[0] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/what-we-know-so-fa...
[0] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/what-we-know-so-fa...
> It is also because Mr. Obama embraced a disputed method for counting civilian casualties that did little to box him in. It in effect counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent.
> Counterterrorism officials insist this approach is one of simple logic: people in an area of known terrorist activity, or found with a top Qaeda operative, are probably up to no good. “Al Qaeda is an insular, paranoid organization — innocent neighbors don’t hitchhike rides in the back of trucks headed for the border with guns and bombs,” said one official, who requested anonymity to speak about what is still a classified program.
Very clearly not, as admitted by the man himself. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/obama-says-u-s-drone-stri...
If you want Al Qaeda-specific cases, they take about three seconds to find. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/18/pentagon-dro..., for example.
edit: The Yemen case cited in my link above was AQ; https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/02/19/wedding-became-funeral...
"They were an adult male near a target" is not a safe way of determining guilt for capital crimes. We should not accept it.
> This was despite knowing that the system makes what are regarded as “errors” in approximately 10 percent of cases, and is known to occasionally mark individuals who have merely a loose connection to militant groups, or no connection at all.
> Moreover, the Israeli army systematically attacked the targeted individuals while they were in their homes — usually at night while their whole families were present — rather than during the course of military activity.
> “We were not interested in killing [Hamas] operatives only when they were in a military building or engaged in a military activity,” A., an intelligence officer, told +972 and Local Call. “On the contrary, the IDF bombed them in homes without hesitation, as a first option. It’s much easier to bomb a family’s home. The system is built to look for them in these situations.”
[0] https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240403-gaza-aid-wo...