British drone strike targets 'named after' David Bowie, Eurythmics and Robert Redford
LONDON -- The Eurythmics, David Bowie and Robert Redford are just a handful of almost 700 well-known names given to drone targets on a so-called kill list drafted by British intelligence services, according to a new report released by human rights charity Reprieve.
Terror and drug trafficking suspects in Afghanistan and Pakistan were placed on a list of individuals the UK and U.S. planned to kill with extra-judicial drone strikes, according to a list leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith told Mashable the naming process of the targets was "typical of some puerile intelligence officers who think it's funny to dehumanise people they're trying to kill".
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The charity analysed old and more recent data from the Snowden files to draw up the report, which was published on Tuesday.
"It would be funny if it wasn't related to killing people as opposed to getting intelligence," Stafford Smith said.
"Some people who are slated for what may be instant death by a Hellfire missile are codenamed based on pornography stars, or prophylactics; some are cartoon characters; some are musicians and actors who might well object to having their names used on a Kill List," the charity wrote.
Among the names used for targets are Italian porn star Rocco Siffredi, actors such as Robert Redford and Paul Newman, comic book characters like Iron Man and Megatron, wrestlers and fictional places.
Heavy metals bands such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath feature prominently, while the Eurythmics, Charlatans and Johnny Cash are also included in the list.
"I think Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics would be horrified to discover that," Stafford Smith said. Mashable reached out to the singer's reps, who said she wouldn't be commenting on the matter.
Besides Taliban and Islamist terrorists, the list also features 50 drug dealers from Afghanistan who were smuggling heroin and opium and even paedophiles and sex offenders, according to Reprieve.
"They used to draw these lists in the Middle Age, when people wanted to assassinate somebody," Stafford Smith said. "They haven't done it for hundreds of years, then suddenly this. It's medieval."
"Only someone British could come up with places like Sloane Square, Dagenham and Chelsea in London, Shetland Island and Newry."
Reprieve claims Britain conspired in the U.S.-inspired Kill List, named Joint Prioritized Effects List (JPEL) after the Sept. 11 attacks, with the help of the Americans. The JPEL was leaked as part of Snowden files and dates back to August 2010.
Previous British media reports have suggested the existence of the kill list.
In September 2015, a British serviceman wrote on The Spectator: “Targets are given a codename, rather than their own name. If the British public could see some of the names given to these figures in Afghanistan (or even the themes used to name them) there’d be an uproar. They range from celebrity names to porn stars, favourite sweets to characters in the film Anchorman.”
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office told Mashable they "don't comment on intelligence matters."
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