Drone Strikes: 2001 - 2021 💣📊

This data visualization tracks the cumulative estimated maximum deaths (including civilians) and the cumulative estimated US drone and air strikes from 2002 to 2021 for the following countries: Afghanistan (since 2015 only), Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia.Show more

Obviously, these are estimates and access is limited, but The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (*) provides the most complete dataset available to the public since the US government has not been forthcoming in its transparency and reporting on the 20+ year War on Terror.

Chapters:
00:00 First military drone strike; Predator number 3034
00:23 Predator drone evolution
00:41 Abraham Karen, developed Albatross prototype for DARPA
00:58 Covert drone warfare in Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, and Pakistan
01:16 The Bureau of Investigative Journalism data on non-military casualties and deaths
01:34 US government to start publishing people killed in drone strikes
02:03 US government wavers on publishing military drone strikes
02:19 US government admits to civilian casualties via drone strikes
02:36 Current military drone strikes and casualties statistics
02:54 US withdrawal from Afghanistan
03:16 Drone footage

Between 2010 and 2020 the Bureau (*) collected data on US strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen from government, military and intelligence officials, and from credible media, academic and other sources, including on occasion Bureau researchers.

Pakistan datasets cover US drone strikes in that country since 2004. For Yemen, Afghanistan and Somalia, the datasets include other US covert actions including airstrikes, missile attacks and ground operations.

For the sources and methodology used, see here:
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/explainers/our-methodology

Independent estimates from the non-governmental organizations New America and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism suggest that civilians made up between 7.27% to 15.47% of deaths in U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia from 2009–2016, with a broadly similar rate from 2017–2019. Civilian casualties as a percentage of overall deaths were highest in Yemen and lowest in Somalia.

Drone strikes are part of a targeted killing campaign against militants. Determining precise counts of the total number killed, as well as the number of non-combatant civilians killed, is impossible; and tracking of strikes and estimates of casualties are compiled by a number of organizations, such as the Long War Journal (Pakistan and Yemen), the New America Foundation (Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya), and the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism (Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan). The "estimates of civilian casualties are hampered methodologically and practically"; civilian casualty estimates "are largely compiled by interpreting news reports relying on anonymous officials or accounts from local media, whose credibility may vary."

📊 Data (*):
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism | https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/

📝 Publications:
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/explainers/our-methodology
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/05/america-first-drone-strike-afghanistan/394463/
https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/153148
https://www.afsc.org/blogs/news-and-commentary/us-has-killed-thousands-people-lethal-drones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drone_strikes_in_Afghanistan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_military_intervention_in_Somalia_

🎵 Track Info:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6W9bNo4wHk

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