US drone strikes ‘slippery slope to wider wars’ – study
Washington’s use of unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAV) for carrying out targeted killings might lead to increasing instability in the world, and result in other countries imitating the practice, a report by former US senior officials says.
The study, issued on Thursday, calls on the Obama administration
to come up with a cost-benefit analysis of drone strikes. It also
urges more transparency on the targeted killings and warns the US
might soon be not alone in carrying them out.
“We are concerned that the Obama administration’s heavy
reliance on targeted killings as a pillar of US counterterrorism
strategy rests on questionable assumptions, and risks increasing
instability and escalating conflicts,” the report reads.
The report was compiled by a bipartisan 10-member
task force, created by the Stimson Center think tank and consists
of former high-ranking officials working in intelligence and
counter-terrorism.
The task force has warned that the current US drone policy might
lead to “uncontrolled proliferation of UAV
technologies.”
“US practices set a dangerous precedent that may be seized
upon by other states — not all of which are likely to behave as
scrupulously as US officials,” the study says, calling on
the development of international norms for the use of lethal
drones.
While the former US officials say they understand the secrecy,
which surrounds decision-making when it comes to drone attacks,
they still urge for more transparency over this type of
operation.
"While secrecy may be required before and during each strike,
strikes should generally be acknowledged by the United States
after the fact," the panel says.
The report also warns of a blowback the practice might result in.
“Civilian casualties, even if relatively few, can anger whole
communities, increase anti-US sentiment and become a potent
recruiting tool for terrorist organizations.”
The study calls on the Obama administration to create "a
non-partisan independent commission to review lethal UAV
policy," and urges it to transfer responsibility for
carrying out drone strikes from the more secretive CIA to the
more transparent military.
President Obama has recently promised more transparency
concerning the country’s drone program.
“But, when we cannot explain our efforts clearly and
publicly, we face terrorist propaganda and international
suspicion; we erode legitimacy with our partners and our people;
and we reduce accountability in our own government,” he said
in a speech at
the US Military Academy on May 28.
The US has long been criticized for its lethal drone policy by
various human rights groups.
A late May study by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism said
two thirds of all US drone strikes in Pakistan over the past
decade targeted
domestic buildings.
In March, a UN human rights rapporteur called for a public
explanation of 30 US drone attacks,
which allegedly resulted in civilian casualties.
