Damage

It has taken the unfortunate killing of an American and Italian hostage in a CIA-operated drone attack to confirm what many had been saying for long: the CIA simply doesn’t know who the target is during a drone attack. The revelations that two foreign hostages were killed in a drone attack which first appeared in the Washington Post raise questions about the so-called efficiency of CIA’s drone programme. The drone strike in question took place in January at an Al-Qaeda compound in North Waziristan. It has been revealed that there was serious intelligence failure that led to the death of the two hostages. This is the first confirmed instance where the CIA has killed hostages in a drone strike. This deals a blow to the American drone programme which is shrouded in secrecy. The dead hostages are American development expert Warren Weinstein, who was abducted from Lahore, and Italian aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto, who was abducted from Multan. They lost their lives after years as captives of the militants. Along with the two hostages, the strike killed another American citizen, an Al-Qaeda commander called Farouq.
US President Barack Obama issued a rare apology for the deaths but Weinstein’s family has expressed disillusionment at US and Pakistani efforts to recover him. While the Pakistani embassy has perhaps rightly defended itself, as the mistake lies on the part of US officials, the questions over the drone programme are sure to return. The failure to mitigate the risk to innocent lives, a promise Obama made in 2009, has been confirmed again. The killing has led to the White House ordering a review of the drone programme. But who is going to answer for the lives of many innocents lost due to the drone programme? It has emerged that the CIA rules of engagement allow drone strikes against suspected militants even if they aren’t sure who they are. This is wilful ignorance and the loss of innocent lives cannot be put under the garb of ‘collateral damage’ anymore.