Addicted To Drones -- Micah Zenko, Foreign Policy
Is allure of war by remote control the root cause of America's dangerously unbalanced foreign policy?
"The military's impressive, isn't it?," U.S. President Bill Clinton remarked to his aide George Stephanopoulos in 1994, as the 82nd Airborne Division stood by for orders to invade Haiti to remove the Raoul Cédras's regime from power. For civilian officials, the military's ability to find and destroy things from a safe distance never ceases to amaze. The CIA's ongoing drone strike campaign is a particularly redoubtable example, with drone operators in the United States taking out targets in Pakistan's tribal areas. In September alone, the agency launched more than 20 unmanned drone strikes against suspected al Qaeda and Taliban operatives in Pakistan.
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My Comment: Conducting a selective assassination and a limited strike policy may hold some appeal to politicians in Washington, but it has little if any impact on changing conditions on the ground. I am old enough to remember how US Senate Committee investigations on CIA assassination plots were uncovered in the 1970s .... from Fidel Castro to Vietnam .... and on how ineffective they were in changing the reality on the ground.
In today's world the killing a top ranking Al Qaeda and/or Taliban leader/commander may result in high fives at some military bunker .... but by the end of next week such an individual will be replaced by someone else. Bottom line .... you need troops on the ground, political support back home, and allies in the region. Unfortunately .... in todays war against Islamic extremism in places like Pakistan, Yemen, and God knows where else .... such support and direction is absent.
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