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Predator drones can carry up to two Hellfire missiles. Those have warheads of about 20 pounds, which are designed to pierce tank armor;

Reapers are another story. They feature a maximum payload of 3,000 pounds, or 1.5 tons. That means they can carry a combination of Hellfires and larger 500 pound bombs like the GBU-12 Paveway II and GBD-38 JDAM. Those have an "effective casualty radius" of about 200 feet.

From 2008 through October 2012, there were 1,015 strikes in Afghanistan, 48 in Iraq, and at least 105 in Libya

Primarily al-Qaeda and its affiliates. That includes al-Shaabab in Somalia, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (which works in Yemen), and the Haqqani Network in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born al-Qaeda operative in Yemen, was killed in a drone strike in 2011, as was his American-born 17-year-old son

Ahmed Hijazi, also an American citizen based in Yemen, was killed in 2002. 

The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) will prepare lists of potential targets, which will be reviewed every three months by a panel of intelligence analysts and military officials. They are then passed along to a panel at the National Security Council, currently helmed by CIA director nominee Brennan, and then to Obama for final approval.

There is, however, substantial evidence that the percentage of casualties borne by civilians is much lower with drone strikes than with just about any other kind of military intervention

It derives the authority for the strikes from the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed in the wake of 9/11, which grants the government broad powers against al-Qaeda.

allows states to make war in the interest of self-defense

Critics, like UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heyns, say that this defense is a stretch, and the killings plainly run afoul of the laws of war and international human rights treaties.

Only the United States and the United Kingdom (which assists in the Pakistan drone effort) currently use drones in combat

All told, the GAO estimates that 76 countries, at least, have drone technology.

The Yemeni government quietly agreed to the strikes

Citizens in both countries deplore the campaigns.

there are deeper doubts as to whether the strategy is recruiting more militants than it kills, by turning local populations against the United States.

hift the narrative

not just

reach a wide audience

outine struggles of life in Cairo.

hree political factions

epresent Egypt speak with one voice.

ndeel and Anwa

launched an alt-comics zine called Tok Tok,

Egyptian millennials.

“‘This is a stupid regime that is in control right now,’”

his powerlessness and his complicity in state-sponsored violence.

cartoons

Morsi overstepped

We all knew this was going to happen,”

everyone realized that the army was planning something.”

executive stained with blood

since

President Gamal Abdul Nasser

Andeel wrote about the anthem for Mada Masr,

military was asked by the people to rise up against Morsi.

implies

“Bless your hands”

77-year-old Moustafa Hussein serve

baseline for the nationalist narrative.

Mocking the armed forces has been taboo

youth of the revolution have come to support a new authoritarianism.

underlining

“I would have had to very intensely water down my language, be way more patient and pragmatic to deliver my message.”

dozens of cartoons

ortraying the Muslim Brotherhood as violent, activating the terrorist trope

“The most important thing to me are regular people,”

“Winter After the Protest Law.”

everyone is at risk when authorities arbitrarily crack down on public demonstrations.