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The myth of precision and the right to home. Weaponized
drones and why they don't reduce terrorism.
By mickielynn on 2013-11-08 20:33:43
Before we begin to talk about the history and results of US drone attacks in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of
Pakistan it’s important to visualize just where Pakistan is located and where the tribal areas are in relation to the rest of the
country. Here are two maps that illustrate those geographic facts. [caption id="attachment_5101" align="aligncenter"
width="466" ]l®.Map of Pakistan so that we can see where in the world it is, from Lonely Planet website Map of Pakistan so
that we can see where in the world it is, from Lonely Planet website[/caption] [caption id="attachment_5103"
align="aligncenter" width="400"]
l#iLocation of FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas] in Pakistan. Including North and South Waziristan Location of
FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas] in Pakistan, including North and South Waziristan[/caption]There's one other
very important thing for people who live in the United States to understand about Pakistan. It's a nation loosely made up of
regions that have many distinct ethnic and linguistic groups. When we think of our own experiences of traveling across our
country or dealing with Federal laws and judicial jurisdictions this is completely different from the way that life in Pakistan
is conducted. That means that when we try to understand the experiences of internal refugees and displaced people they have
more to overcome than just the loss of their homes, lands and communities. They are also outsiders in other ways when they
migrate to the larger towns and cities. [caption id="attachment_5108" align="aligncenter" width="521"]
lw Map of different Pakistani ethnic and linguistic regions from Wikipedia commons Map of different Pakistani ethnic and
linguistic regions from Wikipedia commons[/caption] When Pakistani-American lawyer, journalist, human rights activist
and graduate student, who also works with battered women here in the US spoke with a group of anti-drone activists on
Wednesday October 23"4 she delivered this basic message: Drones Don t Work! Not ONLY are drones illegal, unethical,
immoral but they also dont WORK!
She then went on to provide many facts to back up these assertions. If you want to know more about Rafia Zakaria
then you can read Maud’s blog article_published previously.
In this article I’d like to deal with just two of the topics that were presented. The first is the myth that drone attacks
decrease the threat of terrorism in Pakistan. Here are three of the slides from Rafia’s power point presentation that indicate
that drone strikes and announced deaths of so called al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders have not led to a reduction in terrorist
attacks:
e In 2010 President Obama ordered 128 strikes killing between 874-1058 people (84-193 civilians)
e Again the deaths of various Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders was touted as “successes”
¢ NUMBER OF TERRORIST ATTACKS IN PAKISTAN: 473 again concentrated in KPK with some in
Balochistan.
e In 2011 President Obama ordered 75 CIA drone strikes which reportedly killed between 451-660 people (52-146
possible civilians)
¢ Including TTP and AL-Qaeda officials Abu Zaid al Iraqi, Shakirullah Shakir etc)
¢ NUMBER OF TERRORIST ATTACKS IN PAKISTAN = 673 ( highest in three years)
e Area of bombings increases from KPK to Quetta and Karachi.
e In 2012 President Obama ordered 48 strikes that killed between 242-400 people ( highest per strike casualty rate as
strike patterns changed from targeted to signature strikes) 7-43 reportedly civilian casualties
e Included was famed Tehreek-e-Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud, killed in a strike in January. The strikes also
allegedly killed Al-Qaeda leaders Qari Fayaz, Maulvi Faisal Khurasani, and Yasir Khurasani.
TERRORIST ATTACKS IN PAKISTAN: 632 Factually speaking there have been three patterns taking place during these
three years of drone strikes. First the number of drone strikes did nothing to reduce the number of terrorist attacks in
Pakistan. Second, the locations of the terrorist attacks spread from the tribal areas throughout all of Pakistan including the
populous port city of Karachi. So the terrorist attacks are no longer contained to the area of the drone strikes. [caption
id="attachment_5127" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
l#.Terrorist Attacks in Pakistan in 2012, from Rafia Zakari's slide presentation. Illustrating the pattern of spread of terror
attacks throughout the entire country.
