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Obama plays down Iraq drone presence as he confirms Pakistan strikes
Reuters Jan 31, 2012 – 2:54 PM ET
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Monday played down the use of U.S. drones in Iraq, saying the program was very limited and focused mainly on protecting the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
The program has outraged senior Iraqi officials, said The New York Times, which first reported the drone flights.
The State Department began operating some drones in Iraq last year on a trial basis and stepped up their use after the last U.S. troops left Iraq in December, the Times said.
“The truth is we’re not engaging in a bunch of drone attacks inside Iraq. There’s some surveillance to make sure that our embassy compound is protected,” Obama said during an online question-and-answer session with users of YouTube and Google+.
“I think that there’s this perception that we’re just sending in a whole bunch of strikes willy nilly,” Obama added. “It is important for everybody to understand that this is kept on a very tight leash.”
Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said its Bureau of Diplomatic Security had a program to use small aircraft known as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, to take pictures of U.S. facilities and personnel abroad.
The New York Times quoted a senior U.S. official as saying talks were under way to obtain authorization for the current drone operations in Iraq.
However, the newspaper reported that three senior Iraqi officials — a top adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq’s national security adviser, and the acting minister of interior — said in interviews they had not been consulted.
Nuland declined to address whether the U.S. government had obtained Iraqi permission to fly the drones, saying only that it always closely consulted with foreign governments about steps to protect U.S. diplomats.
Asked how large the drones were, Nuland held her hands about 2 feet apart. A photograph in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security annual report showed a man holding one that appeared to be 4 or 5 feet long.
In addition to flying over facilities such as embassies, the drones can be used to track the routes and movements of U.S. diplomats as they travel within a country.
PAKISTAN A DIFFERENT STORY
Obama confirmed for the first time U.S. drones targeted Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants on Pakistani soil, a program that has escalated under his administration.
The government in Islamabad, whose relations with Washington sank to an all-time low last year, appeared to shrug off the confirmation but made a rare public acknowledgement that the programme had “tactical advantages.”
During the chat on Google+ and YouTube, Obama said “a lot of these strikes have been in the FATA” — Pakistan’s semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas on the Afghan border.
“For the most part, they’ve been very precise precision strikes against Al-Qaeda and their affiliates, and we’re very careful in terms of how it’s been applied,” Obama said on Monday.
“This is a targeted focused effort at people who are on a list of active terrorists, who are trying to go in and harm Americans, hit American facilities, American bases, and so on.”
He said that many strikes were carried out “on Al-Qaeda operatives in places where the capacities of that military in that country may not be able to get them,” such as Pakistan’s lawless tribal zone.
“For us to be able to get them in another way would involve probably a lot more intrusive military action than the ones we’re already engaging in.”
U.S. officials say Pakistan’s tribal belt provides sanctuary to Taliban fighting in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda groups plotting attacks on the West, Pakistani Taliban who routinely bomb Pakistan and other foreign fighters.
According to an AFP tally, 45 U.S. missile strikes were reported in Pakistan’s tribal belt in 2009, 101 in 2010 and 64 in 2011.
The New America Foundation think tank in Washington says drone strikes in Pakistan have killed between 1,715 and 2,680 people in the past eight years.
Human rights campaigners have expressed deep concern over increased use of drone strikes. The State Department also confirmed it used surveillance drones to protect U.S. diplomats in so-called “critical threat environments” overseas.
The United States had until now refused to discuss the strikes publicly, but the program has dramatically increased as the Obama administration looks to withdraw all foreign combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
U.S. diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks in late 2010 showed that Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders privately supported U.S. drone attacks, despite public condemnation in a country where the U.S. alliance is hugely unpopular.
“Notwithstanding tactical advantages of drone strikes, we are of the firm view that these are unlawful, counterproductive and hence unacceptable,” foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told AFP on Tuesday.
/AFP/Getty Images/Files
Undated file picture of Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden
Relations between the United States and Pakistan deteriorated sharply in 2011, over the covert American raid that killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in May and US air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.
Islamabad is now reviewing its entire alliance with the United States and has kept its Afghan border closed to NATO supply convoys since November 26.
It ordered U.S. personnel to leave Shamsi air base in western Pakistan, widely believed to have been a hub for the CIA drone program, and is thought likely to only reopen the Afghan border by exacting taxes on convoys.
But analyst Imtiaz Gul, who has written extensively about Pakistan’s tribal belt, said Islamabad was hemmed in by its U.S. alliance and stands to lose more than it would gain by ending its co-operation with the war in Afghanistan.
“Geostrategic compulsions arising out of partnership with the United States and other allies basically restrict Pakistan from taking a public position on the drone strikes,” he told AFP.
The review of the alliance will not result in any “earth-shattering recommendations”, he said.
”TACTICAL ADVANTAGES”
Pakistan on Tuesday acknowledged “tactical advantages” to U.S. drone strikes on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and appeared to shrug off the unexpected confirmation by Washington of attacks on its soil.
The remarks from Pakistan’s foreign ministry came as President Barack Obama confirmed for the first time that drone aircraft had targeted Islamist militants in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border.
“Notwithstanding tactical advantages of drone strikes, we are of the firm view that these are unlawful, counterproductive and hence unacceptable,” ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told AFP in a text message.
“Our view has always been very clear and position principled,” he added.
