Page 2 - Drone Programs News Today

Issues about what the nsa does, the wiretapping, the data collection. theyre obviously going to be civil libertarians on the right, civil libertarians on the left that are against this. you start hearing this you can see those polls going up. its kind of like on drones. i think im in the minority on drones but, you know what, americans see the crisis drop the drones drop them anywhere. we dont care. >> its why president obama was able to go back on his campaign commitments about guantanamo, abou...

People should not get too sanctimonious and some of the countries lecturing us about torture, they have violated a lot more human rights and i think we need to have a serious conversation in the united states. i thought mr. brennan yesterday provided a much more balanced account, acknowledging mistakes. i think that david is right that we need to talk about these drone programs. i think thats fair conversation and within the country and internationally but what we got yesterday was a much more b...

It. we have a program right now called the drone programs. some drones are called signature strikes. signature strike means you dont need to know who the person is. before a drone attack comes and kills them. you just have to know how they behave. if you drive in a pickup truck in a part of pakistan where a lot of terrorists are known to operate, they see you from above, you look like a terrorist, you act like a terrorist, you can get hit. five years from now, two years from now, are we going to...

>> not quite the 13-hour filibuster. but he did give a compassioned 30-minute to us. outlines the governments authority for killing u.s. citizens potentially overseas who are suspected of terrorism using those drones. the obama administration agreed to a court order to make edited versions of that memo public. the senate is expected to vote on whether to proceed with barons nomination within the hour. some lawmakers actually called for a full review of the drone program before voting on barons a...

Officials claim. joining me now, declan walsh. welcome to you. when u.s. officials do acknowledge the drone programs, they usually describe the strikes as surgical and civilian casualties are rare. according to your reports, theyre a lot higher. what are we talking about, what kind of numbers? >> its difficult to say exactly. according to groups that monitor these strikes, they estimate theres been between 400 and 900 civilian casualties since the drone program started in pakistan about ten year...

In egypt and now you see the consequences of that and whats happened there. they have not been -- they wont even use the word "terror." they have withdrawn politically from the engagement and fight. yeah, sure, theyre going after bad guys with drone programs, but that is not a comprehensive policy -- >> but, rick, i have not, if youve watched my show, in the business of defending barack obama. but if you talk to people in the intelligence community, they will tell you that al qaeda is busted, it...

Consequences of that and whats happened there. they have not been -- they wont even use the word "terror." they have withdrawn politically from the engagement and fight. yeah, sure, theyre going after bad guys with drone programs, but that is not a comprehensive policy -- >> but, rick, i have not, if youve watched my show, in the business of defending barack obama. but if you talk to people in the intelligence community, they will tell you that al qaeda is busted, its broken, its splintered. the...

Mistakes made in benghazi. >> look, drone policy is one policy. what weve seen is an administration that has refused to confront radical islam, that embraced the muslim brotherhood in egypt and now you see the consequences of that and whats happened there. they have not been -- they wont even use the word "terror." they have withdrawn politically from the engagement and fight. yeah, sure, theyre going after bad guys with drone programs, but that is not a comprehensive policy -- >> but, rick, i h...

>> you know, its really hard to tell at this point. its, you know, when you look at, for instance, you know, the disclosure of the court order on verizon, you know, its hard to know what damage that would have done to the program. in terms of the prism slides that have, you know, leaked, you know, we dont know what we dont know and the u.s. officials are saying that there has been damage. i guess well keep reporting on that certainly. i do want to sort of go back to andreas point which is a good...

Results of their actions. its really more intimate for us. we see everything. we see the before, action, then after. i watched this guy -- i watched him bleed out. i watched the result of, i guess, collectively it was our action, but im the responsible one that guides the missile in. >> you put the laser on him and now hes dead. >> correct. >> do you think that he was a combatant? >> i have my serious doubts now, but i didnt really question the voices in my head. >> nbcs chief foreign correspond...