Why the US Army is actually fuelling the same jihad it fights

The last resource used to fight an enemy that proves to be tougher than expected, is actually playing against American interests. With names such as "Predator" or "Reaper", there is little left to imagination about the purpose of the US unmanned drones wreaking havoc among the desert plains of rural Pakistan, trying to eliminate the pockets of resistance led by resilient tribal warriors.
These high-tech weapons are remotely controlled from the US via a direct internet link: the soldiers flying them possess skills more concerned with computer-gaming rather than actual aircraft skills. Their window to that remote, war-torn part of the world is a high-res PC screen in a military base in Las Vegas. Could this contribute in desensitising the actual act of killing other human beings? Very likely. But in order to eliminate senior figures of Al-Quaeda and other key threats to US security, this seems to be the most convenient decision, also considered the lack of exposure and risk for American soldiers.
Nonetheless, when looking at the bigger picture a very concerning problem emerges: it is alleged that out of the most recent 60 strikes, 14 senior terrorist figures were killed along with 687 civilians. This ratio is simply unacceptable and it is not surprising that is generates several collateral effects, chief among which a strong jihadist sentiment. In fact, "families of drone's attacks victims are required under the tribal code to seek revenge", hence making them perfect recruits for jihadists. Pashtun commander Baitullah Mehsud claims that every drone attack brings him alone "3 or 4 suicide bombers". As David Kilcullen, a counterterrorism expert who played a key role in developing the surge strategy in Iraq sums up: "It's possible the political cost of these attacks exceeds the tactical gains" (2009, p.3). The undiscriminated slaughter of any other human being who's only fault is to be within a 50m radius from the designated American target is starting to take its toll and could possibly fuel an endless confrontation akin to Israel vs Palestine. Furthermore, this warfare tactic generates a widespread belief depicting Americans as cowards, further reinforcing the hatred already deeply entrenched among civilians and making it impossible to gain the respect of their enemies -which is the only thing that would ever cause them to surrender-


Vieri