In an interesting spot, journalist Alice Ollstein today noted that, while Reprieve clients the Rehman family were testifying at Congress about the day a drone strike killed their grandmother in North-West Pakistan, President Obama was meeting the CEOs of arms companies including Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin. Both firms are involved in the manufacture of drones - although the Predators and Reapers which fly covert missions over Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere are made by another firm, General Atomics. More significantly though, Lockheed is the manufacturer of the Hellfire missile - the weapon of choice in drone strikes, and the one which is believed to have killed Mammana Bibi, the grandmother of Zubair and Nabila who spoke to Congress on Tuesday. So as the Rehmans spoke to Congress about the drone strike which killed their grandmother, the man who signs off on the drone programme was meeting the man who provides the missiles. A useful indication, perhaps, of how strongly (or not) the Obama administration feels about the issue of civilian casualties. reprieve.org.uk/blog/2013_10_31_drone_victims_Obama_Lockheed/
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 02:07:01 +0000
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