An unarmed Predator drone has flown over the BP plant to gather intelligence on the site, a U.S. official said Thursday.

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There have been 7, 725 US sorties including 145 predator drone strikes.

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In 2010, U.S.-based General Atomics received export licenses to sell unarmed versions of the Predator drone to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.

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Pakistani news outlets reported twice in 2008 that Gadahn had been killed by a predator drone strike, but al Qaeda then released a video message by Gadahn to prove he was still alive.

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At Balad, we visited the air command center, saw a Predator (unmanned drone), drove MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles), visited their hospital, and met with their chaplain who happens to be one of the few rabbis in the Air Force.

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In fact, only one of the U.S.' 19 Reapers--the next generation of drone to follow the Predator--have crashed.

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And Pakistani authorities have long tried to persuade the United States to give them armed Predator drones, while India owns an armed Israeli drone designed to detect and destroy enemy radar, though it does not yet have drones capable of striking other targets.

CNN: A dangerous new world of drones