No More Drones For The CIA

Exclusive: No More Drones For CIA -- Daniel Klaidman, Daily Beast

Three senior officials tell Daniel Klaidman that the Obama administration is poised to shift the CIA’s drone program to the Pentagon.

At a time when controversy over the Obama administration’s drone program seems to be cresting, the CIA is close to taking a major step toward getting out of the targeted killing business. Three senior U.S. officials tell The Daily Beast that the White House is poised to sign off on a plan to shift the CIA’s lethal targeting program to the Defense Department.

The move could potentially toughen the criteria for drone strikes, strengthen the program’s accountability, and increase transparency. Currently, the government maintains parallel drone programs, one housed in the CIA and the other run by the Department of Defense. The proposed plan would unify the command and control structure of targeted killings and create a uniform set of rules and procedures. The CIA would maintain a role, but the military would have operational control over targeting. Lethal missions would take place under Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which governs military operations, rather than Title 50, which sets out the legal authorities for intelligence activities and covert operations. “This is a big deal,” says one senior administration official who has been briefed on the plan. “It would be a pretty strong statement.”

Read more ....

More News On The CIA Giving Up It's Drones

U.S. to Shift Drone Command -- Wall Street Journal
White House to move drone operations out of CIA, centralize at Pentagon -- FOX News
Pentagon Taking Over Drones Magnifies The CIA's Free Rein -- Business Insider
The CIA Is Losing Its Drone Privileges -- Joe Coscarelli, New York Mag
White House set to move drone program away from CIA: report -- New York Post
Obama mulls stripping CIA of drones -- RT
Report: CIA Losing Armed Drones Program To Pentagon -- Think Progress
Human rights groups: Getting CIA out of drone business is only first step -- Susan Crabtree, The Washington Times
Feinstein is worried about the CIA losing the drone program -- Passport/Foreign Policy
Going Clear: Drone critics wanted greater transparency. Careful what you wish for. -- Matthew Waxman, National Security/Foreign Policy
Does Transferring Drone Program from CIA to Pentagon Change Anything? -- Opposing View
Does it matter who runs US drone program? Pentagon could supplant CIA. -- Anna Mulrine, Christian Science Monitor

President Obama: Dick Cheney Was Worse On Drones

President Obama: I'm No Dick Cheney On Drones -- Politico

President Barack Obama’s defense to Democratic senators complaining about how little his administration has told Congress about the legal justifications for his drone policy: Dick Cheney was worse.

That’s part of what two senators in the room recounted of Obama’s response when, near the outset of his closed-door session with the Senate Democratic conference on Tuesday, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) confronted the president over the administration’s refusal for two years to show congressional intelligence committees Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel memos justifying the use of lethal force against American terror suspects abroad.

Read more ....

My Comment: President Obama is trying to "wash his hands" from a policy that has expanded dramatically under his administration (see the above graph) .... but with the media being as compliant as they have been for the past 5 years .... he may get away with it.

Does The U.S. Have Secret Protocols And Agreements With Foreign Governments To Conduct Drone Strikes?

U.S. drone base in Saudi Arabia? Wired

There's An Even Worse Scandal Hidden In Obama's Secret Drone Memo -- Business Insider

The Obama administration's classified legal memos justifying targeted killings contain secret protocols with foreign governments and “case-specific” details of strikes, two sources aware of their contents told Krisitn Roberts and Michael Hirsch of the National Journal.

The accords with foreign governments — which include Pakistan and Yemen — are a key element excluded from the Department of Justice (DoJ) “white paper.”

A legal expert outside the government "who is intimately familiar with the contents of the memos" told the Journal that targeted-killing memos written by the DoJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) are being withheld to protect this information.

Read more ....

My Comment: Because this info has not been publicly released I must confess that I am speculating now .... but it appears that the framework that was used to permit the CIA to conduct it's rendition program has been used in reaching agreements with foreign governments on conducting drone strikes.

Leaked U.S. Justice Memo Outlines The Legal Guidelines For U.S. Drone Strikes Against Americans

Tribesmen this week examine the rubble of a building in southeastern Yemen where American teenager Abdulrahmen al-Awlaki and six suspected al-Qaida militants were killed in a U.S. drone strike on Oct. 14, 2011. Al-Awlaki, 16, was the son of Anwar al-Awlaki, who died in a similar strike two weeks earlier. Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

EXCLUSIVE: Justice Department Memo Reveals Legal Case For Drone Strikes On Americans -- NBC

A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” -- even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.

The 16-page memo, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, provides new details about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration’s most secretive and controversial polices: its dramatically increased use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects abroad, including those aimed at American citizens, such as the September 2011 strike in Yemen that killed alleged al-Qaida operatives Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan. Both were U.S. citizens who had never been indicted by the U.S. government nor charged with any crimes.

Read more ....

More News On The U.S. Justice's Memo Outlining The Legal Guidelines For U.S. Drone Strikes Against Americans

Drone strikes on Americans on U.S. soil are LEGAL, says confidential Justice Department memo -- Daily Mail
Justice memo details broad grounds for drone strikes against Qaida-linked US citizens abroad -- Washington Post/AP
Memo justifies drone kills even with patchy intelligence -- Reuters
US memo gives broad legal rationale for targeted killings -- AFP
Obama's Memo on Killing Americans Twists 'Imminent Threat' Like Bush -- The Atlantic
Report: Memo backs U.S. using lethal force against Americans overseas -- CNN
Memo Cites Legal Basis for Killing U.S. Citizens in Al Qaeda -- New York Times
Justice Dept. document justifies killing Americans overseas if they pose ‘imminent threat’ -- Washington Post
Justice Dept.: Legal For US To Kill al-Qaida Americans Abroad -- Voice of America
Justice Department memo: US government has legal right to order drone strikes on Americans -- al.com
US drone strikes: Memo reveals case for killing Americans -- BBC
Justice Department memo: Drone strikes on U.S. citizens can be legal -- Washington Times
After Leaked Memo on Drone Killings, Senators Still Seek More Details -- Roll Call
Senators threaten 'confrontation' with Obama nominees over drone concerns -- FOX News
Leaked Memo Shows Rules for Killing Americans With Drones Are Pretty Vague -- Margaret Hartmann, New York Magazine
A ‘profoundly disturbing’ memo? DOJ white paper outlines legal basis for targeted killings -- ABA Journal
How Obama Transformed an Old Military Concept So He Can Drone Americans -- Spencer Ackerman, Danger Room
How Obama Decides to Kill American Citizens in the War on Terror -- Adam Clark Estes, The Atlantic

WNU Editor: The 16 page memo is here.

My Comment: Unbelievable .... I remember the grief that President Bush got when the debate on warrant-less wiretaps was in the open. And now .... where are the critics.

Are Drone Strikes War Crimes?

United Nations special rapporteur Ben Emmerson tells Danger Room that accountability for drone strikes “is the central purpose” of his new inquiry. Photo: United Nations

U.N. Drone Investigator: If Facts Lead To U.S. War Crimes, So Be It -- Danger Room

Ben Emmerson wants to be clear: He’s not out to ban flying killer robots used by the CIA or the U.S. military. But the 49-year-old British lawyer is about to become the bane of the drones’ existence, thanks to the United Nations inquiry he launched last week into their deadly operations.

Emmerson, the United Nations’ special rapporteur for human rights and counterterrorism, will spend the next five months doing something the Obama administration has thoroughly resisted: unearthing the dirty secrets of a global counterterrorism campaign that largely relies on rapidly proliferating drone technology. Announced on Thursday in London, it’s the first international inquiry into the drone program, and one that carries the imprimatur of the world body. By the next session of the United Nations in the fall, Emmerson hopes to provide the General Assembly with an report on 25 drone strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Palestine where civilian deaths are credibly alleged.

Read more ....

My Comment: A better understanding of UN investigator Ben Emmerson's mandate can be read here. More news and info on this UN probe can be read here.

While Britain has promised to cooperate with this investigation .... the U.S. and Israel have said nothing .... and this silence tells me that they will not. One more drawback to this investigation .... I just do not see this UN group going to places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, or Somalia to investigate these drone strikes. It will be too dangerous for them to show up .... and they know it.

