US air force behind drone attacks in Pakistan

CIA’s drone attacks in Pakistan are conducted by a regular US air force, according to a new documentary to be released on Tuesday.

Known as the 17th Reconnaissance Squadron, the air force is based in the Nevada desert and is responsible for deadly drone strike program in Pakistan.

The force operates from a secure compound in a corner of Creech air force base, 45 miles from Las Vegas in the Mojave desert, according to the documentary.

The unit’s conventional air force personnel, rather than civilian contractors, have been flying the CIA’s Predator missions in Pakistan, several former drone operators stated.

The operators also told the filmmakers that it was the air force that has always flown the missions and that the CIA might be the customer.

They said a CIA label is just a pretext to withhold information.

In a 2013 briefing, senior Obama administration officials said they wanted to “transfer” control of the CIA’s drones program to the military.

Brandon Bryant, a former US Predator operator, told the film this was disingenuous because everyone in military circles knew that the US air force was already involved.

“There is a lie hidden within that truth. And the lie is that it’s always been the air force that has flown those missions. The CIA might be the customer but the air force has always flown it. A CIA label is just an excuse to not have to give up any information. That is all it has ever been,” Bryant said.

Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project, said this documentary raised questions of legality and oversight. “A lethal force apparatus in which the CIA and regular military collaborate as they are reportedly doing risks upending the checks and balances that restrict where and when lethal force is used, and thwart democratic accountability, which cannot take place in secrecy.”

The US regularly uses drones for attacks and spying missions in Pakistan and other Muslim countries, killing innocent people. Washington claims that the airstrikes target militants, but local and international sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks.

AT/ARA