Drones, deaths and incredulity

If the White House thought that the release of figures that purported to be for fatalities, including civilians, caused by drone strikes was going to satisfy an incredulous public, then it was sorely mistaken. The report, released on July 1, says that between 64 and 116 civilians were killed in 473 strikes by drones made between January 2009 and December 31, 2015. It is difficult to find any other agency or organisation that monitors and compiles drone casualties that agree with this assessment. The figure of 2,372-2,581 combatants killed appears to be less of an issue. The report is incomplete in that it only covers areas considered to be outside of active hostilities — Pakistan being one of these — and does not include Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria as a result. The report was the vehicle for the delivery of a message from President Obama in the form of an executive order that henceforward requires an annual report on civilian deaths caused by drone strikes, and further details how the US administration tries to minimise collateral damage.

None of this is likely to satisfy any of the many critics of American use of drones. That said, Amnesty International welcomed the report and the executive order saying that it sets a precedent for how future administrations will handle the lethal, and fast developing, drone technologies. As for drone strikes in Pakistan, they are never without controversy as each one constitutes a violation of our sovereignty. Without exception. Civilians are killed in these strikes, sometimes because the people who are the targets of the strikes knowingly use relatives as human shields, at other times civilians die because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Drone warfare, indeed all types warfare conducted with machines remotely under human control, is only going to increase and diversify. Pakistan is producing its own armed drones, as is India. Arguably Pakistan would have suffered fewer strikes — and civilian casualties — had this and previous governments pursued terrorists with greater diligence than has been the case, but the chilling phrase ‘collateral damage’ is going to be with us for decades to come.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2016.

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