Obama's drone war, Chicagoan helps Syria revolution from computer and Puerto Rico's fiscal problems

On 1/23/2009, three days after Barack Obama took office, he authorized a U.S. missile strike that killed at least nine civilians in North Waziristan.

According to the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, (TBIJ) Obama’s secret drone war has killed more than 2,400 people in several countries. 273 of the dead were civilians, including children. Jack Serle, reporter for TBIJ and co-author of the report discusses the human cost of President Obama’s drone war.

One Syrian American based in Chicago is organizing a protest to draw further attention to Syria’s humanitarian crisis. In 2011, Alaa Basatneh, a college student, took to her computer and found herself helping to coordinate protests inside Syria and even warning villages about impending attacks by the Syrian military. She joins us to talk about her work.

Last week, Puerto Rico’s Senate approved a series of measures to help the island gain control over its fiscal problems. The current levels are considered unsustainable. Charles Venator, a professor of political science with the Institute of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at the University of Connecticut, tells us how the Puerto Rican government plans to solve the territory's fiscal problems.

(PHOTO: June 6, 2012, Afghan villagers gather near a house destroyed in an apparent NATO [drone] raid in Logar province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan.
(AP Photo/Ihsanullah Majroh, File)