Drone missile attacks are increasingly becoming the weapon of choice of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (as in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq), the Joint Special Operations Command (Yemen) and the Air Force, which as of last year had 195 Predators and 28 Reapers.
All indications are that they will soon have more.
This year the Obama administration has sought from Congress $33 billion more for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq "on top of a record request for $708 billion for the Defense Department next year." [11]
surveillance and attack missions in Afghanistan and Pakistan are a priority, with a goal of speeding up the purchase of new Reaper drones and expansion of Predator and Reaper drone flights through 2013." [12]
A February 1 article called "China, Iran Prompt U.S. Air-Sea Battle Plan in Strategy Review," revealed that in line with the new Quadrennial Defense Review a "joint Air Force-Navy plan would combine the strengths of each service to conduct long-range strikes that could utilize a new generation of bombers, a new cruise missile and drones launched from aircraft carriers." [13]
As the U.S. is massively expanding its military buildup on the Pacific island of Guam, "The Army is building a missile defense system on the island and the Air Force is adding more drones." [14]
In mid-January prominent U.S. senator Carl Levin called for "using drones to launch airstrikes" in Yemen, adding the demand for "everything from physical actions that could be accomplished in terms of use of drones or air attacks" to "clandestine actions." [15]
Regarding the strengthening of military ties between the U.S. and Yemen, a Russian news source disclosed that "Under a new classified cooperation agreement, the U.S. would be able to fly cruise missiles, fighter jets or unmanned armed drones against targets in the country, but would remain publicly silent on its role in the airstrikes." [16]
In late January the Wall Street Journal reported:
"The U.S. military's involvement in Yemen has already begun to grow....[T]he U.S. has increased the number of surveillance drones flying over Yemen, as well as the number of unmanned aircraft outfitted with missiles capable of striking targets on the ground, according to a senior U.S. official with direct knowledge of the deployments.
"Most drones operating outside of Iraq and Afghanistan are controlled by the Central Intelligence Agency, but the official said the drones operating over Yemen belong to the military's secretive Joint Special Operations Command." [17]
The commander of Joint Special Operations Command until 2008 was now General Stanley McChrystal, military chief of what will soon be 150,000 U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.
Drone missile assassinations and the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians that often accompany them are an integral component of his counterinsurgency strategy in South Asia. The qualitative escalation of drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan began when McChrystal replaced David McKiernan as top U.S. and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force commander in Afghanistan last June.
In other parts of the world, the Pentagon is to contribute military drones for the Northern Coasts maneuvers in Finland this September, the "largest naval military exercise that has ever been seen in Finnish territorial waters." [18]
A resolution issued by the Finnish Peacefighters in Lapland last month mentioned "a program on Finnish TV about Unmanned Aerial Vehicles being tested in Lapland at the Kemijarvi Airfield. This actual training area stretches to the Russian border and follows the border for tens of kilometers.
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