But I must confess that what I find captivating about this investigation is that in the end a report will be published .... and I am betting that it will state that the U.S. drone program has committed 'war crimes' .... that civilians were deliberately killed knowing that they would be collateral damage against a high value target in a drone strike. If so ..... and this is what tweaks me ..... is that since President Obama was the one who personally signed off on many of these drone strikes .... does that mean that he can then be charged for a war crime .... and if so does that mean that he will be the first Nobel Peace Prize recipient in history to be labelled as such.

I personally hope not .... but the irony is something to ponder about, and I would wager that there are some in the White House who are now deeply concerned about where this UN investigation is going, and what it may do to President Obama's legacy.

On a side note .... the three countries that pushed for this investigation are Russia, China, and Pakistan .... no friends of the U.S. .... and more to the point .... no friends to this administration.

Ret. General McChrystal: The World Hates Drones On A Visceral Level

A German drone (Reuters).

Retired General Cautions Against Overuse Of "Hated" Drones -- Reuters

Aerial reconnaissance and attack drones have had a liberating effect on U.S. military forces, but they are deeply hated by many people and their overuse could jeopardize Washington's broader objectives, retired General Stanley McChrystal said on Monday.

McChrystal, who authored the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, said use of drones had enabled him to carry out missions with smaller groups of special operations forces because the "eye in the sky" provided backup security.

"What scares me about drone strikes is how they are perceived around the world," he said in an interview. "The resentment created by American use of unmanned strikes ... is much greater than the average American appreciates. They are hated on a visceral level, even by people who've never seen one or seen the effects of one."

Read more ....

Update #1: The General Who Ran US Drones Admits They Cause 'Visceral Resentment' Toward America -- Business Insider
Update #2: Even Stanley McChrystal Realizes How Much the World Hates Our Drones -- The Atlantic

My Comment: The world may hate drones .... but as I had pointed out in the previous post .... a global arms race is now happening because the major powers in the world are now rushing to develop and manufacture their own fleet of drones.

Tweeting Every Drone Strike Has Revealed Possible U.S. War Crimes

The NYU Student Tweeting Every Reported US Drone Strike Has Revealed A Disturbing Trend -- Business Insider

NYU student Josh Begley is tweeting every reported U.S. drone strike since 2002, and the feed highlights a disturbing tactic employed by the U.S. that is widely considered a war crime.

Known as the "double tap," the tactic involves bombing a target multiple times in relatively quick succession, meaning that the second strike often hits first responders.

A 2007 report by the Homeland Security Institute called double taps a "favorite tactic of Hamas" and the FBI considers it a tactic employed by terrorists.

Read more ....

My Comment: NYU student Josh Begle's twitter feed is here. Complaints of drone "double taps" has been coming out from Pakistan for years. But this is the first time that we can spot the trend .... and yes .... many do believe that hitting first responders in such a fashion is a war crime.

On a side note .... my father fought in the Second World War (Soviet Army) .... and he once told me that for the Nazis this was one of their favorite tactics in bombing .... 10 to 15 minutes after a bombing, a second wave would then come in and kill-off the emergency crews and survivors trying to rescue those who were caught in the first wave.

Tweeting Every Reported US Drone Strike

One Man Is Now Tweeting Every U.S. Drone Strike Known to Man -- The Atlantic

Josh Begley set out to tweet a complete history of known U.S. drone strikes Tuesday with the goal of doing it all in ten minutes. Except there were way too many strikes to tweet, so his original plan fell apart pretty quickly.

You might recognize Begley's name. He is the guy who designed the iPhone app that mapped all the U.S. drone strikes worldwide using publicly available information. Apple removed it multiple times from the App Store this summer. So Begley set out anew to tweet the entire history of drone strikes, spanning over a decade, from an account he created especially for the project, @DroneStream:

Read more ....

More News On Tweeting Every Reported US Drone Strike

Josh Begley, NYU Grad Student, Tweets Every Drone Strike -- Huffington Post
Tweet history of US drone strikes lasting longer than planned -- The Guardian
Student Tweets Entire History of US Drone Strikes -- Mashable
Tweeting the US drone war -- Al Jazeera
A tweeted tale of drone strikes -- Salon

My Comment: NYU student Josh Begle's twitter feed is here. I am impress .... after a day of tweeting he now has over 8,000 followers.

Defending Drone Strikes

 

Top Pentagon Lawyer Defends Drone Killings -- Foreign Policy 

In a rare public interview, Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon’s top lawyer, argued that the U.S. is able to target terrorists “with great precision,” in a defense of drone strikes. “Now, are we perfect? No. There have been regrettable and unfortunate losses of life, but I believe we have a pretty good track record.” A clip of Johnson’s interview with BBC’s HARDtalk is posted online with the full interview to come later Thursday and Friday.  

Read more ....    

WNU Editor: Must be a trend .... another top U.S. official has come out in defense of drone strikes.

U.N. To Probe Drone Attacks By U.S.

MQ-1 Predator.(Reuters / Handout)

U.N. To Probe Drone Attacks By U.S., Others Resulting In Civilian Deaths -- Washington Post

NEW YORK — An independent U.N. human rights researcher on Thursday announced plans to launch an investigation into the use of drone attacks and other targeted assassinations by the United States and other governments that result in civilian deaths or injuries.

Ben Emmerson, the U.N. special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, said in a Harvard University law school speech that he and South African Christof Heyns, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, will establish an investigative unit early next year in Geneva to probe drone attacks.

Read more ....

More News On the U.N. To Probe Drone Attacks

U.N. to probe errant U.S. drone attacks -- UPI
UN ready to take on US over deadly drone attacks -- The Age
U.N. team to investigate civilian drone deaths -- The Slate
United Nations to begin investigating US drone strike targeted kills -- RT
UN to probe into US drone attacks -- Voice of Russia

My Comment: To have a better understanding on what is the mindset of these UN investigators, go here. But as much as they want to have a debate .... it is probably not going to happen. In the meantime, the case against drone strikes continues to build.

The Last Moments Of Life For A U.S. Predator

Air Force officials are seeking volunteers for future training classes to produce operators of the MQ-1 Predator unmanned aircraft. (U.S. Air Force photo/Lt Col Leslie Pratt)

The Last Moments Of Predator #07-3249 -- Washington Post

The drone, armed with a single Hellfire missile, crashed on its approach to the runway next to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti on May 17, 2011. Air Force investigators concluded that low clouds and humidity obscured the drone’s camera sensor – rendering it “blind” – and that a Global Positioning System malfunction misjudged how close the aircraft was flying to the ground.

Read more ....

My Comment: There goes a few million dollars. The MQ-1B Predator fact sheet is here. More info on the predator can be found here.

U.S. Report: Drone Attacks Are Killing 50 Civilians For Each Terrorist In Pakistan

New Stanford/NYU Study Documents The Civilian Terror From Obama's Drones -- The Guardian

New research shows the terrorizing impact of drones in Pakistan, false statements from US officials, and how it increases the terror threat.

A vitally important and thoroughly documented new report on the impact of Obama's drone campaign has just been released by researchers at NYU School of Law and Stanford University Law School. Entitled "Living Under Drones: Death, Injury and Trauma to Civilians From US Drone Practices in Pakistan", the report details the terrorizing effects of Obama's drone assaults as well as the numerous, highly misleading public statements from administration officials about that campaign. The study's purpose was to conduct an "independent investigations into whether, and to what extent, drone strikes in Pakistan conformed to international law and caused harm and/or injury to civilians".

Read more ....

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Bombardment: More than 345 strikes have hit Pakistan's tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan in the past eight years. Daily Mail

More News On The Impact Of U.S. Drone Strikes On Civilian Populations

Drones in Pakistan traumatise civilians, US report says -- BBC
'US drone attacks are counter-productive and terrorise civilians' -- The Telegraph
Drone attacks in Pakistan are counterproductive, says report -- The Guardian
Outrage at CIA's deadly 'double tap' drone attacks -- The Independent
America's deadly double tap drone attacks are 'killing 49 people for every known terrorist in Pakistan' -- Daily Mail
Drone strikes in Pakistan have killed many civilians, study says -- L.A. Times
Pakistan Drone Study Finds 'Damaging And Counterproductive' Consequences From U.S. Policy -- Huffington Post
Why Are CIA Drones Still Causing the Death of Innocents in Pakistan? -- Clive Stafford Smith, Huffington Post

A Look At The Drone War In Afghanistan

MQ-9 Reaper. Wikipedia

The Air Force Men Who Fly Drones In Afghanistan By Remote Control -- The Telegraph

The unmanned aircraft patrolling the skies above Afghanistan are controlled by pilots sitting in front of screens as far as 7,000 miles away

Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan is reckoned to be as busy as Gatwick. Every few minutes the cloudless skies are filled with the roar of a military fighter taking off – hugging the ground to avoid pot shots by the Taliban’s crude rockets before disappearing into the heat haze.

