London-based organisation challenges US claims on drone strikes in Pakistan
PESHAWAR: Claims by a senior Obama administration official that ‘there hasn’t been a single collateral (civilian) death’ in drone strikes in Pakistan since August 2010 were found to be untrue following a detailed investigation by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
Its research revealed for the first time the extent of civilian casualties in CIA drone strikes in the past year. The report comes less than a month after President Obama’s chief counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan publicly stated: ‘…that nearly for the past year there hasn’t been a single collateral death because of the exceptional proficiency, precision of the capabilities that we’ve been able to develop’.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s analysis of 116 drone strikes that took place in Pakistan’s tribal areas between August 2010 and Brennan’s speech on June 29 reveals:
– 10 drone strikes in which a total of at least 45 civilians have been killed.
– Six named children killed by these drone strikes.
– At least 15 additional strikes are likely to have killed many more civilians.
– US drone strikes in Pakistan have risen from one a year in 2004 to one every four days under President Obama.
– The US continues to insist that drone strikes are ‘the most accurate weapon in history’.
For more than six months, US intelligence sources have insisted that there have been no civilian deaths since a specific drone strike on August 23, 2010. That CIA attack caused the death of seven women and children, and reportedly led to a policy change in how strikes are targeted.
Despite being shown a summary of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s findings, a senior US official insisted: ìThere haven’t been any non-combatant casualties for about a year, and assertions to the contrary are wrong. The most accurate information on counter-terror operations resides with the United States.î
Clive Stafford Smith, of campaigning law firm Reprieve, said: ‘There is the greatest danger here of a falsehood being told by US intelligence services, which misleads President Obama into taking decisions which are manifestly contrary to America’s best interests.’
Professor Anatol Lieven, author of the recent book Pakistan: A Hard Country and Chair of International Relations and Terrorism Studies at King’s College London said: ‘These commanders don’t live in separate military headquarters or barracks; they live very often in their own houses with their own families. If you’re going to hit these people in their own houses at their headquarters you’re virtually bound to kill women and children.’
Chris Woods, who leads the Bureau of Investigative Journalism investigation into US drone strikes, said: ‘Washington believes that no civilians are dying in Pakistan drone strikes. Our evidence directly contradicts this. So it is unfortunate that the CIA chooses not to share its ‘accurate information’ with the world.’
Iain Overton, editor of the Bureau, said: ‘A senior US official’s reaction to our findings was that drone attacks protected America from terrorists who continue to seek to kill innocents around the world. Our investigation, however, has shown it is these drones that killed innocents. The US has to answer for its actions.’
This is the first of a series of major investigations by the Bureau on the US covert war. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism is a not-for-profit organisation based at City University, London.
Source: The News
Date:7/21/2011
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