Fortiani» (Obstruer
A u g u s t 8, 2012
Page 7
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Drone Attacks are Plain Old Murder
A weapon of
choice that w kills
citizens
C hris T oensing
D rones are P resi
dent Barack O bam a’s
w eapon o f choice in
the W ar on T error.
S ince taking o f
fice, he has ordered
o v er 280 drone strikes in Pakistan
alone. T hat's m ore than eight tim es
as m any as G eorge W. B ush au th o
rized and doesn't even count the
scores o f other unm anned attacks
in S om alia and Y em en.
W hen the m a in stre am m ed ia re
p o rts th e se o p e ra tio n s, it c laim s
th a t a lm o st all the p e o p le k ille d
are "m ilita n ts" — m e m b e rs o f al-
Q a ed a o r a ffilia te d rad ical g ro u p s.
T h a t's w h at the P e n ta g o n an d the
C IA say , a n y w a y . T he P a k ista n i
g o v e rn m e n t lo u d ly p ro te sts th at
m an y o f the c a s u a ltie s are c iv il
ian. T h e L o n d o n -b a se d B u reau o f
In v e s tig a tiv e J o u rn a lism a g re es,
estim ating in m id-July that as m any
as 8 0 0 o f the P a k ista n i d e ad h av e
b een n o n -c o m b a ta n ts, a lo n g w ith
som e 5 0 -1 5 0 Y em en is and do zen s
o f S o m alis.
In late M ay, T he N ew Y ork Tim es
suggested one reason for the d is
crepancy in civ ilian tallies. T he
by
O bam a adm inistration basically con
siders “all m ilitary-age m ales in a
strike zo n e” to be fighters “ unless
there is explicit intelligence posthu
m ously proving them inno
cen t.” T he preceding m onth,
the T im es revealed that the
W hite H ouse had authorized
strikes on people in Pakistan
and Y em en “w ho m ay be plot
ting attacks against the U nited
States, but w hose identities
m ig h t n o t b e c o m p le te ly
kn o w n .”
Strip aw ay the conditional verbs
and the backw ards burden o f proof,
and it’s clear that W ashington isn ’t
alw ays sure w hom the unm anned
aerial vehicles are killing.
In Pakistan, m any o f the dead
m ay in d e ed b e “m ilita n ts ,” but
they're conspiring against the g o v
ernm ents o f Pakistan and A fghani
stan, not the U nited States. Q uietly,
the Pakistani go v ern m en t is happy
to see them dispatched from the
sky. It saves P ak istan ’s generals
the trouble o f sending their ow n
troops into the m ountains on the
A fghan frontier.
In Y em en, the regim e is also trick-
ing the P en tag o n into attack in g
p articipants in a dom estic rebellion
u n d er the guise o f the W ar on T e r
ror. Som alia has no governm ent to
speak o f — it’s a free-fire zone.
T h e c o n n e c tio n b e tw e e n the
drone strikes and the security o f
A m ericans is tenuous. A nd even if
one acc e p ts P e n ta g o n and C IA
statem ents that the dead are indeed
anti-A m erican terrorists, w hy as
sum e that the drones are defeating
them ?
O b a m a ’s fo rm er directo r o f n a
tional intelligence, D ennis Blair, said
the W hite H ouse conversations on
this topic “rem inded m e o f body
counts in V ietnam .” It is ju s t as
likely — and indeed there's reason
to believe — that the attacks recruit
m ore m ilitants than they kill.
M eanw hile, som e o f the d ro n e s’
victim s are undoubtedly civilians.
W ashington has offered no ex p la
nation, fo r exam ple, for the death o f
A bdal-Rahm anal-A w laki, 16, whose
only crim e was to have been the son
o f a m an on O b am a’s “kill list.” The
boy, w ho like his fath er w as a U.S.
citizen, w asn’t collateral dam age. He
w as killed in a separate strike.
It's rem arkable that the younger
A w la k i’s v io len t end cau sed no
outcry. By and large, A m ericans
support the drone w ar — it keeps
o u r troops out o f h a rm ’s w ay — and
trust the O bam a adm inistration to
run it responsibly. A nd so, once
again, a dangerous gap is grow ing
betw een A m erican s’ perceptions o f
U .S. foreign policy and how that
policy is regarded abroad.
T o R e p u b lic a n s , d u b io u s
d e a th s by d ro n e are th e a c c e p t
a b le c o st o f a w a r th ey w ish w ere
w id er. T o all b u t a tiny m in o rity o f
D e m o c ra ts, th e y are re g re tta b le
m ista k e s th a t sh o u ld n o t o v e r
sh ad o w O b a m a ’s su c c e sse s. T o
th e re st o f the w o rld , th ey lo o k like
p la in o ld m u rd er.
C hris Toensing is ed ito r o f
Middle East Report, published by
the Middle East Research and In
formation Project.
I
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