5 years Of Obama death drones snuffs out 2400 lives

According to a report from a leading watchdog, as this week marks the fifth anniversary of Obama’s first drone kill while in office, close to two and a half thousand people have been killed by launches sanctioned by the White House. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London, a staunch critic of the semi-secret drone program, has compiled a report to mark the milestone, Infowar reported. The group collates and compiles information on the drone strikes from local, national and international media, law enforcement and government reports, as well as eyewitnesses' accounts. It’s statistics are considered the most authoritative on the subject. The group notes that Obama’s first authorised strike came just three days into his presidency, and killed at least nine civilians, mostly from one family, in Pakistan’s tribal regions. “There was one survivor, 14-year-old Fahim Qureshi, but with horrific injuries including shrapnel wounds in his stomach, a fractured skull and a lost eye, he was as much a victim as his dead relatives,” the report notes. A second strike was authorised by Obama on the same day, killing up to ten civilians. Wham, 19 innocent people were dead within 72 hours of the new presidency, setting the tone for the next five years. The rest of the report makes for sobering reading. “Since Obama’s inauguration in 2009, the CIA has launched 330 strikes on Pakistan – his predecessor, President George Bush, conducted 51 strikes in four years. And in Yemen, Obama has opened a new front in the secret drone war,” the report states. In total, Obama has launched 390 known drone strikes in five years, eight times more than Bush did during his entire presidency. The Bureau notes that the strikes have killed at least 2400 people, with at least 273 being completely innocent civilians. Six times as many people have already been killed under Obama than were killed under Bush. Of course, defenders will claim Obama is simply better at exterminating 'dirty terrorists’. Critics will caution that assassinating anyone without trial proves nothing of the sort, and that Obama, a nobel peace prize winner, is also better at killing innocent people.