The mundane and often unknowing patterns we do daily over our lifetimes. 

2018

Series of 18 working clocks on wood with image transfer

Drone Strikes, Afghanistan

Digital collage on Aluminum

2018

3,952 drone strikes confirmed

US drones and jets have been bombing Afghanistan since late 2001. The strikes in Afghanistan are under the ultimate command of US Air Force Central Command (Afcent), the Air Force component of the unied Central Command (Centcom). Centcom is in charge of the US’s wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan. 

The Bureau started recording strikes in 2015, when 411 US air attacks hit Afghanistan – a fall of a third from 2014. is was the lowest number of strikes in a year in Afghanistan since 2006,

though it was almost as many strikes recorded in 11 years of US drone operations in Pakistan.

The US has been targeting a variety of armed groups in Afghanistan this year, such as al Qaeda, the Haqqani Network, Islamic State’s Afghan franchise Islamic State – Khorasan, the Pakistan Taliban,  and the Afghan Taliban.

Drone Strikes, Pakistan

Digital collage on Aluminum

2018

430 drone strikes confirmed

The US has been carrying out drone strikes in Pakistan since June 2004. Since then there have been more strikes on the country than on any other beyond Afghanistan.

The strikes in Pakistan are under the command of the CIA alone, unlike in Yemen and Somalia where the military and CIA operate together. Initially the strikes were launched from airbases inside Pakistan. However US-Pakistani relations soured in 2011 and the US drones were expelled across the border into Afghanistan.

The CIA occasionally launched strikes in Pakistan for the first few years of the campaign. e attacks increased in frequency in 2008, the last year of the George W Bush presidency. However, when President Barack Obama moved into the White House, the strike frequency increased dramatically. More strikes were launched during President Obama's first year in office than during both terms of the Bush presidency.

Drone Strikes, Somalia

Digital collage on Aluminum

2018

114 drone strikes confirmed

The US has been carrying out extensive covert operations in

Somalia since 2001. 

The Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) is the lead agency in the US's covert war on terror in Somalia, though the CIA has a strong presence in the Horn of Africa. 

Elite troops from the Pentagon’s JSOC are routinely deployed on the ground for surveillance, reconnaissance, and assault and capture operations. In June 2011, the US began carrying out drone strikes in Somalia. JSOC has its own fleet of armed Reaper drones, which are own from various bases in the region.

The CIA also operates a secret base at Mogadishu airport, according to a detailed investigation by Jeremy Scahill at the Nation.

Drone Strikes, Yemen

Digital collage on Aluminum

2018

302 drone strikes confirmed

The first known US drone strike outside of Afghanistan hit Yemen in 2002, killing six people. e US carried out its second reported attack in the country after a pause of more than seven years.

Both the Pentagon and CIA have carried out strikes in Yemen from Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti and a base in Saudi Arabia at an as yet unknown location. The military strikes are carried out under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command. This shadowy special forces unit has at times reportedly halted its strikes after botching strikes and killing civilians.

The US has also launched strikes with other weapons systems, including conventional jet aircraft and cruise missiles. The Bureau records these operations as "other US operations" .