The Bureau of Investigative
Justice (BIJ) has compiled a
list of more than 700 names of people killed in U.S. drone
strikes in Pakistan—representing less than a third of known
casualties. The BIJ says 323 of those names are of civilians and
classifies each victim as a “reported civilian” or “alleged
militant,” based on interviews conducted in Pakistan and combing
through media reports and Pakistani government documents. Of the
323 “reported civilians,” 99 are children.
The BIJ
explains:
Senior US officials have described drones as highly precise
weapons that target and kill enemies of the US. John Brennan, who
oversaw the development of the drone campaign and is now director
of the CIA, has called drone technology an ‘essential
tool’ for its ‘surgical precision – the ability, with laser-like
focus, to eliminate the cancerous tumour called an al Qaeda
terrorist while limiting damage to the tissue around it.’Those killed by drones include high-ranking militant leaders –
figures such as Abu Yahya al Libi, al Qaeda’s feared
second-in-command, or Baitullah Mehsud, commander of the Pakistan
Taliban (TTP).But according to credible media reports analysed by the Bureau,
the dead also include at least 400 civilians. Some were unlucky
enough to be nearby when militants were attacked. Others were
killed alongside their husbands or fathers, who were believed to be
militants. Still others were mistaken for terrorists by drone
operators sitting thousands of miles away.
The U.S. government
considers any military-aged (Muslim) male in an area it targets
a militant. Even after the drone operations began to be widely
reported in the media the U.S. officially considered the program
covert. Last year Attorney General Eric Holder
acknowledged four U.S. citizens had been killed in drone
strikes—three in Yemen and two in Pakistan, including Ayman
al-Awlaki’s teenaged son.
Read an interview with a former drone operator who couldn’t
participate in killing
any more children.
And here’s a 2012 Reason TV piece explaining three reasons U.S.
drone policy is scary:
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