Fact check: Did Obama carry out drone strikes without congressional approval, if so, what were the targets in this attack? Were there any civilians injured?

1. Summary of the results

Yes, Obama did carry out extensive drone strikes without congressional approval. The evidence shows that Obama authorized 563 strikes, largely by drones, targeting Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen during his two terms - representing ten times more air strikes than his predecessor George W. Bush ^[1]. U.S. civilian intelligence agencies carried out nearly 400 drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen since 2008 under Obama's leadership, making targeted killings a key feature of his administration's foreign policy ^[2].

Regarding targets and civilian casualties:

• The strikes primarily targeted Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen ^[1]
• Civilian casualties were significant, with estimates varying considerably:
• Between 384 and 807 civilian casualties across all strikes ^[1]
• Obama administration's official count: 64 to 116 civilians killed in Pakistan, Yemen, and Africa since 2009 ^{[3] [4]}
• Alternative estimates suggest 492 to 1,100 civilian casualties in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia since 2002 ^[1]

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original question lacks several crucial contextual elements:

• Scale and comparison: Obama's drone program represented a massive expansion compared to previous administrations, with the program becoming a "covert war on terror" that was ten times larger than Bush's operations ^[1]
• Transparency issues: The Obama administration faced criticism for undercounting civilian casualties and lacking transparency in its drone program ^[4]. Human rights groups consistently challenged the administration's lower casualty figures
• Policy reversals: Donald Trump later revoked Obama's policy requiring US intelligence officials to publish civilian casualty numbers, with the Trump administration calling the transparency rule "superfluous" and distracting ^[5]
• Selective accountability: The Obama administration showed disparate treatment between Western and non-Western victims - apologizing and promising investigations for Western civilian deaths while not extending the same response to non-Western casualties ^[6]
• Congressional dynamics: While the question focuses on congressional approval, the sources indicate Obama authorized ongoing strikes in Iraq without congressional approval and considered airstrikes in Syria ^[7]

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original question contains no apparent misinformation but demonstrates significant gaps in scope:

• Understates the scale: The question implies uncertainty about whether drone strikes occurred, when in fact Obama conducted an extensive, systematic drone campaign that became a defining feature of his presidency
• Lacks comparative context: The question doesn't acknowledge that this represented a ten-fold increase in covert operations compared to the previous administration
• Oversimplifies casualty reporting: The question asks about civilian injuries as if there's a clear, uncontested answer, when in reality there are massive discrepancies between official government counts and independent estimates - with differences of hundreds of casualties ^{[3] [1] [4]}

The framing suggests this might be treated as an isolated incident rather than recognizing it as a systematic counterterrorism strategy that fundamentally shaped U.S. foreign policy during Obama's presidency.