Monday, June 11, 2012

The Myth of the Drone War “Successes”

Assassination Campaigns Do Not Win Wars, and They Create as Many Enemies as They Destroy

by PATRICK COCKBURN
CounterPunch

"As the US and its allies ponder what to do about Syria, one suggestion advanced by the protagonists of armed intervention is to use unmanned drones to attack Syrian government targets. The proposal is a measure of the extraordinary success of the White House, CIA and Defense Department in selling the drone as a wonder weapon despite all the evidence to the contrary......

Unmanned drone strikes are all about American domestic politics rather than about the countries where they are used. They cater to illusions of power, giving Americans a sense that their technical prowess is unparalleled, despite the Pentagon’s inability to counter improvised explosive devices, which are no more than old-fashioned mines laid in or beside roads. The drones have even been presented as being more humanitarian than other forms of warfare, simply by claiming that any dead males of military age killed in a strike must have been enemy combatants.

The downside to these exaggerated successes is that the White House and the US security agencies believe more of their own propaganda than is good for them. Ramshackle insurgent movements in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen are not like regular armies, in which the elimination of officers or senior cadres might be a crippling blow to the organization. Just as important, in the long term, assassination campaigns do not win wars, and they create as many enemies as they destroy."

1 comment:

anan said...

Tony, the Taliban and Al Qaeda are de facto wings of part of the Pakistani Army and Saudi establishment.

Pakistan protects them and does not allow foreign forces into its territory. Nor does Pakistan arrest them.

For that matter Pakistan doesn't even allow air strikes on their territory anymore.

Air strikes are rare. Often less than once a month. Each of them are against top Al Qaeda/Taliban leaders. Because only such a high value target justifies the risk of angering the Pakistani Army.

This is a very difficult situation. As we speak Al Qaeda/Taliban leaders are attacking countries all over the world. They just declared war on Tunisia for example.

What can the world do about Al Qaeda/Taliban as long as they are backed by the Pakistani Army and Saudi Arabia?