The number, which was provided by the Ministry of Defense to the Senate, is much lower than past government calculations and estimates by independent organizations that have gone as high as 300. The ministry said 317 drone strikes have killed 2,160 Islamic militants and 67 civilians since 2008.
* A surprising number of Pakistanis are in favour of drone strikes: So when Sofia Khan, a school administrator from Islamabad, travelled with hundreds of anti-drone campaigners to a ramshackle town bordering the restive Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) last October she was stunned by what some tribesmen there had to say.
One man from South Waziristan heatedly told her that he and his family approved of the remote-controlled aircraft and wanted more of them patrolling the skies above his home. Access to the tribal regions is very difficult for foreign journalists; but several specialists and researchers on the region, who did not want to be identified, say there is at least a sizeable minority in FATA who share that view.
I have discussed the use of drones in the past and of course I have a controversial viewpoint on this. If you think about the growing situations around the world requiring not boots on the ground necessarily but watching I believe 100% you will agree.As I always say you must look at the whole picture before forming an opinion, that certainly applies here too.
Under Obama from the beginning The United States has stepped up its attacks with the pilot less drone aircraft attacks in Pakistan even more so since a double agent blew himself up at a U.S. base in Afghanistan on December 30, killing seven CIA agents. The so called weak President on terror has drastically increased the use of like it or not what has become an important tool in the so called war on terror, drones. We should have used them exclusively in Afghanistan, we could have saved Billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives.
Are we at war or not? I am not going to say the US should be able to put boots on the ground wherever she wants in this still just beginning so called war on terror but it must be realized and acknowledged that like it or not the US is a prime target if not the main target and is the prime face in the so called war on terror.
The big argument against the use of Drones is innocent people are sometimes killed. I am sorry for that but question the numbers as the extremist we are killing in every instance say we are killing civilians when we are killing them to anger civilians and create and enforce world sentiment against the use of drones.
We have been saying from the beginning that this is a new kind of war, a war like no other. We the entire world better make believe they realize that and act accordingly. Our future depends on it. Everyone who reads my reports knows I did not trust Bush and Cheney an iota. They made me question everything we have done in the past.
That said, I would hope that Obama has no designs of dominating the sovereignty of Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Africa, or anywhere else we have to go to prosecute this so called war on terror. Muslim countries do not want our boots on the ground so they have to allow openly or clandestinely our use of drones in this the first war of the 21st century!
The uses of Drone’s are a necessary evil even as just an observer as the events in Syria, Iran, and the Arab spring countries certainly must prove. They are our equalizer as IED’s are the militant’s necessary evil and equalizer in the new battlefront! The draw back in IED’s or drones is civilian casualties, by the extremists killing civilians is their goal not so called collateral damage. Civilians always pay the price!
That said, civilian casualties are hard to verify as the so called enemy inflates the numbers to win the media war for hearts and minds with wild allegations as we are not allowed to put boots on the ground in Yemen or Pakistan. We can not relent and we must all increase our efforts and do what we can to ensure our success and our successful future!
35 years ago I was in hardened nuclear missile silo's 70 feet underground. I am sure we are still there to counter any threat from China or Russia. We have a command devoted to operating and maintaining these systems. I agree that we should be doing the same thing with drones. Reading the link at the top I knew Drones were being used in Yemen, Somalia, and Libya but was surprised to read about the even more wide spread housing and use of Drones.
It is a necessary evil and at the very least I firmly believe we should set up a separate command dedicated to their use and maintenance. I firmly believe all our troops around the world not just in Iraq, Afghanistan, Serbia, the Philippines, Africa, and everywhere else they are openly and clandestinely should be brought home where they are needed and we should be watching events around the world with drones.
If countries do not want them there they can get rid of the so called terrorist threat by policing themselves and we will have to go home or be the unnecessary aggressor we appear to be.
James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com
1 comment:
Sorry but this is just all wrong on the face of it. This isn't some organized army we're fighting here it's a loose group of ideologues. Would you put up with the same tactic if it was a bunch of gang members in your neighborhood? You know with the police using drones to bomb your neighbor's house and taking our your family in the process? I think not. This isn't justice it's a national lynch mob with no justice to speak of here. This is what we fought WWII over the Nazis convicting and murdering people without cause only suspicions. Are we now any better than them?
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