icon bookmark-bicon bookmarkicon cameraicon checkicon chevron downicon chevron lefticon chevron righticon chevron upicon closeicon v-compressicon downloadicon editicon v-expandicon fbicon fileicon filtericon flag ruicon full chevron downicon full chevron lefticon full chevron righticon full chevron upicon gpicon insicon mailicon moveicon-musicicon mutedicon nomutedicon okicon v-pauseicon v-playicon searchicon shareicon sign inicon sign upicon stepbackicon stepforicon swipe downicon tagicon tagsicon tgicon trashicon twicon vkicon yticon wticon fm
21 Feb, 2011 20:55

US fires 118 drone bombs, kills only two most wanted terrorists

US fires 118 drone bombs, kills only two most wanted terrorists

According to independent estimates a total of 118 CIA drone attacks on Pakistan killed only two terrorists on the US ‘most-wanted’ list.

The CIA spent over $1 million per drone attack. The high cost and high number of attacks proved quite fruitless given the result – two highly sought terrorists killed. The National Counterterrorism Center said the two who were killed were Sheik Saeed al-Masri, a top Al-Qaeda operative, and Ahmed Mohammed Hamed Ali, who was part of the attacks on US embassies in 1998.Thirteen others killed were high value targets and another 581 were low-level. A senior Pakistani official referred to the vast majority of targets as “mere foot soldiers” who had no influence or power. The US military however contended the program has been successful and has disrupted the operational capacity of al-Qaeda. Nevertheless, the numbers bring about important questions on the efficiency, costs and benefits of such operations.

Podcasts
0:00
26:13
0:00
24:57