Articles by Jack Serle

We found 7 results.


Obama’s Covert Drone War in Numbers: Ten Times More Strikes than Bush
Jessica Purkiss and Jack Serle – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 23 Jan 2017

17 Jan 2017 – Obama embraced the US drone programme, overseeing more strikes in his first year than Bush carried out during his entire presidency. A total of 563 strikes, largely by drones, targeted Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen during Obama’s two terms, compared to 57 strikes under Bush. Between 384 and 807 civilians were killed in those countries, according to reports logged by the Bureau.

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Drone Warfare – Obama Drone Casualty Numbers a Fraction of Those Recorded by the Bureau
Jack Serle – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 4 Jul 2016

1 Jul 2016 – The US government today claimed it has killed between 64 and 116 “non-combatants” in 473 counter-terrorism strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya between January 2009 and the end of 2015. This is a fraction of the 380 to 801 civilian casualty range recorded by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism from reports by local and international journalists, NGO investigators, leaked government documents, court papers and the result of field investigations.

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Counting the Cost of US Drones: Local Wars Killing Local People
Jack Serle – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 11 May 2015

It is now 13 years since the US started its covert drone wars and it is clear its targets have expanded beyond al Qaeda. “I am not convinced that what we are doing in Yemen makes sense either politically or even that we’re striking the right people… You get more of a sense that we may be involved in a local conflict more than a global conflict.” — Former DOD official

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Only 4% of Drone Victims in Pakistan Named as Al Qaeda Members
Jack Serle – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 20 Oct 2014

The Bureau’s Naming the Dead project has gathered the names and, where possible, the details of people killed by CIA drones in Pakistan since June 2004. On October 11 [2014] an attack brought the total number of drone strikes in Pakistan up to 400.

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Drone Warfare: More Than 2,400 Dead as Obama’s Drone Campaign Marks Five Years
Jack Serle – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 27 Jan 2014

Obama has launched over 390 covert drone strikes in his first five years in office. Drones have come to dominate Obama’s war in Yemen as much as in Pakistan.

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Six-Month Update: US Covert Actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia
Jack Serle and Chris Woods – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 8 Jul 2013

• Bureau data suggests the CIA is killing fewer people in each strike in Pakistan.
• Lack of official transparency means it remains unclear who is carrying out strikes in Yemen.
• No reports of US operations in Somalia but al Shabaab continues to launch attacks.

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Emerging From the Shadows: US Covert Drone Strikes in 2012
Chris Woods, Jack Serle and Alice K. Ross – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 7 Jan 2013

In one of the biggest news stories of the year, in May [2012] the New York Times revealed that President Obama was personally deciding whether to kill some individuals. He ‘counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent.’ As the Bureau noted at the time, ‘The revelation helps explain the wide variation between credible reports of civilian deaths in Pakistan by the Bureau and others, and the CIA’s claims that it had killed no ‘non-combatants.’

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