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Friday 6 April 2018

Trump asked CIA official why drone strike didn’t also kill target’s family: report

President Trump reportedly asked a CIA official why the agency didn’t kill a terrorist target's family during a drone strike.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that, after watching a recorded video of a drone strike in Syria in which officials waited until the target was outside of his family’s home, Trump asked, “Why did you wait?”
The agency’s head of drone operations explained to an “unimpressed” Trump there are techniques to limit the number of civilian casualties.
Trump called for the CIA to start arming its drones in Syria and reportedly asked for it to be started in days.
“If you can do it in 10 days, get it done,” Trump said in a meeting, according to two former officials.
Rules from the Obama administration limit the CIA’s ability to use surveillance flights.
The goal of Trump’s predecessor was to pull back the CIA to return to its core espionage mission and let the military take out terrorists, the Post reported.
Trump has advocated for swift military action to “knock the hell out of” Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) forces.
Trump said on the campaign trail in 2015 that he would “take out” the families of terrorists.
"When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don't kid yourself. But they say they don't care about their lives. You have to take out their families,” Trump previously said.
On Tuesday, Trump signaled that he wanted to pull the roughly 2,000 U.S. troops out of Syria but then reluctantly backtracked a day later. He reportedly agreed to hold off until ISIS is defeated.

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