For nearly nine years, there has been a drone war over Pakistan, and today, the use of drone strikes has extended to Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Afghani- stan and several other nations. It is reported that 95 percent of all killed Islamic militants are the result of drone strikes, most of which have been carried out under the Obama administration, who has conducted over 400 strikes in Pakistan and more than 100 in Yemen.
For years now, we have observed the presidents slowly build the use of drones into a full-scale war against those who they deem dangerous.
Despite popular perception, drones are not as accurate as advocates would like you to believe they are. When the number of Al-Qaeda members killed by drones is stacked against the total number of dead, it is found that drones have an accuracy rate of only 1.76 percent.
The Obama administration also engages in an act known as “Double Tap” by which after the initial drone strike, the drone will circle back and strike again, this time targeting medical staff, aid givers and mourners for the dead.
On average, almost half of those killed or injured in drone strikes are children or civilians who have no affiliation with the targeted individuals, though the government will rarely admit this and has been caught lying about civilian deaths.
The most astonishing case of this is the death of Abdulrahman al-Aulaqi, a sixteen-year-old American citizen who was killed in a drone strike in Yemen because of his father’s affiliation with Al Qaeda. When questioned on the matter, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs suggested that Abdulrahman “have a far more responsible father.”
Despite all of this, champions of drone strikes might still say that at least some militants are being killed, but that is by no stretch accurate. The Obama administration has a loose definition of a militant; to the administration, a militant is any male of military age, which roughly constitutes ages 18 to 50. So when it is reported that “several militants were killed in a drone strike,” what is actually being said is that “several males of mili- tary age were killed in a drone strike.”
The last point that any defender of drone strikes could make is that at least the United States is now safer, but that, too, is hardly the case. A joint report by Stanford University and New York University entitled “Living Under Drones” had this to say:
“Further, evidence suggests that U.S. strikes have facilitated recruitment to violent non-state armed groups and motivated further violent attacks." As the New York Times has reported, “Drones have replaced Guantánamo as the recruiting tool of choice for militants.” Drone strikes have also soured many Pakistanis on cooperation with the U.S. and undermined U.S.-Pakistani relations. One major study shows that 74 percent of Pakistanis now consider the U.S. an enemy.” The United States government has gone to great lengths to keep these drone strikes as quiet as possible, and as a result, there is virtually no accountability. Collaboration between the President, the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command has produced an extensive “kill list” which can be acted upon at any given time because of the free reign and endorsement from Obama. The administration and the military are so concerned about knowledge of just how extensive and violent these operations are that they will ruin the careers and lives of the soldiers who wish to go public with their knowledge just to be certain that it does not occur.
The year 2013 has already shown an increase in the use of drones, and this is after a severe spike after the initial usage of drone strikes. Drones represent distance from the battlefield and a plethora of psychological studies show that distance from violence makes people more likely to be violent, and this can be seen with how the United States has conducted its foreign policy over the last few years.
To quote Noam Chomsky on the shift in attitude about foreign policy: “If the Bush adminis- tration didn’t like somebody, they’d kidnap them and send them to torture chambers. If the Obama administration decides they don’t like somebody, they murder them."
