One in Three Killed by US Drones in Pakistan Is a Civilian, Report Claims March 4, 2010
Posted by rogerhollander in Pakistan, War, War on Terror.Tags: al-Qaeda, civilian casuaties, dean nelson, drone, drone missiles, extra-judicial killing, obama administration, pakistan, pakistan war, predator, roger hollander, Taliban, war, war on terror
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One in three “militants” killed in US Predator Drone attacks in Pakistan’s remote tribal areas is in fact a civilian, according to a report by an American think tank.
by Dean Nelson
The report, by the Washington-based New America Foundation, will fuel growing criticism of the use of unmanned drones in the fight against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, who use Pakistan as a base for attacks on Nato forces in Afghanistan.
Critics say their use not only takes innocent lives, but amounts to unlawful extra-judicial killing of militants.
The report by Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann found that 32 per cent of those killed in drone attacks since 2004 were civilians.
Their report, The Year of the Drone, studied 114 drone raids in which more than 1200 people were killed. Of those, between 549 and 849 were reliably reported to be militant fighters, while the rest were civilians.
“The true civilian fatality rate since 2004 according to our analysis is approximately 32 per cent,” the foundation reported.
The number of drone attacks has increased dramatically since Barack Obama replaced George W Bush as US president early last year.
There were 45 drone attacks during Mr Bush’s two terms of government, compared with 51 during the first year of Mr Obama’s new administration. In the first two months of this year, up to 140 “militants” have been killed.
Despite the controversy surrounding the scale of civilian deaths, and public opposition from Pakistan’s government, the Obama administration has increased its reliance on drones to target “high-value” Taliban and al-Qaeda figures.
Since last autumn, they have killed the Taliban’s notorious leader Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan, and more recently, it is claimed, his successor Hakimullah Mehsud.
In 2008, Pakistani intelligence sources said they had killed Rashid Rauf, the British al-Qaeda militant behind the 2006 transatlantic airliner bomb plot.
Osama bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al Zawahiri is believed to had a lucky escape when a drone struck a compound he had recently left.
Taliban leaders this week confirmed another of their top leaders Mohammed Qari Zafar had been killed in north Waziristan.
He was believed to have organised the 2006 bombing of the American embassy in Karachi.
The report said although civilian casualty figures are high, they did not believe their study would cause American commanders to reconsider their use.
“Despite the controversy drone strikes are likely to remain a critical tool for the United States to disrupt Al Qaeda and Taliban operations and leadership structures,” it concluded.
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2010
Al Qaeda’s tactics in the region have included blurring the line between “civilian” and militant, and then pointing the camera (the pen is mightier than the sword) to accuse the US of brutality.
They effectively use religion and hatred of the US to convert any victim into a potential human shield. They then rely on media and liberal minds in the western nations to publicize and condemn any attack on their self-immolating victim. Thus, they further their goals much more effectively than with a terrorist attack. A soft tongue can break a bone.
Yes, blame the liberal media and thank God for independent media like Fox news and CNN.
Where to begin, Aaron?
First of all the US led invations and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan are blatantly illegal from the most fundamental precepts of international law. Sending unmanned predator missiles into Pakistan and making unilateral decisions on who should die, be they allegedly al qeda or Taliban or civilians who live in their neighborhood is both immoral and also blatantly illegal.
All the the US does in the name of the War on Terror. As any expert on terrorism can tell you, the way to pursue and bring terrorists to justice is though police investigaton and intervention. Declaring a “war” and declaring the entire gobe a war zone, where according to the rules of war you can kill anyone you think is your enemy — this is both illegal, immoral and absurd. It also has been documented over and over again that the result is the opposite of what is intended; that is, it ends up recruiting many more terrorists than they are able to kill.
Civilian deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan have been documented over and over again. Jesus, even McChrystal has had to publically apologize. The idea of blaming the Taliban and al qaeda for using civilians the the US military massacres is equally absurd and morally indefensible. These are people killed in their homes in their own towns and cities by foreign military forces who invaded their country.
Aaron, I ask myself why a seemingly intelligent person like yourself sets himself up as an uncritical apologist for the imperialist aggression and mass destruction of infrastructue and human life perpetrated by the US government. You can talk all you want about liberal media and human shields, it does not change the reality one iota. Stop listening to American propaganda and open your eyes.