Speak of the devil! Yesterday, I posted a piece featuring a bit of futuristic writing about the Senate drone report of 2019 (based on the recent torture report release and on whats already on the record, often at TomDispatch, on the CIAs drone assassination campaigns). In it, I had this parenthetical -- just about the only thing I couldnt back up from the present record: (including various emails from CIA officials admitting that drone campaigns in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen had proven to be mechanisms not so much for destroying terrorists as for creating new ones). One day later, the evidence is in. My 2019 report was barely out, when WikiLeaks released a CIA document in which its analysts indicate that, as best they could tell, the CIAs drone campaigns might indeed increase the power of the targeted jihadists, not decrease it. How about that for history coming to the instant aid of futuristic fantasy (based on reasonable assumptions of what must be on the secret record)? Heres what Philip Dorling of the Sydney Morning Herald, given an exclusive first look at the document, has written about it in part. Tom Drone strikes and other targeted killings of terrorist and insurgent leaders favoured by the US and supported by Australia can strengthen extremist groups and be counterproductive, according to a secret CIA report published by WikiLeaks. According to a leaked document by the CIAs Directorate of Intelligence, high value targeting (HVT) involving air strikes and special forces operations against insurgent leaders can be effective, but can also havenegative effects including increasing violence and greater popular support for extremist groups. The leaked document is classified secret and NoForn (meaning not to be distributed to non-US nationals) and reviews attacks by the United States and other countries engaged in counter-insurgency operations over the past 50 years... The 2009 CIA study lends support to critics of US drone strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen by warning that such operations may increase support for the insurgents, particularly if these strikes enhance insurgent leaders lore, if non-combatants are killed in the attacks, if legitimate or semi-legitimate politicians aligned with the insurgents are targeted, or if the government is already seen as overly repressive or violent. smh.au/world/drone-strikes-counterproductive-says-secret-cia-report-20141218-129ynq.html
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 15:00:00 +0000
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