U.S. government smear campaign against reporters exposing the drone wars

Why is the New York Times enabling a U.S. government smear campaign against reporters exposing the drone wars?

The Times let government officials anonymously attack a group of journalists and a lawyer who have uncovered evidence that belies the White House's claim that drones aren't killing many civilians. Was their rationale for that justified?

A human rights lawyer and a group of investigative journalists who have exposed the extensive civilian casualties from CIA drone strikes in Pakistan are being smeared by anonymous U.S. government officials, who have even accused them of being sympathetic to al Qaeda.

Two of the anonymous accusations came in articles in The New York Times, despite the paper's own rules against personal attacks by unnamed sources.

SOURCE


So, does this surprise anyone?! Seems as though these journalists, doing their job and exposing the truth, are being smeared by anonymous government officials because they are getting too close to the truth and they don't want the public to see how many civilian deaths there have been due to these drone strikes, specifically in Pakistan

This is also a pretty interesting fact, from the article:

Drone attacks in Pakistan have dramatically increased since Obama took office: President Bush was responsible for 52; Obama for 270 and counting

Hmmm... 270 can counting!!?
And what about this:

More recently, on February 8, the Times reported the BIJ’s findings that the CIA’s drone attacks in Pakistan “have repeatedly targeted rescuers who responded to the scene of a strike, as well as mourners at subsequent funerals.”

That doesn't sound right, at least to me! Anyways, thought it was interesting and just another example of governments trying to hide the truth and making the whisleblowers look like crazy kooks for exposing government lies

Your Thoughts?!

Originally posted by Nspekta

Hmmm... 270 can counting!!?
And what about this:

More recently, on February 8, the Times reported the BIJ’s findings that the CIA’s drone attacks in Pakistan “have repeatedly targeted rescuers who responded to the scene of a strike, as well as mourners at subsequent funerals.”

That doesn't sound right, at least to me! Anyways, thought it was interesting and just another example of governments trying to hide the truth and making the whisleblowers look like crazy kooks for exposing government lies

Your Thoughts?!

Unfortunately this is not the first, or second, or..... time I've heard about these practices not only with drones but with other weapon systems.

Its a very dirty and evil war going on, and we are not on the defensive... no real way to pain ourselves as the good guys in this one.

We need to get out of these other countries and arrest these warmongers as war criminals!!!

reply to post by pianopraze


Its true! It seems like every drone strike is unsanctioned by congress and other regulatory bodies.. I wonder what sort of factors determine if they are going to strike? How do they gather the intelligence to determine if these people need to be killed by drones? do they verify the intelligence before hand? Are they 'terrorists' for sure?! And considering the amount of civilian deaths without reprocussion, its a horrible practice that needs to end NOW! I get scared thinking about the puported 30,000 drones that will be patroling american skies and borders... seems to me there will be many many 'incidents' of mistaken identies, and overuse of force...

This is sick and just think we are going to have drones all over the US in coming days then they will find a way to justify arming them to the sheeple. Then when ever civilians get murdered with them they will find a way to blame terrorist hackers. it will become a vicious cycle and anyone who stands up to them will be droned to death by those evil drone hackers

I wonder why they hate us? CNN will show them in their garb complaining about USA, saying death to USA, but the sheep won't know why they are saying it and then will spout their usual racist rants.