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A U.S. unmanned drone strike in the tribal region of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border last Wednesday resulted in at least 23 people killed. Official sources claim they are all suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters. The drone strikes in the border region have long been used as a weapon of choice, starting with the Bush administration as far back as 2004, and far more often under the Obama administration. A new study by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism extensively analyzed thousands of news reports, leaked documents, and eye-witness testimonies, to conclude that between 2,292-2,863 people have been killed over at least 291 drone strikes. The number includes as many as 775 civilians, and 168 children. The U.S. government’s own figures claim that 2,050 people were killed, 2000 of whom were so-called “militants.” The drones are operated remotely, generally from a U.S. base in Nevada, and have allowed the U.S. to avoid the use of ground troops, and maintain that there is no official war against Pakistan. It has also allowed the U.S. to target people it considers to be terrorism suspects without having to detain them or deal with the thorny issues of remote detention sites, interrogation techniques, or tribunals. Critics say the use of the drones is tantamount to extra-judicial killings. The report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism also gives lie to the recent Obama Administration claim that the drone attacks have not killed any civilians in the past year. Searchable documentation of the strikes reveals that at least 45 civilians have been killed over ten strikes just in the last year. The U.S. government is taking issue with the Bureau’s findings.

GUEST: Chris Woods, reporter with the London-based, Bureau of Investigative Journalism, leads the team on drone investigations

Read the report here: http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/08/11/more-than-160-children-killed-in-us-strikes/

Browse through the actual data here: http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/category/projects/drone-data/