The United States has been using drones as a way to fight terrorism, claiming the unmanned aerial vehicles have the ability to make precision attacks.
However at a lecture at Whitworth University Monday night lawyer, writer and women’s rights advocate Rafia Zakaria said drones aren’t the humanitarian solution the government claims they are.
She specifically examined the use of drones in Pakistan, a country that has been assaulted by terrorists for years.
In 2009 President Barack Obama ordered 53 drone attacks in Pakistan — where there were 500 attacks by the Taliban and by al-Qaida. That year drones killed between 517 and 729 people, including many terrorist leaders. The drones also killed between 98 and 201 civilians, Zakaria said. In 2009 the terrorist attacks were happening mostly in the northwest corner of Pakistan.
Four years later, in 2012, she said, Obama ordered 48 drone attacks in Pakistan. Between 242 and 400 people were killed, again including many terrorist leaders, and again including many civilians (between seven and 43). However, terrorist attacks have increased. In 2012 there were 632 attacks by the Taliban and by al-Qaida, and now they’ve spread from the northwest corner of Pakistan to more populated areas of the country.
“Imagine a third year of over 600 terrorist attacks to a people and what that looks like,” Zakaria said.
She says everyone agrees terrorism is terrible, but asks why the U.S. continues to attack using drones when “definitely isn’t working.” She says the drones haven’t lessened the terrorists abilities, and have only turned Pakistan into a war zone between the U.S. and the terrorists.
“We see the country reduced to a battleground,” she said, adding that both terrorists and the U.S. government don’t care about the innocent lives that are taken in the process.
Zakaria said the majority of Americans are ignorant “to what’s being done in their name” and urged students and others in attendance to learn more about drones, how often the U.S. is using them and the implications that come with using them. She said U.S. voters can put a stop to this.
What do you think, readers, do you approve of the U.S. government’s use of drones to fight terrorism?
