Priyanka BoghaniAugust 31, 2012 18:22

A group of clerics and preachers from southern Yemen released a statement claiming that one of their members was killed in the recent attacks.

US drone strikes in North Waziristan kill at least 7

News DeskJuly 29, 2012 11:17

At least six of the militants killed were from Uzbekistan, a security official told Pakistan’s Express Tribune.

Venezuela building drones with Iran, Russia, China

Jill LangloisJune 15, 2012 17:50

"We don't have any plans to harm anyone," Chavez said during the broadcast. "We are doing this with the help of different countries including China, Russia, Iran, and other allied countries."

Abu Yahia al-Libi, Al Qaeda's deputy leader, killed by CIA drones in Pakistan — officials

Kristin DeasyJune 4, 2012 17:14

Top Al Qaeda operative has been killed after being targeted in a spate of drone attacks in Pakistan's lawless northwest.

Peter GellingMay 29, 2012 13:56

Obama's counterterrorism strategy: New York Times buries the lead

In exhaustive article about Obama's use of drones to fight terror, The Times barely mentions the president's peaceful counterterrorism strategy. Is that because there is none?

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A Pakistani protester holds a burning US flag as they shout slogans during a protest in Multan on February 9, 2012 against the US drone attacks in the Pakistani tribal region. (S.S. MIRZA/AFP/Getty Images)

The New York Times published an exhaustive analysis of US President Barack Obama’s counterterrorism strategy today.

But it buried the lead.

The lengthy piece is focused on Obama’s use of drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen that target suspected terrorist leaders, and the spinning moral compass he uses to make those decisions. (It doesn’t mention Somalia, where strikes are also happening.)

In total, it paints a picture of a president who is strong, decisive, always weighing the rights and wrongs of his strategy, and taking personal responsibility for those decisions.

It isn’t until the very end that the story tackles the other, perhaps more important side, of any counterterrorism strategy — one of diplomacy and de-radicalization, an effort to create a world where Al Qaeda has no credible agenda on which to recruit and carry out attacks.

Jeb BooneMay 25, 2012 16:37

US government steps up online propaganda war against Yemen militants

The State Department's online efforts have been misrepresented in the press as sophisticated hacks against militant sympathetic websites.

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Yemeni soldiers are pictured in the restive southern Abyan province on May 25, 2012 as the army continues pressing ahead with an offensive against Al-Qaeda militants to retake extremist strongholds. (Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)

As the US drone war against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Ansar al-Sharia picks up steam, the US State Department is beginning yet another high-tech campaign against AQAP on a different front – the internet.

The Yemeni military, backed by American advisers and drones, has been attempting to beat back AQAP and Ansar al-Sharia from cities in the restive governorate of Abyan in Southern Yemen since March of 2011, when militants first seized control of Ja’ar, later moving into Zinjibar and Lawdar. As the fighting rages, the US State department has been attempting to counter AQAP’s propaganda on websites belonging to Yemeni tribes by arguing against AQAP supporters and calling attention to the toll that the war has wrought on the Yemeni people.

"Within 48 hours, our team plastered the same sites with altered versions of the ads that showed the toll Al Qaeda attacks have taken on the Yemeni people," Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said Wednesday.

Are the drones working in Yemen?

Casey CoombsMay 22, 2012 11:41

SANAA, Yemen — While Yemen is accustomed to violent clashes between tribes, the government, separatists and militants, Monday's bombing took everyone by surprise. The streets around Saba’een were filled with chaos after the bombing. Uniformed soldiers waved and shouted hysterically at pedestrians to turn back. Whining ambulances and honking taxis shuttled the dead and dying to hospitals, where staff said they were overwhelmed and underprepared for the atrocity.

Peter GellingMay 16, 2012 11:50

Another US Predator drone gets it wrong

A US drone gave false intelligence to the Turkish government, causing dozens of civilian casualties.

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Pakistani tribesmen gather for funeral prayers before the coffins of people killed in a U.S. drone attack on June 15 in North Waziristan (Thir Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

The US Predator drone is celebrated for its ability to target enemies more carfeully, reducing civilian casualties and the need for American soldiers on the ground.

But since US President Barack Obama began using drones on a large scale in 2008, a body of evidence suggests the drones are not as precise as once thought. For one thing, their targets are still determined by military and intelligence agencies. And they often get it wrong.

There have been some spectacular examples, including an attack on Oct. 30, 2006 that obliterated an Islamic boarding school in Chenagai, Pakistan, killing 82 civilians.

More recently, the Turkish military launched a full-scale 40-minute attack against 38 men along the country's border with Iraq. Their movement was reported by a US Predator drone patrolling the area. Thirty-four people, all of them civilians who were guilty only of the mundane crime of smuggling gasoline, were killed as a result.

How often does this happen? It's impossible to tell because governments aren't required to keep track of those killed. But several news organizations have made their own attempt. The estimates of civilians killed range from the hundreds to the thousands.

More from GlobalPost: In Depth Series: The Drone Wars

John Brennan, top Obama aide, says drone strikes are legal and ethical

Priyanka BoghaniApril 30, 2012 15:16

Speaking at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, John Brennan said, "I’m here today because President Obama has instructed us to be more open with the American people about these efforts."

William Hague sued over Pakistan drone strikes

Priyanka BoghaniMarch 11, 2012 18:31

The British foreign secretary and civilians working at the Government Communications Headquarters are likely to be sued because they do not classify as "lawful combatants" in an "armed international conflict."