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The Spatial Anatomy of a Drone Strike [Muftah (MENA)](Muftah (MENA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Owais Arshad A recent project by Forensic Architecture and Situ Research has revealed that domestic buildings have been the most frequent target in the ten-year U.S. drone campaign in Pakistan. Strikingly, since 2008 in neighboring Afghanistan, the practice of attacking these kinds of buildings has been "banned in all but the most urgent situations," in order to protect civilian lives. No such concessions have been made in Pakistan. Based on this data, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has noted that, on average, strikes that target vehicles are less likely to kill civilians, whereas attacks on domestic compounds, schools, and mosques unsurprisingly result in large numbers of such casualties. The study also highlights how erratic signature based strikes can be. These strikes involve choosing targets based on their likelihood of being military combatants. The devastating consequences of this process are most clearly illustrated by a case study on the 2011 bombing of a Pakistani jirga, or community gathering. The jirga was held to discuss a dispute over a chromite mine in Datta Khel, a town in North Waziristan on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Despite obtaining advance permission for the meeting from the Pakistani government and having police posted near the gathering, a U.S. drone attacked the jirga on its second day. The strike resulted in 43 civilian deaths. The event was and continues to be shocking, particularly in light of U.S. government claims that it tries to avoid targeting civilians. The drones hovering above the jirga would have clearly seen it was a civilian meeting rather than a shadowy conclave of hardened militants. The drone project attempts to quantify and analyze the terrible fallout from the U.S. campaign, which has spread fear and misery in Pakistan's tribal areas amongst a civilian population that is already caught in the middle of a war between the Taliban and the Pakistan army. (c) 2014 Muftah. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |