578 ChaPter^11
and huge numbers of weapons sent to Pakistan, that country continued to
provide a safe haven for terrorists like al Qaeda. In turn, Obama began a
massive drone offensive, claiming that the attacks were only being conducted
against legitimate targets, terrorists who aimed to harm the U.S. But the
drone war, because it involved so few personnel [the actual strikes were con-
ducted via computer at bases in the U.S.], got little attention at first, leading
the Washington Post to write that no president “has ever relied so extensively
on the secret killing of individuals to advance the nation’s security goals.”
Obama himself, making a bad joke, boasted that he was “really good at killing
people.” In 2012, a major study done by legal experts called into question
the entire drone campaign, which has killed over 2000 people, a large number
of them civilians with no connection to al Qaeda or other terror organiza-
tions. While Obama claimed that the drones were “surgically precise” and
only hit terror targets, the report’s authors noted that the drone attacks often
struck the same targets multiple times, thus killing humanitarian workers and
rescuers who rushed there to help those injured in the first bombings. This
was the “double-tap” strategy—hit the alleged terrorists, and the come back
and bomb rescuers and even the funerals of previous drone victims, a way to
double the return on a single mission.
As the report’s analysts described it,Drones hover twenty-four hours a day over... northwest Pakistan, striking
homes, vehicles, and public spaces without warning. Their presence terror-
izes men, women, and children, giving rise to anxiety and psychological
trauma among civilian communities. Those living under drones have to
face the constant worry that a deadly strike may be fired at any moment,
and the knowledge that they are powerless to protect themselves.... The
US practice of striking one area multiple times, and evidence that it has
killed rescuers, makes both community members and humanitarian workers
afraid or unwilling to assist injured victims. Some community members shy
away from gathering in groups... out of fear that they may attract the
attention of drone operators. Some parents choose to keep their children
home, and children injured or traumatized by strikes have dropped out of
school.... In addition, families who have lost loved ones or their homes
in drone strikes now struggle to support themselves.