FACT # 1: US supplying the Philippines with Killer Drones In early February, a US-sponsored drone airstrike reportedly killed 15 members of the Abu Sayyaf, (a CIA-trained and backed extremist group) in the Southern Philippines. This recent attack counters the claims of the Philippine president, Noy Noy Aquino that it will not allow drone airstrikes and US forces to participate in any combat operations. The US has increased their supply of unmanned killer drones to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as part of their counter-insurgency operations against terrorism-linked rebel groups. The reality is that unarmed civilians are the largest group of casualties in counter-insurgency operations in the Philippines. With the blatant strategy of lumping combatants and civilians into one group or targets, more than 1,100 civilians have been extra-judicially killed in the last 10 years. How many more lives will be targeted for death thanks to US drones? These drones are weapons of mass destruction and its use by the AFP will inevitably lead to casualties of innocent civilians.
