Democracy Now!
"Richard Clarke served as the nation’s top counterterrorism official under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush before resigning in 2003 in protest of the Iraq War. A year before the Sept. 11 attacks, Clarke pushed for the Air Force to begin arming drones as part of the U.S. effort to hunt down Osama bin Laden. According to Clarke, the CIA and the Pentagon initially opposed the mission. Then Sept. 11 happened. Two months later, on November 12, 2001, Mohammed Atef, the head of al-Qaeda’s military forces, became the first person killed by a Predator drone. According to the Bureau for Investigative Journalism, U.S. drones have since killed at least 2,600 people in Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Clarke has just written a novel about drone warfare called, "Sting of the Drone." We talk to Clarke about the book and his concerns about President Obama’s escalation of the drone war. "I think the [drone] program got out of hand," Clarke says. "The excessive secrecy is as counterproductive as some of the strikes are."...."
1 comment:
Drones have killed more innocent people than terrorist. Collateral is just too much. Drones have become a cornerstone of Pakistan's daily life. Pakistan has been at the receiving end for a decade now. But the sad part is majority of the literature on drones, whether fiction or non-fiction is written by Americans. Even if the books express impartial views, they cannot fully comprehend the emotional underpinnings of a Pakistani. But we cannot blame others when we are also to blame for putting out so scant literature on this critical issue. For example in the last two years only two books authored by Pakistanis on the topic of drones have appeared, namely: The Thistle and the Drone by Akbar Ahmed (non-fiction) (http://www.amazon.com/The-Thistle-Drone-Americas-Terror/dp/0815723784) and Bullets and Train by Adeerus Ghayan (fiction) (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LJK7KZ8)
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