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Five Takeaways from Elizabeth Warren's Major Foreign Policy Speech at Georgetown University

(AP)
February 27, 2014

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) delivered a major foreign policy speech at Georgetown University on Wednesday, increasing speculation that she is considering a presidential run.

Here are five takeaways:

1. All three of her brothers served in the military.

"My oldest brother flew 288 combat missions in Vietnam," she said. "I am proud of their commitment and proud to have grown up in a family that honors military service."

2. She thinks civilian casualties are bad.

"We must continue – indeed, redouble – our efforts to reduce the loss of innocent civilian life to an absolute minimum," she said. "When we consider whether using force is in our national interest, we also should not – we cannot – turn a blind eye to the impact of unintended civilian casualties."

3. She didn’t mention drones.

Despite her strong rhetoric against civilian casualties, Warren neglected to mention the proliferation of unmanned drone strikes under the Obama administration. A recent study by the Bureau for Investigative Journalism found that President Obama has launched nearly 400 drone strikes since taking office in 2009 – eight times as many as President George W. Bush – and killed at least 273 civilians in the process. Buzzfeed reported that Warren’s omission "seemed calculated to avoid a conflict with the White House over a signature policy."

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Full video of Warren's speech: