America's Drone Attacks Are 'Killing 49 People for Every Known Terrorist in Pakistan'
■ Study found war against violent Islamists has become increasingly deadly
■ Researchers blame common tactic now being used – the 'double-tap' strike
■ Drone strikes condemned for their ineffectiveness in targeting militants
Just one in 50 victims of America’s deadly drone strikes in Pakistan are terrorists – while the rest are innocent civilians, a new report claimed today. The authoritative joint study, by Stanford and New York Universities, concludes that men, women and children are being terrorised by the operations ’24 hours-a-day’. And the authors lay much of the blame on the use of the ‘double-tap’ strike where a drone fires one missile – and then a second as rescuers try to drag victims from the rubble. One aid agency said they had a six-hour delay before going to the scene. The tactic has cast such a shadow of fear over strike zones that people often wait for hours before daring to visit the scene of an attack. Investigators also discovered that communities living in fear of the drones were suffering severe stress and related illnesses. Many parents had taken their children out of school because they were so afraid of a missile-strike.
Ernst Wolff: The terror of US drone warfare
Stephen Lendman: Drones: Instruments of State Terror
Medea Benjamin: Obama and Drone Warfare: Will Americans Speak Out?
AWIP: Drone strike kills ten in South Waziristan