“Todays big presidential announcement was largely billed as the new plan for Afghanistan and then… Pakistan, from a safe haven in Pakistan, it’s neighbor Pakistan, it’s allies in Pakistan, al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan, Pakistan, the way forward in Pakistan, the Pakistani people, the people of Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan needs our help, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan.”“As of today it sort of seems official that what we call the Afghanistan war is over the border in this other country too. So welcome to your first drone war America – always support our robots.” So the U.S. is after terrorists in Pakistan, but Pakistan is not a fan of having foreign men on their sovereign ground - so how else do you attack militants? -- Robots from the air.
These missile armed drones have taken out some key Taliban and al Qaeda militants – most recently Taliban chief Baitullah Mahsud. Yet a Brookings Institution report on drone attacks from July claimed that for every militant killed at least 10 innocent people also die.
We’ve researched media perspectives on this question - Is it worth entering a sovereign country with robots to take out dangerous terrorists at the risk of killing innocent people?
In looking at the need for drone-led assassinations,
France 24 correspondent Claire Billet highlights how the most recent attack took out one of America’s most wanted terrorists.
“He is the most prominent figure of the Taliban. He leads certain factions of the movement of the Taliban of Pakistan. As you said, he’s been wanted by the Pakistani authorities since June when he launched a major offensive in south Warizistan. He was accused of being behind the assassination of Benzair Bhutto in late 2007.” But Rhodes Scholar Aqil Shah quoted in
the Huffington Post and Pakistani leaders on South Asia Newsline both agree these drone attacks just aren’t worth it – highlighting the toll of civilian casualties and how the attacks undermine the country’s sovereignty.
“The drone attacks generate bitter feelings because of the civilian casualties that accompany these attacks. They feed into the general perception that the U.S. has no respect for the sovereignty of other nations, a la Iraq, or Afghanistan.”“It was understood the U.S. ambassador that such attacks were a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and integral integrity. The foreign secretary also emphasized that continued drone attacks undermine public support against counter terrorism efforts. Speaking to the National Assembly Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called the attacks intolerable.”But
FOX News says Pakistani intelligence and the U.S. are actually -- secretly -- working together to plan the drone attacks. Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Frank Gaffney shares his biggest concern with this reported underground partnership.
“A serious problem is that the principle agency with whom we have to deal in these kind of matters in Pakistan is the so called ISI – the Intelligence Services of Pakistan. And unfortunately they have been playing at best a double game for a long time. It is a thoroughly Islamist organization. They put the Taliban in business, they’ve been working with al Qaeda.” So do you think it’s tolerable for 10 innocent people to die, if the U.S. is successful in taking out one of the most wanted men on earth?
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