The Case of the Killer UAS
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עברית (Hebrew)
Killer unmanned air systems (UAS) are accurate most of the time. The Pakistani government said that 3 per cent of the people killed in U.S. drone strikes in that country since 2008 were civilians, a surprisingly low figure given past official calculations and estimates from independent organizations.
The Ministry of Defense provided the data in a written response to questions from the Senate, saying 317 attacks have killed 2,160 Islamic militants and 67 civilians since 2008.
The strikes are very unpopular in Pakistan, where many people believe they violate the country’s sovereignty and kill too many innocent civilians. The Pakistani government regularly criticizes the attacks in public, even though it is known to have secretly supported at least some of the strikes in the past.
iHLS – Israel Homeland Security
It’s unclear how the new casualty information will affect the drone debate in the country. A U.N. expert investigating drone strikes said earlier this month that the Pakistani government told him that at least 400 civilians have been killed by the attacks in the country since they started in 2004.
According to The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, that number is 300 since 2008. The Washington-based New America Foundation put the figure at 185 civilians. These varying estimates are often compiled based on media reports about the attacks.
The U.S. considers the CIA-run drone program in Pakistan to be a key weapon against al-Qaida and also Taliban militants who stage cross-border attacks against American troops in neighboring Afghanistan. The U.S. rarely speaks publicly about the program because it is classified. But officials have insisted in private that the strikes have killed very few civilians and the estimates from independent organizations are often exaggerated.
