The Obama administration declared that their designated drone strike program has killed up to 116 civilians till date. The long awaited assessment of the US’s drone program shows the lackadaisical nature of the administration for not knowing the exact number of civilian lives that are lost because of their “anti-terror” programs.
The United States, which dubs itself to be the protector of the free world, has launched 473 strikes between 2009 and 31 December 2015, mostly with drones, that have killed between what it said were 2,372 and 2,581 terrorist “combatants”; these are only figures about strikes that have been officially confirmed while the more critical and fatal operations remain undisclosed by the US government.
“We continue to reserve the right to take action not just against individual terrorist targets but when we believe we have, for instance, a force protection issue or information to suggest a continued imminent threat,” says a senior official.
While the US government claims that civilian casualties due to their signature drone strikes are restricted to ‘single digits’, critics and agencies such as New America Foundation and others claim the number to be much more. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism states that civilian casualties due to drone strike stand around 800 in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia itself; a figure which is way off the mark from what the Pentagon has just released.
Even with a promise to be transparent about future drone strikes, the US government is reluctant to provide the exact details of the physical locations of these strikes as well as the identities of the civilians affected. In addition to that, the number of casualties do not factor in any ground operations that are carried out by the US army in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria and other highly sensitive areas.
“Unless details are provided on specific incidents, it’s not possible to determine if individuals killed were civilians, and thus whether the U.S. is complying with its own policy and with international law,’ said Laura Pitter, senior U.S. national security counsel at Human Rights Watch.
The drone strike program, which started under the Bush Administration and has grew under the Obama Administration, remains to be a controversial one. Even though the strikes are accompanied by live video and sound feeds, it is difficult to recognize and curate the identities of civilians who are affected by the strikes. In addition to that, since they are carried out in highly sensitive areas where access to location is difficult, records of casualties are mostly maintained and released by the CIA and US army. It is highly likely that the actual figures of civilian casualties are tampered with in order to justify and garner support for future military operations.
Survivors of drone attacks in affected areas complain of the financial consequences of these attacks. Although the US government promises to provide financial support to affected civilians, the amount of money remains undisclosed. The after effects of the drone strike are devastating and remain highly unaccounted for and we hope that further transparency helps those affected.
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