Staff Writer

Lately, a big issue of debate in American media has been the U.S. Drone Strikes. Talks on the drone strikes didn’t get much attention until recently due to a 16-page secret memo was released to the media by a source in the Department of Justice. This memo has Americans very concerned because it allows these drone strikes to be carried out on American citizens who could be suspected as terrorists without needing evidence that they are connected to terrorism.

While I could focus on how the DOJ will impact Americans like you and I, I will not. I’d rather focus on what it’s doing to innocent people now.

I’m saddened that the drone strikes are just gaining attention in America when so many innocent foreigners have died from these strikes. Drones are supposed to kill al-Qaida members and their associates, but innocent civilians feel the full damage of these drone strikes. These practices are horribly harmful to American relations with the Middle East.

Pakistan’s Minister of the Interior Rehman Malik said to rt.com that they could use the drone strikes more efficiently than the U.S. government because they can attack exactly where the terrorists groups are. “They had given us F-16’s, we haven’t used them against India, instead they were used in the War on Terror,” said Malik.  “Now the United States should provide drones to Pakistan in order to target militants in areas bordering Afghanistan.”

I don’t know if this is the best idea but I know it is better than the U.S. launching drone strikes that kill more civilians than members of al-Qaida. These people’s parents, children, siblings, cousins and friends are being killed by the United States, not al-Qaida. How can we then expect them to be pro-America and ant to work with us after our government has destroyed everything they love?

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism delivered shocking information on how much damage the drone strikes do to innocent people in Middle Eastern countries. Pakistan has suffered between 2,562 and 3,325 casualties via drone strikes from June 2004 to September 2012. Between 474 and 881 of these fatalities were civilians, 176 of which were children. Thousands of others have been wounded. These numbers could very possibly inaccurate with no exact way to determine how many casualties have been suffered, but this inaccuracy would lead to an increase in the number of casualties, not a decrease. And with the drone strikes increasing during Obama’s presidency, these numbers have definitely gone up.

I understand the reasons for the drone strikes. I also feel that people in the Middle East suffering drone strikes understand the reasons for them. America wants to eliminate al-Qaida. But these drone strikes are not succeeding. Instead they are killing innocent people, many of whom are children. And instead of helping these civilian populations by removing terrorists, the U.S. is terrorizing them and only creating more anti-American sentiments. Killing these peoples’ loved ones is the most ineffective way of creating a good relationship with people that there possibly is. And the sad truth is that that is what the U.S. drone strikes are doing.