By David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

WAZIRSTAN, Afghanistan – Nine people were killed one Friday night when a suspected U.S. drone struck North Waziristan, near the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, according local officials.  The dead consisted of two children, two women and five men, Pakistani intelligence and administrative officials said.  Investigators from the US military have found that “inaccurate and unprofessional” reporting by US operators of a drone was behind a missile strike that killed 23 Afghan civilians in February.”

Four American officers – two described as senior – received formal reprimands over the incident.  Ge.neral Stanley McChrystal, the top US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, called for the Air Force to investigate the actions of the crew involved in the incident.  “Our most important mission here is to protect the Afghan people,” he told reporters.  McChrystal had apologized to Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, shortly after the attack.

“Inadvertently killing or injuring civilians is heartbreaking and undermines their trust and confidence in our mission. We will do all we can to regain that trust.”

Because the drone strikes kill innocent civilians and bystanders along with leaders from far away, they “infuriate the Muslim male”, said Addicott, thus making them more willing to join the movement. The men in Pakistan’s tribal region “view Americans as cowards and weasels”, he added.

The UN says at least 2,412 civilians were killed in the Afghan conflict in 2009 – a 14 per cent increase over the previous year.  Nato and Afghan government forces were responsible for 25 per cent of the deaths and of those, about 60 per cent were due to airstrikes, the UN said in a report published in January.

While using drones to attack what amounts to military targets might not be strictly illegal under existing laws of war, Alston says, because such practices “make it easier to kill without risk to a state’s forces, policymakers and commanders will be tempted to interpret the legal limitations on who can be killed, and under what circumstances, too expansively.” Moreover, Alston says, “Because [drone] operators are based thousands of miles away from the battlefield and undertake operations entirely through computer screens and remote audio feed, there is a risk of developing a ‘PlayStation’ mentality to killing.” Alston recommends that governments should also make public “the number of civilians collaterally killed in a targeted killing operation, and the measures in place to prevent such casualties.”

For more information, please see:

CNN World News – 9 killed in suspected U.S. drone strike in Pakistan – 22 May 2010

IPS News – CIA Drone Operators Oppose Strikes as Helping al Qaeda – 3 June 2010

Al Jazeera English – US crew faulted for drone deaths – 30 May 2010

Image Courtesy of A Pakistan News