© 2012 Thomson Reuters with files from Agence France-Presse
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Reuters Jan 31, 2012 – 2:54 PM ET
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Monday played down the use of U.S. drones in Iraq, saying the program was very limited and focused mainly on protecting the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
The program has outraged senior Iraqi officials, said The New York Times, which first reported the drone flights.
The State Department began operating some drones in Iraq last year on a trial basis and stepped up their use after the last U.S. troops left Iraq in December, the Times said.
“The truth is we’re not engaging in a bunch of drone attacks inside Iraq. There’s some surveillance to make sure that our embassy compound is protected,” Obama said during an online question-and-answer session with users of YouTube and Google+.
“I think that there’s this perception that we’re just sending in a whole bunch of strikes willy nilly,” Obama added. “It is important for everybody to understand that this is kept on a very tight leash.”
Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said its Bureau of Diplomatic Security had a program to use small aircraft known as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, to take pictures of U.S. facilities and personnel abroad.
The New York Times quoted a senior U.S. official as saying talks were under way to obtain authorization for the current drone operations in Iraq.
However, the newspaper reported that three senior Iraqi officials — a top adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq’s national security adviser, and the acting minister of interior — said in interviews they had not been consulted.
Nuland declined to address whether the U.S. government had obtained Iraqi permission to fly the drones, saying only that it always closely consulted with foreign governments about steps to protect U.S. diplomats.
Asked how large the drones were, Nuland held her hands about 2 feet apart. A photograph in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security annual report showed a man holding one that appeared to be 4 or 5 feet long.
In addition to flying over facilities such as embassies, the drones can be used to track the routes and movements of U.S. diplomats as they travel within a country.
PAKISTAN A DIFFERENT STORY
Obama confirmed for the first time U.S. drones targeted Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants on Pakistani soil, a program that has escalated under his administration.
The government in Islamabad, whose relations with Washington sank to an all-time low last year, appeared to shrug off the confirmation but made a rare public acknowledgement that the programme had “tactical advantages.”
During the chat on Google+ and YouTube, Obama said “a lot of these strikes have been in the FATA” — Pakistan’s semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas on the Afghan border.
“For the most part, they’ve been very precise precision strikes against Al-Qaeda and their affiliates, and we’re very careful in terms of how it’s been applied,” Obama said on Monday.
“This is a targeted focused effort at people who are on a list of active terrorists, who are trying to go in and harm Americans, hit American facilities, American bases, and so on.”
He said that many strikes were carried out “on Al-Qaeda operatives in places where the capacities of that military in that country may not be able to get them,” such as Pakistan’s lawless tribal zone.
“For us to be able to get them in another way would involve probably a lot more intrusive military action than the ones we’re already engaging in.”
U.S. officials say Pakistan’s tribal belt provides sanctuary to Taliban fighting in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda groups plotting attacks on the West, Pakistani Taliban who routinely bomb Pakistan and other foreign fighters.
According to an AFP tally, 45 U.S. missile strikes were reported in Pakistan’s tribal belt in 2009, 101 in 2010 and 64 in 2011.
The New America Foundation think tank in Washington says drone strikes in Pakistan have killed between 1,715 and 2,680 people in the past eight years.
Human rights campaigners have expressed deep concern over increased use of drone strikes. The State Department also confirmed it used surveillance drones to protect U.S. diplomats in so-called “critical threat environments” overseas.
The United States had until now refused to discuss the strikes publicly, but the program has dramatically increased as the Obama administration looks to withdraw all foreign combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
U.S. diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks in late 2010 showed that Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders privately supported U.S. drone attacks, despite public condemnation in a country where the U.S. alliance is hugely unpopular.
“Notwithstanding tactical advantages of drone strikes, we are of the firm view that these are unlawful, counterproductive and hence unacceptable,” foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told AFP on Tuesday.
/AFP/Getty Images/Files
Undated file picture of Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden
Relations between the United States and Pakistan deteriorated sharply in 2011, over the covert American raid that killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in May and US air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.
Islamabad is now reviewing its entire alliance with the United States and has kept its Afghan border closed to NATO supply convoys since November 26.
It ordered U.S. personnel to leave Shamsi air base in western Pakistan, widely believed to have been a hub for the CIA drone program, and is thought likely to only reopen the Afghan border by exacting taxes on convoys.
But analyst Imtiaz Gul, who has written extensively about Pakistan’s tribal belt, said Islamabad was hemmed in by its U.S. alliance and stands to lose more than it would gain by ending its co-operation with the war in Afghanistan.
“Geostrategic compulsions arising out of partnership with the United States and other allies basically restrict Pakistan from taking a public position on the drone strikes,” he told AFP.
The review of the alliance will not result in any “earth-shattering recommendations”, he said.
”TACTICAL ADVANTAGES”
Pakistan on Tuesday acknowledged “tactical advantages” to U.S. drone strikes on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and appeared to shrug off the unexpected confirmation by Washington of attacks on its soil.
The remarks from Pakistan’s foreign ministry came as President Barack Obama confirmed for the first time that drone aircraft had targeted Islamist militants in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border.
“Notwithstanding tactical advantages of drone strikes, we are of the firm view that these are unlawful, counterproductive and hence unacceptable,” ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told AFP in a text message.
“Our view has always been very clear and position principled,” he added.
© 2012 Thomson Reuters with files from Agence France-Presse
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