American Drone Attacks

Military technology enthusiasts are always quick to point out the benefit of using drone aircraft. If you don't know what drones are, they are bomber aircraft piloted by a person with a remote control who is far away from his target. Yes, this is safer for the "pilot," but the attacks are often inaccurate.

The vast majority of the people who have been killed by American drone attacks are civilians. This is because the US military uses horrible intelligence to select drone targets. The intelligence the US receives is second and third hand information (hearsay) from tribesmen. Sometimes the tribesmen will give false information to the US in order to trick the military into bombing their rival tribes.

Very few high-profile Taliban militants, as well as other militants, have been killed despite the fact that the US has launched 44 drone attacks in 2009. Of the 44 attacks carried out, only a handful have been acknowledged by the US government. This is due to their no-comment-policy about unsuccessful drone attacks.