Thread: Former Air Force Analyst: Drone Pilots Can’t Tell The Difference Between A Shovel &

Former Air Force Analyst: Drone Pilots Can’t Tell The Difference Between A Shovel And A Weapon

December 30, 2013 by Sam Rolley

When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And when you’re piloting a lethal drone, everyone looks like a dangerous militant. That is, according to a former employee of the U.S. drone program.
In a commentary published in Sunday’s The Guardian, former U.S. Air Force imagery analyst Heather Linebaugh offers a firs-hand account of the moments of uncertainty drone pilots face as they decide whether the people on their computer screens will live or die.
Drone operators and analysts routinely make life or death decisions while sitting thousands of miles away from targets that they cannot always clearly identify even under the best operating conditions, according to Linebaugh. The former drone analyst contends, despite the claims of politicians and military officials, that civilian casualty rates from drone strikes are high because the pilots are often unable to get a clear picture of the targets they kill.
She writes: “What the public needs to understand is that the video provided by a drone is not usually clear enough to detect someone carrying a weapon, even on a crystal-clear day with limited cloud and perfect light. This makes it incredibly difficult for the best analysts to identify if someone has weapons for sure. One example comes to mind: ‘The feed is so pixelated, what if it’s a shovel, and not a weapon?’ I felt this confusion constantly, as did my fellow UAV analysts. We always wonder if we killed the right people, if we endangered the wrong people, if we destroyed an innocent civilian’s life all because of a bad image or angle.”
Linebaugh says that the underreported shortcomings of drones have disastrous consequences not only for the civilians killed in strikes but also for the people operating the drones.
“UAV troops are victim to not only the haunting memories of this work that they carry with them, but also the guilt of always being a little unsure of how accurate their confirmations of weapons or identification of hostile individuals were,” she writes.
“Of course, we are trained to not experience these feelings, and we fight it, and become bitter. Some troops seek help in mental health clinics provided by the military, but we are limited on who we can talk to and where, because of the secrecy of our missions,” Linebaugh continues. “I find it interesting that the suicide statistics in this career field aren’t reported, nor are the data on how many troops working in UAV positions are heavily medicated for depression, sleep disorders and anxiety.”
A report released in October by Human Rights Watch titled “Between a Drone and Al-Qaeda: The Civilian Cost of US Targeted Killings in Yemen” examined six U.S. drone strikes in Yemen, one from 2009 and the rest from 2012-2013. The report found that two of the drone strikes killed civilians indiscriminately in clear violation of the laws of war. The other strikes, according to the report, targeted people who were not legitimate military targets and caused avoidable civilian deaths. The Human Rights Watch report also provided grisly details and firsthand accounts of botched U.S. drone operations in the region in which it says at least 57 of the 82 people killed were civilians. One 2009 attack noted in the report claimed the lives of 41 civilians.

Filed Under: Liberty News, Staff Reports

http://personalliberty.com/2013/12/3...-and-a-weapon/

Drone Pilots Can’t Always See Targets; Tea Party Is Here To Stay; Government Policies Hurt Low Earners; Opposition To Egypt Aid Grows; Afghan War Is America’s Longest, Least Popular — Personal Liberty Digest™ P.M. Edition 12-30-2013

December 30, 2013 by Personal Liberty News Desk

Brush up on the day’s headlines with Personal Liberty’s P.M. Edition news links.

Former Air Force Analyst: Drone Pilots Can’t Tell The Difference Between A Shovel And A Weapon

When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And when you’re piloting a lethal drone, everyone looks like a dangerous militant. That is, according to a former employee of the U.S. drone program. Read More…

Grudging Harvard Prof: Tea Party Is Here To Stay

Despite all the mainstream media punditry that’s ready to shovel dirt over the casket of grass-roots conservatism and truly liberal (as opposed to radical progressive) thought, at least one Harvard professor thinks the Tea Party isn’t going away anytime soon. Progressives Fret…

Ron Paul Straight Talk: Government Policies Hurt Low-Wage Workers

Raising minimum wages by government decree appeals to those who do not understand economics. This appeal is especially strong during times of stagnant wages and increased economic inequality. But raising the minimum wage actually harms those at the bottom of the income ladder. Ron Paul Explains…

Poll: 49 Percent Oppose Further U.S. Aid To Egypt

Nearly half of U.S. voters say they’re opposed to more financial aid for longtime U.S. ally Egypt, a Rasmussen poll released Monday indicates. Read More…

Support For War In Afghanistan Dips Below 20 Percent

Support for the war in Afghanistan is less than 20 percent, making the longest U.S. military conflict the least popular. Read More…

Filed Under: Liberty News, Staff Reports

http://personalliberty.com/2013/12/3...least-popular/

CNN Poll: Support For War In Afghanistan Dips Below 20 Percent

December 30, 2013 by UPI - United Press International, Inc.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) — Support for the war in Afghanistan is less than 20 percent, making the longest U.S. military conflict the least popular, a CNN poll released Monday indicated.
Results of the CNN/ORC International survey also indicates a majority of Americans would like to see U.S. combat troops leave Afghanistan before the December 2014 deadline.
Only 17 percent of Americans say they support the 12-year-long war, the poll indicated. Opposition is at 82 percent.
“Those numbers show the war in Afghanistan with far less support than other conflicts,” CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. “Opposition to the Iraq war never got higher than 69 percent in CNN polling while U.S. troops were in that country, and while the Vietnam War was in progress, no more than six in 10 ever told Gallup’s interviewers that war was a mistake.”
Nearly all U.S. troops are to be out of Afghanistan by this time in next year; however, just more than half of Americans said they’d rather see U.S. troops withdrawn sooner, the CNN poll indicated. Only 24 percent said America should still have boots on the ground in Afghanistan after the deadline.
About 2,300 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001.
Results are based on a nationwide phone survey with 1,035 adults conducted Dec. 16-19. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.

http://personalliberty.com/2013/12/3...ow-20-percent/