February 2011 Philadelphia Chapter of Pax Christi U.S.A.

Drone Warfare in Afghanistan & Pakistan

How do Drones Work, Who can be their Target?

When humans first launched themselves into the air to attack their enemies, they used balloons. Later came planes and helicopters. The latest development in the area of airborne attacks takes the human operator out of the air. People may operate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) thousands of miles from the drone's location. Drones were first used (like balloons) for surveillance. In 2001 the United States began using missile-armed drones to strike targets during combat in Afghanistan. By mid-2010, over forty states and other entities possessed drones.

The CIA first used armed drones in 2002 and again in 2009 in Yemen when 41 local residents and 14 alleged members of Al Qaeda were killed. WikiLeaks disclosures have made it clear that the US carried out the attack, though Yemeni forces originally claimed to have been responsible. Congress did not investigate, though it was Congress that had demanded in the 1980s the end of CIA participation in lethal operations. In April 2010 a House Subcommittee held hearings on drone use. The Senate has held no public hearings, nor has Congress taken any action following the April hearing.

In Afghanistan, in November 2010, following an alleged Taliban attack on a nearby police station, NATO forces flew overhead to “engage” the militants. But the engagement meant bombing the area under scrutiny. In this case, the bombers mistook children for militants and killed six of them, aged 6 to 12. Local police said there were no Taliban at the site during the attack, only children. In Afghanistan, thirty high schools have shut down because the parents say that their children are distracted by the drones flying overhead and that it’s unsafe for them to gather in the schools.

General David Petraeus, top commander in Afghanistan, assures his superiors that the U.S. is effectively using drone surveillance, sensors and other robotic means of gaining intelligence to assure that they are hunting down the right targets for assassination. Drones are an accepted weapon of the brutal war in Afghanistan. However, because these strikes are carried out in secret, they are extrajudicial killings, no one is held accountable. The U.S. use of drones for targeted killing far from battlefields quadrupled in 2010 over the last year of the Bush administration, 2008. Jan Mayer, investigative journalist, calls the CIA's covert Predator drone program a “radically new and illegal use of state-sanctioned lethal force.” It is “targeted killing” meaning the intentional killing of named individuals on a “kill list” controlled by an operator far from battlefields. The CIA reportedly is moving beyond its list of named individuals to killing persons observed to be following a certain “pattern of life.” In other words, people are being killed because of where they travel, who their associates are, their age, tribe, etc. Drones appear to make the decision to kill easier for Presidents and operators, yet their use is in violation of international law.

In Pakistan research drawn on accounts from the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, CNN, BBC and reports in the leading English-language newspapers in Pakistan shows that the 138 reported drone strikes in northwest Pakistan, including 42 in 2010, from 2004 to the present have killed approximately between 997 and 1,502 individuals, of whom around 686 to 979 were described as militants. Thus, the true non-militant fatality rate since 2004 is approximately 33 percent. Pakistan is strategic to this plan, both geographically and politically.

With roughly 411 military bases in Afghanistan, it is clear that the U.S. plans a long, if not permanent, occupation. And the cost of keeping one soldier there is $1 million per year. Even if troops are being withdrawn in 2014, 3 years from now, the violence will continue as long as there is U.S. and NATO military presence in a sovereign country.

Call Sen. Casey at 215-405-9669 and request that he call for Senate hearings on drone use in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We all must call for an end to the wars, the bombings and the occupations – Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan.

Marjorie VanCleef

Marge is a member of WILPF and the Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition – she vigils weekly against the war with CPF & House of Grace