C.I.A. Is Disputed on Civilian Toll in Drone Strikes

The civilian toll of the C.I.A.’s drone campaign in Pakistan has been in bitter dispute since the strikes were accelerated in 2008. The U.S. claim that no civilians were harmed by the C.I.A drone, which fired missiles at a pickup truck carrying nine militants and bomb materials through a desolate stretch of Pakistan near the Afghan border. However, from a new report compiled by British and Pakistani journalists, the missiles hit a religious school, a restaurant, and a house killing 18 people--12 militants and 6 civilians. How come the U.S. didn't report the deaths of those 6 civilians? Since May 2010, according to C.I.A. officers, the drones have killed more than 600 militants, yet a new report from the British Bureau of Investigative Journalism concluded that at least 45 civilians were killed in 10 strikes during the last year.

President Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, referred to the drone program in June that for almost a year,“there hasn’t been a single collateral death because of the exceptional proficiency, precision of the capabilities we’ve been able to develop.” In a statement Tuesday for this article, Brennan ''adjusted'' the wording of his comment in June on civilian casualties, saying American officials could not confirm any such deaths. Why can't they? I understand that the idea of drones is to kill the enemy from as far away as possible to avoid any more Americans from getting killed. But what about the innocent civilians in that region in Pakistan? They should matter as much as our civilians. Is there really that much of a terrorist mindset that those civilians are assumed to be associated with the Al Qaeda? I'm sure there is. I'm sure anyone killed or injured automatically becomes an "enemy combatant" even if they happen to be say five years old.

Also, a pilot stationed miles away no doubt reacts differently to possible civilian casualties than a soldier on ground. The pilot will probably never see the results of that missile-the machine killed those kids, not him. The machine, of course, cannot feel the slightest remorse for those people killed in that restaurant. The deaths, then, become only statistics. And as reporting hows, statistics can be skewed, especially during war-time, and who can be better at that than the U.S.?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/world/asia/12drones.html