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Re: Drone strikes killing more civilians than U.S. admits - human rights groups say
The Pakistani govt often comes off as schizophrenic in it's approuch to these issues because it's playing a number of angles and is often heavily divided among various competing bodies, with disparate goals and objectives. And I am sure a number of those divisions recognize the value of the drone program in dealing with various internal threats. And it's not like they have taken any hard measures to end the program, which would simply consist of actively attempting to shoot them down.
I think this part bears repeating. That said- and it's VERY important to have that said- we can still be dubious about the claims of civilians vs militants. Still, it's a very good ratio and better than what consistent operations of other types would produce, while those other operations also increased the risk of coalition deaths.
This, too, bears mentioning again. You can't say that American attacks somehow disengender the population to Americans while ignoring that Taliban attacks can likewise disengender the population to the Taliban, and at a much higher rate. To ignore one for the other is just pushing an agenda.
The Pakistani govt often comes off as schizophrenic in it's approuch to these issues because it's playing a number of angles and is often heavily divided among various competing bodies, with disparate goals and objectives. And I am sure a number of those divisions recognize the value of the drone program in dealing with various internal threats. And it's not like they have taken any hard measures to end the program, which would simply consist of actively attempting to shoot them down.