Are The Predator/Reaper Drone Attacks Killing The Enemy?

MQ-9 Reaper (Photo from CNET)

60 Drone Hits Kill 14 Al-Qaeda Men, 687 Civilians -- International News

LAHORE: Of the 60 cross-border predator strikes carried out by the Afghanistan-based American drones in Pakistan between January 14, 2006 and April 8, 2009, only 10 were able to hit their actual targets, killing 14 wanted al-Qaeda leaders, besides perishing 687 innocent Pakistani civilians. The success percentage of the US predator strikes thus comes to not more than six per cent.

Figures compiled by the Pakistani authorities show that a total of 701 people, including 14 al-Qaeda leaders, have been killed since January 2006 in 60 American predator attacks targeting the tribal areas of Pakistan. Two strikes carried out in 2006 had killed 98 civilians while threeattacks conducted in 2007 had slain 66 Pakistanis, yet none of the wanted al-Qaeda or Taliban leaders could be hit by the Americans right on target.

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My Comment: These stats are coming from Pakistani sources .... which are probably not reliable to begin with. The fact that they are saying that the drone attacks are ineffective .... but they still want to have some drones for their own use .... makes their claims even more suspicious.

But still .... one should question the effectiveness of drone attacks on the enemy. Do they kill the enemy .... and do they keep civilian casualties to a minimum.These are questions that do deserve answers.