The drone debate
....But all evidence points to the decimation of tribal leaders with the courage to stand up to the terrorists who have infested and taken over their villages. Every time they have tried to raise a lashkar to fight the militants, they have been gunned down, blown up, or beheaded. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, a website on terrorism in South Asia, 109 tribal elders have been killed by terrorists in the last seven years....
....A New American Foundation analysis cited by Peter Bergen in a CNN report suggests that under Obama, civilian fatalities were 11 per cent of the total killed in the drone campaign, and stand at two per cent in 2012. Conversely, the number of militants killed is 89 per cent of the fatalities.
While even a single death is tragic, few in the anti-drone camp talk about the tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers slaughtered by the militants. They are similarly silent about the hundreds of schools blown up by the Taliban. How many Malalas have been deprived of an education because of the stone-age mentality of these killers?
In talks I have given at universities in the US, the UK and Pakistan, I have been frequently asked about the drone attacks.
In response, I have posed a counter-question: if the drone attacks are stopped, what is the alternative? Should we allow these armed gangs to continue making life hell for the unfortunate villagers they hide behind? Should the Americans permit them to cross the border at will and launch attacks across Afghanistan?....
http://dawn.com/2012/10/13/the-drone-debate-3/
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