Obama Legacy: The Drone President

On Obama White House orders, the Pentagon, according to various media reports from “a senior defense official” Tuesday morning, is planning to increase drone flights by half again over the next four years.

The Obama Administration has killed at least 3,000 people by drone attacks, and perhaps as many as 6,000 — the majority civilians — all to no effect, or negative effect, in eliminating terrorist groupings. But Obama is evidently not satisfied with increasing drone use in what remains of his Presidency; he wants a “legacy” of escalating drone flights through at least 2019.

The senior defense official told the Wall Street Journal about the upcoming plan. The increase in daily drone flights will allow for more surveillance and intelligence to be gathered from Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, the South China Sea, and North Africa. But the military will also increase its lethal airstrikes. The number of drone surveillance flights currently operated by the Pentagon is 61 per day. Under the new plan, the Obama administration is planning to reach 90 daily by 2019.

The last significant drone escalation by Obama took place in 2011, at the time Britain and the United States launched the Libya War and assassinated Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. After that escalation, terrorist activities have vastly increased in Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Kenya, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Jordan, and other nations.