May 12, 2012, Yemen media reporting that two U.S. drone strikes killed 16 people in Yemen.
The drone strikes are part of a Yemen military blitz underway now: “A force of about 20,000 men is taking part in this offensive, ordered by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to free the cities of Zinjibar and Jaar.”-unnamed Yemen military officer
Thousands of civilians are fleeing the government’s efforts to “free the cities”.
May 10, 2012, CNN reported that U.S. drone strikes killed eight people in Yemen. An analyst said the U.S. has launched at least 15 drone strikes in Yemen this year, so far.
May 11, 2012, Mujahideen in Somalia say a U.S. drone strike left 38 people dead.
May 12, 2012, in Seattle, Washington, a group of university students from Pakistan won the Best Audience Award at the National Film Festival For Talented Youth (NFFTY). Their 20 minute documentary (The Other Side) is about the ongoing U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan. The student filmmakers were not able to attend the ceremony.
So far this year there have been at least 10 drone strikes, with at least 83 Pakistanis reported killed.
According to a May 11, 2012, report by Germany’s Deutsche Welle, peace prize winner U.S. President Barack Obama has killed more Pakistanis with drones in his first three and a half years in office, than former President George W. Bush did in all his last five years as president!
So far Obama has authorized the killing of 2,355 people in Pakistan, compared to Bush Jr’s measly 426!!!
According to Peter Rudolf, of the German Institute for International and Security Policy, German citizens have also been killed by U.S. drones. He says German officials are looking the other way because of Germany’s support for the United States: “Certain information that would lead to the killing of a German citizen is not permitted to be shared [with public/news media] as part of the cooperation between intelligence agencies.”
An unnamed German Interior Ministry official confirmed, in a round-a-bout way, that the U.S. was conducting extra-judicial murder and Germany had no problem with it: “Our constitutional order prohibits providing information regarding extra-judicial killing.”
May 8, 2012, the Federation of American Scientists posted on their website USAF documents that prove the U.S. Air force is spying on people who live within the United States.
As long as the imagery data they collect is considered “incidental” then they are violating no privacy laws, or civil liberties of U.S. citizens. The data can be kept for 90 days, and shared with other agencies of the Department of Defense.
Also, USAF documents show that drones used for combat must not be operated by civil service workers, or contractors.