Drone Strikes Affecting Thousands in Pakistan, Fueling Hatred of U.S.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Drone-Strikes-Affecting-Th-by-Sherwood-Ross-130508-560.html

Drone Strikes Affecting Thousands in Pakistan, Fueling Hatred of U.S.
By Sherwood Ross
General News 5/8/2013 at 22:24:07

Far from drone attacks being "on a very tight leash," as President Obama claims, they have generated widespread terror as they disrupt civilian lives and activities, literally driving people mad, reliable authorities report.

According to an article in the UK Guardian, the Pakistani ambassador to the UN Zamir Akram charged that more than 1,000 Pakistani civilians have been killed by U.S. drone strikes. The use of drones, he said, "leads to greater levels of terror rather than reducing them." Other estimates put the Pakistan death toll from drone attacks as much higher---between 2,000 and 3,500 killed. Some "tight leash"!

Author Gregory Johnsen told McClatchy News Service the drones attacks in Yemen are "exacerbating and expanding" resistance. "We have seen AQAP (al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula) expanding from 200-300 fighters in 2009, when the U.S. bombing campaign began, to more than 1,000 fighters today." Johnsen is author of The Last Refuge, a new book on Yemen and al-Qaida.

And retired Marine General James Cartwright told The Nation magazine the drones cause anger, bitterness, and resentment among Muslim populations and predicted their use will cause "blowback" attacks against America.