Former US Ambassador Condemns US Drone Attacks Against Pakistan

A former US ambassador said the US drone attacks are “probably” creating “more terrorists.”

By Jeremy Scahill

A day after the latest US drone attack against Pakistan, a former US ambassador to that country has blasted the attacks, saying “they’re alienating the tribesmen we need to win the war.” The remarks were made by Ambassador Robert Oakley, who was ambassador from 1988-1992. (While I do not agree with all of the politics of Oakley’s analysis, I believe it is important to note).

Oakley made his remarks before the Atlantic Council. According to the Associated Press of Pakistan:

About the drone attacks, [Oakley] recalled the question former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld posed: “Are we creating more terrorists than we’re killing?” And Oakley’s answer was “(W)e probably are. The drones may be killing a lot of Taliban and al Qaeda but they’re alienating the tribesmen we need to win the war.

“We’ve pushed the Pakistani army to fight our war and created a huge backlash. They’re not trained or equipped for counterterrorism and they’re getting killed and killing the wrong people, essentially fighting their own.”

As we have previously reported, in just the first 99 days of 2009, US drone airstrikes against Pakistan have killed 152 people, averaging 38 killings per month and 11 killings per attack, according to the Pakistani government. Pakistani officials say three were carried out in January, killing 30 people, two in February killing 55 people, five in March killing 36 people and four were conducted in the first nine days of April, killing 31 people. Moreover, the government says that since 2006, the strikes have killed only 14 “al Qaeda” leaders but have taken the lives of nearly 700 civilians.