting.

And bombarding targets from a warship.
(Google "New Jersey" and "Lebanon" if you're confused.)


You can't care about only one type of "collateral damage".

Well, I mean, you can - you'll just be a hypocrite.

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If I've included this sig, it's because I'm posting from a mobile device.
Please excuse all outrageous typos and confusing auto-corrects.

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doommlord
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posted May 06, 2013 08:09 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for doommlord     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by mockingbird:
I think drone use for combat use is disgusting.

I also think that using advanced (jet) bombers in urban areas is disgusting.

And bombarding targets from a warship.
(Google "New Jersey" and "Lebanon" if you're confused.)


You can't care about only one type of "collateral damage".

Well, I mean, you can - you'll just be a hypocrite.


and if you use soldiers it somehow becomes different?

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Ami Anne
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posted May 06, 2013 08:13 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ami Anne     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Randall:
It is absolutely indefensible. And Obama's hand is virtually on the trigger.


Yes, The Clown in Chief mismanages everything. This is one of most everything.

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal


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AcousticGod
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posted May 06, 2013 10:18 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for AcousticGod     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
It is absolutely indefensible. And Obama's hand is virtually on the trigger.

I'm surprised to see you say that.

What would you do as Commander-In-Chief in your pursuit of the War on Terror? I had naturally thought that you'd already considered this question, but with a response like that, I'm truly flabbergasted.

These two options are obvious:

1. Ground warfare
2. Drone warfare

You could add to that no warfare, but that would probably cost you your political career.

What are the other answers you'd propose? I'm sure no more innocents are being killed than would be if it were ground warfare.

quote:
one might say they become much lighter with the trigger since no live forces are at risk.

That's a logical position.

quote:
You can't care about only one type of "collateral damage".

Well, I mean, you can - you'll just be a hypocrite.


Indeed.

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Faith
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posted May 07, 2013 07:54 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Faith     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by iQ:
Obama's biggest failure as President is his continuation of the Drone Program.

I'd call it the escalation of the drone program.

'Not sure what his biggest failure is, but I'd say secrecy and blatant lying are his trademarks.

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Ami Anne
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posted May 07, 2013 07:58 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ami Anne     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Here is the thing with Obama. He has his head up the wrong place. He thinks in a stupid way. He didn't want to gather intelligence the right way and with whatever measures are needed, If someone is a terrorist and you torture him to stop more terror, it is a righteous act but King Baby only sees as far as political correctness will take him and so can't see this obvious truth. He also wants to act like Muslim terrorism is over. What he does not realize is that you cannot mollify terrorism. You cannot make them "like us" or stop because we are the "better ones". You see that they come to our schools, use our welfare and hate us with a demonic hate Only a demonic hate would bomb innocent runners at the beloved Boston Marathon included a child watching his father run. This is not ordinary "a person gone bad" This one stupid delusion will do us in, just alone lol

These three deceptions and delusions are what is behind the drone program.

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doommlord
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posted May 07, 2013 08:17 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for doommlord     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Ami Anne:
Here is the thing with Obama. He has his head up the wrong place. He thinks in a stupid way. He didn't want to gather intelligence the right way and with whatever measures are needed, If someone is a terrorist and you torture him to stop more terror, it is a righteous act but King Baby only sees as far as political correctness will take him and so can't see this obvious truth. He also wants to act like Muslim terrorism is over. What he does not realize is that you cannot mollify terrorism. You cannot make them "like us" or stop because we are the "better ones". You see that they come to our schools, use our welfare and hate us with a [b]demonic hate Only a demonic hate would bomb innocent runners at the beloved Boston Marathon included a child watching his father run. This is not ordinary "a person gone bad" This one stupid delusion will do us in, just alone lol

These three deceptions and delusions are what is behind the drone program.

[/B]


us against them mentality is the most retarded thing i have ever seen in my existance as it only promotes more stupiduty then there already is (especially when its combined with racism)

in the end the difference between you and the terrorists is that you have yet to kill anyone...

about the torture...as with the intelligence problems (that lead to the killing of innocents with drones) can lead to innocent people being takeng and tortured horribly for no reason... so not solution here...

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Venusian Moon
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posted May 07, 2013 10:18 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Venusian Moon     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thats why i dont vote anymore!!! He is just continuing what bush jr and his daddy did.

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Faith
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posted May 07, 2013 12:09 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Faith     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Venusian Moon:
Thats why i dont vote anymore!!! He is just continuing what bush jr and his daddy did.

I love your clarity.

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Faith
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posted May 07, 2013 12:13 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Faith     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by doommlord:

about the torture...as with the intelligence problems (that lead to the killing of innocents with drones) can lead to innocent people being takeng and tortured horribly for no reason... so not solution here...


It's not common practice for Americans to analyze the torture practices to see what kind of people are actually being tortured, on what grounds, and how reliable the intelligence was that brought them there...and how reliable the intelligence is that they give while under duress.

Basically it is considered un-American to even examine the program. To examine any part of the military or government is now considered somehow wrong.

What's acceptable is to think in simplistic terms:

Terrorists are bad.
Terrorists have evil plots.
If we torture them we will learn about their plots and prevent tragedy.

That may work in theory but to determine whether or not it matches reality, one needs a little more data. Unfortunately, most people don't ask for that data; they just trust various talking heads and their rhetoric and vague information.

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doommlord
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From: israel
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posted May 07, 2013 12:31 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for doommlord     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Faith:
It's not common practice for Americans to analyze the torture practices to see what kind of people are actually being tortured, on what grounds, and how reliable the intelligence was that brought them there...and how reliable the intelligence is that they give while under duress.

Basically it is considered un-American to even examine the program. To examine any part of the military or government is now considered somehow wrong.

What's acceptable is to think in simplistic terms:

Terrorists are bad.
Terrorists have evil plots.
If we torture them we will learn about their plots and prevent tragedy.

That may work in theory but to determine whether or not it matches reality, one needs a little more data. Unfortunately, most people don't ask for that data; they just trust various talking heads and their rhetoric and vague information.


Trust me we have a similiar problem here (with the stupidity not the torture)

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