February 12, 2013U.S. Counts the Cost of a Deadly IdeaPeter Hartcher, Sydney Morning Herald
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![]() AP Photo America has developed a new dependency on armed drones, pilotless aircraft guided from afar that can rain instant death from unseen heights. They have been used to kill more than 1500 people, including at least four US citizens, in a program of daily targeting and assassination. It's a dependency driven by frustration. The US Congress expressed concerns last week at the fact the White House controls the system in great secrecy as the self-appointed judge, jury and executioner of people who have no right of appeal. But consider the frustration of a president trying to crush al-Qaeda and subdue the Taliban. After seven years of war in Afghanistan, the US realised it needed to pursue the terrorists across the border to their hideouts in Pakistan, a country which is, notionally, a US... TAGGED: Yemen, Pakistan, United States, Drones, Taliban, Afghanistan RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
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