In between there is a more persistent sound: the high-pitched whirr of 'drones’ – military aircraft without a human on board – as they head out for 18-hour stints monitoring the vast empty spaces of Afghanistan. This sound, generated by the aircraft’s tail propeller, is a constant white noise for the inhabitants of Kandahar Airfield.

Read more ....

My Comment: An informative and comprehensive look at the drone war in Afghanistan.

Yemen's Drone War Is Intensifying

29 Dead In 8 Days As U.S. Puts Yemen Drone War In Overdrive -- Danger Room

29 dead in a little over a week. Nearly 200 gone this year. The White House is stepping up its campaign of drone attacks in Yemen, with four strikes in eight days. And not even the slaying of 10 civilians over the weekend seems to have slowed the pace in the United States’ secretive, undeclared war.

At this week’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, you’ll hear lots of talk about the Obama administration’s pursuit of al-Qaida and its allies — including, of course, the raid that ultimately took out Osama bin Laden. But the hottest battlefield in this worldwide conflict isn’t likely to receive much attention. It’s a shame, because the fight in Yemen is one that demands discussion. Not only does the White House consider al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula to be the extremist group most likely to strike in the United States. But the American response to that threat was been widely questioned by regional experts, who wonder whether U.S. drones and commandos aren’t being duped into fighting on one side of a civil war.

Read more ....

More News On The U.S. Drone Campaign In Yemen

US drones strike again in Yemen, kill 8 AQAP fighters -- Long War Journal
Yemen: Terrorists crucify man for allegedly helping American drone strikes -- Examiner
Drone strike kills 13 civilians -- RT
Drone “blowback” is real -- Salon

The Life Of A U.S. Drone Operator

A drone pilot at the base at Hancock Field, near Syracuse, working the controls of a craft flying over Afghanistan. Heather Ainsworth for The New York Times

A Day Job Waiting For A Kill Shot A World Away -- New York Times

HANCOCK FIELD AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, N.Y. — From his computer console here in the Syracuse suburbs, Col. D. Scott Brenton remotely flies a Reaper drone that beams back hundreds of hours of live video of insurgents, his intended targets, going about their daily lives 7,000 miles away in Afghanistan. Sometimes he and his team watch the same family compound for weeks.

“I see mothers with children, I see fathers with children, I see fathers with mothers, I see kids playing soccer,” Colonel Brenton said.

When the call comes for him to fire a missile and kill a militant — and only, Colonel Brenton said, when the women and children are not around — the hair on the back of his neck stands up, just as it did when he used to line up targets in his F-16 fighter jet.

Read more ....

Update #1: With shift to drones, war is often waged from home -- Stars And Stripes/L.A. Times
Update #2: A Day in the Life of a U.S. Drone Operator -- The Atlantic

My Comment: Both the New York Times and the Stars and Stripes/L.A. Times articles are must reads.

Britain Flew Drones Over Libya Against Gaddafi's Forces

Photo: DVIDSHUB

Britain 'Flew Drones Over Libya' -- The Telegraph

RAF personnel flew armed remote-controlled drones over Libya against Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces, it was disclosed, as the Government confirmed the first British use of the controversial aircraft outside Afghanistan.

In a parliamentary answer, Lord Astor of Hever, under secretary of state at the Ministry of Defence, said drones belonging to the United States were operated by British pilots during the Nato operation in 2011.

Lord Bates of Langbaurgh had asked for clarification on whether or not armed British drones had been used against terror suspects outside Afghanistan.

Read more ....

Update #1: British pilots flew armed US drones in Libya, MoD reveals -- The Guardian
Update #2: British government says Royal Air Force operated armed US drones over Libya -- Washington Post/AP

My Comment: This news leads to the following question .... are they doing the same over the skies of Syria?

