Three Troubling Lessons from the Latest U.S. Drone Strikes

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/06/17-6



A Pakistani child sifts through rubble following a U.S. drone strike.

Three Troubling Lessons from the Latest U.S. Drone Strikes
by John Knefel
Published on Tuesday, June 17, 2014 by Rolling Stone

As the deteriorating security situation in Iraq once again dominates headlines in the U.S., America's dirty wars in the Middle East and South Asia continue with no sign of abating. Last week, the United States carried out one drone strike in Yemen and two in Pakistan, killing an estimated total of between 15 and 22 people, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, an organization that tracks drone strikes closely. All of the dead were reported to be militants; human rights advocates note, however, that such claims are often discovered to be inaccurate or misleading following further investigation.

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1. The U.S. may be targeting enemies of foreign governments, not imminent threats to the U.S.

The two strikes in Pakistan came after the breakdown of peace talks between the Pakistani government and the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), which ended after a brutal attack carried out by Uzbekistan militants in coordination with the TTP on the Karachi airport, resulting in 36 deaths. Pakistan is now waging a major offensive in the tribal region of North Waziristan, aimed at dislodging militant groups there.

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2. This may be what the near-term future of U.S. military force looks like.

As the U.S. watches sectarian conflict expand in Iraq and Syria, pressure for the Obama administration to intervene somehow is likely to grow. ISIS, the group behind the recent turmoil in Iraq, is arguably a greater threat to the U.S. than local enemies in Yemen or Pakistan; Secretary of State John Kerry has said the administration is open to considering drone strikes in Iraq, and the U.S. has secretly been flying a small number of surveillance drones over the country for the last year, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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3. We still have a long way to go on transparency.

The U.S. drone programs that currently exist are shrouded in secrecy, as would almost certainly be the case with any future programs. Human rights attorney and professor Sarah Knuckey recently referred to a "depressing pattern" of how drone strikes are discussed in the media – from initial media reports, to investigations and calls for transparency, to official denials and anonymous defenses from the U.S. government.