Terrorist Attacks in Pakistan in 2012, from Rafia Zakari's slide presentation. Illustrating the pattern of spread of terror
attacks throughout the entire country.[/caption] The last pattern is the misinformation that often accompanies the drone
strikes with civilians being identified as militants or Taliban or al-Qaeda leaders . Notice that Hakimulla Mehsud was
reported killed in 2012 when he wasn't! He was recently killed on the eve of a peace jirga which he was planning to attend.
He has since been replaced with a very militant Taliban leader who has no interest in peace negotiations. [caption
id="attachment_5105" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
le Pakistani internally displaced people fleeing the region near the Pakistan-Afghan border. May 2013, Photo/IRIN/Abdulo
Majeed Goraya
Pakistani internally displaced people fleeing the region near the Pakistan-Afghan border. May 2013, Photo/IRIN/Abdulo
Majeed Goraya[/caption] The next important aspect of drone attacks is the effect that they have on the lives of people who
are fleeing from the areas of US drone strikes and retaliatory terrorist attacks. It's difficult to say just how much of the
refugee crisis is created by which killings. There have also been severe floods and earthquake damage in some parts of
Pakistan that have caused much movement into the cities as well. But a much ignored aspect of the damage that drone
attacks produces is the violation of an important human right [in addition to death, injury and destruction of property.] This
is the "right to home" that has been internationally defined. [caption id="attachment_5106" align="alignleft" width="600"]
Islamabad, Pakistan. Photo by Muhammed Muhelsen/AP
Child displaced from Pakistani tribal areas plays on a wooden cart in an alley of a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of
Islamabad, Pakistan. Photo by Muhammed Muhelsen/AP[/caption] [caption id="attachment_5107" align="alignright"
width="600"]
lw iPakistani men who were displaced with their families from the FATA sit by the roadside at the outskirts of Islamabad,
November 2013, photo Muhammed Muhelsen/AP
Pakistani men who were displaced with their families from the FATA sit by the roadside at the outskirts of Islamabad,
November 2013, photo Muhammed Muhelsen/AP[/caption] Some points that Rafia made about the violation of the “Right
to home" and to return home:
e In 1993, in the wake of the huge displacement crisis in Yugoslavia, then United Nations Commissioner for Refugees
Sadako Ogata spoke for the first time of the “right to remain.” Since then, the impetus for coming up with legal
stipulations that prevent the arbitrary transfers of people from one place to another has been gaining ground.
e Secondary factors can substantiate the displacement issue and present a more accurate picture of the upheaval caused
by what is described as a “precision” weapon.
¢ Drones [violate] not only the right to life but also the right to home.
e Right to Life from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
e Right to home must be resurrected as a facet of human rights advocacy on drones.
Definition of casualty needs to be expanded to include the right to home. There's just one more thing that it's important to
take away from the presentation [And I've only described part of it and not talked about how the large cities, especially
Karachi, have now become hiding places for terrorists because it's not possible to bomb such heavily populated areas with
drones.] But Raifa showed a slide of a terrorist attack on a neighborhood in Karachi: [caption id="attachment_5086"
align="aligncenter" width="480"]
lw. What terror looks like in Karachi, Pakistan, from the powerpoint presentation "The myth of precision" by Rafia Zakaria,
October 2013
What terror looks like in Karachi, Pakistan, from the powerpoint presentation "The myth of precision" by Rafia Zakaria,
October 2013[/caption] And she made this startling point! Karachi, a city that has swelled from 9.8 million to 21.2 million
people in the 13 years from 1998 to 2011 has only 20 fire trucks. Think about how many billions of dollars we are
spending on drone strikes and how little help we give the people of Pakistan to protect their basic health and safety.
Helping to improve their lives seems like a much better way to fight terrorism than the approach that we're currently using.