Secret U.S. Drone Flights Over Somalia Are No Longer Secret

Drone Operations Over Somalia Pose Danger To Air Traffic, U.N. Report Says -- Washington Post

The skies over Somalia have become so congested with drones that the unmanned aircraft pose a danger to air traffic and potentially violate a long-standing arms embargo against the war-torn country, according to United Nations officials.

In a recently completed report, U.N. officials describe several narrowly averted disasters in which drones crashed into a refu­gee camp, flew dangerously close to a fuel dump and almost collided with a large passenger plane over Mogadishu, the capital.

Read more ....

My Comment: There is some humor in this story .... everyone is officially denying that they have drones flying over Somalia ....even as crashes and near crashes are occurring at the same time.

Pentagon Alarmed On How US Intelligence From Drones Was Used By Turkey In The Uludere Raid

US Role In Deadly Turkey Air Strike Sparks Alarm At Pentagon -- FOX News/Wall Street Journal

ULUDERE, Turkey -- A Turkish air strike that killed dozens of civilians near the Iraqi border last year sparked alarm at the Pentagon over how intelligence from US drones is being used by allies.

The strike in late December was meant to knock out Kurdish separatist fighters. Instead it killed 34 civilians smuggling gasoline, a tragic blunder in Turkey's nearly three-decade campaign against the guerrillas. The killings ignited protests across the country and prompted wide-ranging official inquiries.

The civilian toll also set off alarms at the Pentagon, as a US Predator drone spotted the men and pack animals, and American officers alerted Turkey.

Read more ....

More News On Pentagon Concerns On How US Intelligence From Drones Is Being Used

Uludere intel came from US: report -- Hurriyet News
Intel for infamous Uludere raid in eastern Turkey came from US officials -- National Turk
Defense reveals U.S. role in drone attack -- UPI
Turkish attack on civilians tied to information from US military drone -- Stars and Stripes
Another US Predator drone gets it wrong -- Global Post

More U.S. Drone Strikes In Yemen

Drone Strikes Kill Suspected al Qaeda Militants In Yemen -- CNN

Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) -- A pair of U.S. drone strikes killed 11 suspected al Qaeda militants Saturday in Yemen's Mareb province, part of a continuing air campaign targeting the terror organization, security officials said.

The first drone attack killed seven people after it hit one of three vehicles carrying the suspected militants in the district of Huraib, the officials said. The other two vehicles fled the area unharmed and continued toward the southern Abyan province.

Read more ....

More News On Today's Drone Strikes In Yemen

Yemen: U.S. drone strike kills 11 al-Qaeda militants -- USA Today/AP
'Al-Qaeda fighters' killed in Yemen attacks -- Al Jazeera
U.S. drone strikes kill 10 suspected militants in Yemen -- Reuters
US, Yemen step up campaign against al-Qaeda -- Deutsche Welle
Drone Strikes Kill Al-Qaeda Suspects Amid Yemen Offensive -- Bloomberg

Update: U.S. troops/advisers are being sent to Yemen.

Bin Laden's Documents Reveal Impact Of U.S. Drone Strikes

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Al-Qaida Document Cache Reveals Toll Of US Drone Strikes On Bin Laden's Plans -- The Guardian

US military publishes memorandums between Osama Bin Laden and his subordinates that detail how al-Qaida reshaped strategy.

Crippling US drone attacks forced Osama bin Laden to consider withdrawing his fighters from what had previously been safe havens in Pakistan, according to newly released documents seized at the compound where the al-Qaida leader was killed a year ago.

Memorandums between Bin Laden and his subordinates, made public by the US military's Combating Terrorism Center on Thursday, also revealed that with support eroding in the Muslim world because of the large number of civilians killed by al-Qaida and its affiliates, he wanted to focus "every bow and arrow" at US targets even at the expense of attacks on other countries, such as Britain, and Nato forces. Bin Laden said it would be a good idea to kill Barack Obama because then an "utterly unprepared" Joe Biden would become president.

Read more ....

My Comment: Many senior commanders .... probably many that he (Bin Laden) knew personally .... have (over the years) been killed from drone strikes. I call that a clear indication that the US drone program and the CIA's targeted assassination program was having an impact.