Secret Pakistan Report Documents High Civilian Death Toll from U.S. Drone Strikes

Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Drone Victim, Noor Syed, aged 8, killed in drone strike in Pakistan (photo: Noor Behram, Bureau of Investigative Journalism)

Hundreds of Pakistanis have been killed in U.S. drone strikes, many of them civilian adults and children, according to a secret document produced by Pakistan’s government.

 

The document reveals that 746 people were killed in 75 drone attacks strikes from 2006 through late 2009, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

 

At least 147 of the dead were civilians, including 94 children.

 

The figures run contrary to what the U.S. government has said about the strikes. Officials in the Obama administration have insisted that no more than 50 to 60 ‘non-combatants’ have been killed in the Central Intelligence Agency missions during nine years of bombings. CIA Director John Brennan, considered to be the architect of the drone program, has said that “collateral” deaths from such strikes are “exceedingly rare.” Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) claimed that they cause less than 10 civilian casualties a year worldwide.

 

The Bureau, which acquired the classified document from three different sources, showed a copy of it to Rauf Khan Khattak, a longtime opponent of foreign drone strikes who recently served as Pakistan’s interim finance minister and was a political agent for North Waziristan. After reviewing the report, Khattak responded: “What you end up with in these reports is reasonably accurate, because it comes from on-the-ground sources cultivated over many years. There was no benefit in officials ‘cooking the books’ here, since this document was clearly never intended to be seen outside the civilian administration.”

 

The time frame covered in the report is the period during which the U.S. drone campaign was privately supported by the Pakistan government.

 

The 12-page report, Details of Attacks by Nato Forces/Predators in FATA, was developed by government officials for the Secretariat of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). It includes details of casualties in many of the U.S. drone strikes, and also lists five attacks allegedly carried out by NATO and other unidentified forces.

-Danny Biederman, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

To Learn More:

Leaked Pakistani Report Confirms High Civilian Death Toll in CIA Drone Strikes (by Chris Woods, Journal of Investigative Journalism)

Get the Data: The Pakistan Government’s Secret Document (by Chris Woods, Journal of Investigative Journalism)

At Least 1 in 5 Drone Strike Victims a Confirmed Civilian – Leaked Pakistani Records (RT)

Report Claims Drones more likely to Kill Civilians than Manned Aircraft (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Sen. Feinstein’s Claim of Single-Digit Drone-Related Civilian Deaths Clashes with Reality (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Unnamed U.S. Official Denies Drones Have Killed 168 Children in Pakistan (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Comments

Aarky 11 years ago
This report, quite like the lies of John Brennan, are an attempt to downplay the real damage from the drone strikes. Independent researchers estimate that the death toll of innocents is in the hundreds. When they toss a locator beacon into a compound or beside a house, there is no telling how many innocents will be there when the Hell fire missiles blows them up. Evidence shows that many family members were killed. When the curious arrive or to help, they were also targeted as sympathizers or fellow terrorists. The funerals were also attacked because everyone there must have been terrorists. Groups of young men were also attacked because they must have been terrorists. For those who have not watched the video "Collateral Murder" in which a US Army helicopter shoots up a group of people in Baghdad, this is how the CIA also thought. The hatred created by all the collateral deaths of innocents has created more terrorists and will keep the CIA busy in a self perpetuating killing spree.
John 11 years ago
Secret, huh? I don't think so... it's just that if it is out of sight, it is out of mind. The Ministry of Truth will never report on this but the information can still be found. Check this: http://drones.pitchinteractive.com/

Leave a comment