The Drone Wars -- Wall Street Journal
Weapons like the Predator kill far fewer civilians.
The Obama Administration has with good reason taken flak for its approach to terrorism since the Christmas Day near-bombing over Detroit. So permit us to laud an antiterror success in the Commander in Chief's first year in office.
Though you won't hear him brag about it, President Obama has embraced and ramped up the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. As tactic and as a technology, drones are one of the main U.S. advantages that have emerged from this long war. (IEDs are one of the enemy's.) Yet their use isn't without controversy, and it took nerve for the White House to approve some 50 strikes last year, exceeding the total in the last three years of the Bush Administration.
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My Comment: The success of the drone war in Pakistan only gives more ammunition to those who are advocating this type of approach in combating present and future insurgencies. As to what is my opinion .... all trends indicate even more drones in the future, and similar platforms that can operate in the seas and on the ground.
2 comments:
The downside:
1) Everyone in Pakistan -hates- the drones and US violations of pakistani air space they stand for
2) The media reports incredible high civilian casualty numbers with every drone strike - it stirrs the anger towards the US -- this is why the US lost the war on "hearts & minds" long ago - there is zero to none pro US propaganda.. remember WW2? It was a battle of propagandas.. right now, with all the media experience the US has, in the one thing they could score heavily, they don't --> big mistake!
3) The pakistani population increasingly rejects their own government for not stopping those drone strikes, this opens up the chance for a more radical group to replace the government
4) Lately, after successful drone strikes, the Taliban start bombing the civilian population (and pakistani police+military) as retaliation.. this increasingly destabilizes previously save cities and adds up to the anger and hate towards the US
Recommendation:
Freaking start fighting the war for hearts and minds already, it's 8+ years into this mess and whoever is in charge of PR should be fired. Handing over chocolate bars through soldiers doesn't work in 2010 any more. It's the media age, the media is the one thing the US should be good at, so freaking get your act together and use the media -- this is also one thing the CIA could be good at, if ground operations are too dangerous, do this.
Thank you Mark for your comment.
I have two friends from that part of the world .... and they told me years ago (10-15 years ago) that anti-U.S. propaganda and sentiment was a daily dose on the radios, television, schools, and mosques. To combat that type of sentiment and negative publicity is (unfortunately) beyond the capability of the U.S. for the moment. The best that we can do is work with our friends and allies in the region, kill the bad guys, and reward those who support us.
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