CHAPTER 5: STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS The central justification for US drone strikes is that they are necessary to make the US safer by disrupting militant activity. Proponents argue that they are an effective, accurate, and precise tool to that end. However, serious questions have been raised about the accuracy and efficacy of strikes, and the publicly available evidence that they have made the US safer overall is ambiguous at best. Considerable costs also have been documented. The under-accounted-for harm to civilians–injuries, killings, and broad impacts on daily life, education, and mental health–was analyzed in detail above, and must be factored as a severe cost of the US program.688 In addition, it is clear that US strikes in Pakistan foster anti-American sentiment and undermine US credibility not only in Pakistan but throughout the region. There is strong evidence to suggest that US drone strikes have facilitated recruitment to violent non-state armed groups, and motivate attacks against both US military and civilian targets. Further, current US targeted killing and drone strike practices may set dangerous global legal precedents, erode the rule of law, and facilitate recourse to lethal force. A significant rethinking of current policies, in light of all available evidence, the concerns of various stakeholders, and short and long-term costs and benefits, is long overdue.
DRONE STRIKE ACCURACY AND EFFECTIVENESS IN HAMPERING ARMED VIOLENCE
The US government and advocates for US targeted killing policies put much emphasis on the precision of drone strikes, and their effectiveness in combating terrorism and making the US safer by hampering the operational capacity of militants. Indeed, as Peter Bergen and Jennifer Rowland have argued, “CIA drone attacks in Pakistan have undoubtedly hindered some of the Taliban’s operations, killed hundreds of their lowlevel fighters, and a number of their top commanders.”689 The “terrorizing presence” of drones overhead has also reportedly disrupted the ability of armed non-state actors to
See supra Chapter 3: Living Under Drones. Peter Bergen & Jennifer Rowland, Drones Decimating Taliban in Pakistan, CNN (July 4, 2012), http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/03/opinion/bergen-drones-taliban-pakistan/index.html. 688 689
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