Last week, The Justice Departmentreleased memos regarding the legality of the U.S.drone program operating abroad, namely in Afghanistan,Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. The release of the memossurfaced at the same time John Brennan is being confirmed in front of the Senate for the new head of the Central Intelligence Agency. The news of the memos andthe confirmation hearing ushers in new media scrutiny over the drone programs. Drones, or UAV, Unmanned Aircrafts,are pilot less aircrafts that operate far away from the war. Dronesserve two purposes: surveillance and missile strikes. Since Obama took office,the President decided to shift away from using large number of troops to fight the war on terror as his predecessor, to relying more on drones. Thereason for this tactical change is to minimize America’s footprint in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. Historically drones have mainly beenused for surveillance purposes such as during the Gulf War, and the conflictsin the Balkans. Armed drones, such as the Reaper and Predator, were deployed toAfghanistana month after September 11thOne of the problems using drones inmodern warfare can be traced back to faulty intelligence. For example, TheAssociated Press found that on March 17, 2011 a drone strike hit Shiga village.The strike occurred because the intelligence suggested militant activitybecause the “group was heavily armed” it was later revealed that the droneattack killed 38 civilians and four Pakistani Taliban fighters during a miningdispute. Still, the ratio of civilians tocombatants killed is highly contested. According to a fact-finding mission conductedby the Associated Press in North Wazirstan, out of the 10 deadliest droneattacks in the past 18, there were 194were killed. From the 194 killed, 70 percent were militants compared to 56 whowere civilians or tribal police. In addition, more than half of those killed(38) were killed in one strike on March 17, 2011. Moreover, 80 villagers at the sites of the10 drone attacks told an AP reporter that most of the victims of the dronestrikes were combatants.Also, in the same study, the AP found another site hit by a drone missile that killed five civilians and20 militants. The children and two women, who were killed in the blast, wereoccupying the same house as the militants. Divorcing civilian causalities frommilitant targets becomes difficulty because many combatants embed themselveswith other citizens. This problem demonstrates the complexity offighting an asymmetrical war. One way to determine the number ofcivilians causalities compared to militant deaths is to look at funeral attendance.Funerals for enemy combatants are usually discrete and regulated to a fewpeople, whereas civilian’s funerals are usually brings larger crowds and is out in theopen. Still, collateral damage is a majorissue. According to a study by the Bureau of Investigative Journalists since2009, 282-535 civilians were killed in Pakistan by drone strikes, thereport also concluded that more than twenty civilians were killed attendedfunerals, and more than fifty civilians were killed who were helping victims ofthe attack.
One of the reasons why civilian causalitiesoccur is because of signature strikes. In general, there are two types of strikes,personality and signature. Personality strikes indicate that the target hasbeen identified such as a high ranking AL Qaeda official. In contrast, asignature strike is more ambiguous. The Daily Beast defines signature strikesas the “targeting of groups of men whobear characteristics associated with terrorism, but whose identities aren't known.” Many progressives have criticizedthis policy because any young male in a village that is an al-Qaeda or militantstronghold might be perceived as a threat. It is worth noting that whilepersonality strikes were used more frequently under the Bush administration,signature strikes have increased noticeably under the Obama administration. Perhaps the most prolific example of a drone strike gone wrong is the high profile case of Abdulrahman Al-Alwaki, the 16-year-old son of Anwar Al-Alwaki, who was the inspiration behind the Nigerian underwear bomber and Nidal Hussain in Forthood. Although his son, had no record of a connection with terrorism, he was killed by drone simply for having the wrong father. When pressed on the issue, former Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that Abdulrahman Al-Alwaki should have had a "more responsible father." Furthermore the number of top ranking Al-Qaeda leaders killed by drones is low. According to a collaborative study "Living under Drones" conducted by researchers from New York University and Stanford University, the number of "high-level" enemy combatants killed by drone strikes is two percent. Consequently, the study concluded that the number of civilian deaths caused by drone strikes is higher than the government and media reported. Notwithstanding, the report's findings on the effects of drones in Pakistan, some have criticized the study for methodological reasons.
Another, contentious issue related to the executionof drone strikes is double tapping. A double tap is a second strike on a targetafter “Militants” return to the scene of the drone hit. The idea originatedfrom terrorists such as Hamas and Eric Rudolph, known for bombing gaynightclubs and abortion clinics. As a result of this policy, rescue workers andmedical personal have been the victims of drone attacks simply for being in thewrong place at the wrong time. Drone strikes are also creating problems inother countries as well such as Yemen.At the end of Obama’s first year in office, a U.S. missile was responsible for thedeath of forty Bedouins including women and children in an isolated Yemenivillage. According to journalist Jeremy Scahill these attacks have provided fertilerecruiting ground for Al-Qaeda. In his article for the nation “Washington’s War inYemen Backfires,” Scahill documents how drone strikes in conjunction with anunresponsive government, has become the main impetus for Al-Qaeda’s growingnetwork. Again, the calculus of asymmetrical warfare islargely determined by critical and trustworthy intelligence. In a theoreticallyperfect war-zone, the number of civilian causalities would be decreasedramatically because the intelligence would be credible. However, this is notthe case. Accordingto a New York Times article, familymembers and friends of victims of drone strikes are using judicial channels toprosecute intelligence agencies for their participation in the drone strikesthat killed innocent civilians. The article examined the death of Malik Daud Khan, who died at a tribal council meeting in North Wazirstan along with other. The targeted site was falsely identified as a gathering of militants, rather than a tribal council meeting that resulted in the death of 40 civilians. While history has already defined the Bush Doctrine, Obama's foreign policy is quickly being shaped by his use of drones. Since the first armed drone was sent to Afghanistan, the number of Predator drones has increased from 167 to more than 7,000 today. It was assumed that once Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize following his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo, that he would be more diplomatically engaged with the Muslim public rather than antagonize it further with drones. If Obama wants to be remembered for his soft power rather than being portrayed as another Neo-conservative, than he needs to work with his new appointees John Kerry, John Brennan, and Chuck Hagel, to re-evaluate the efficacy and morality of drones in the Muslim world.
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