UAV are considered by the US military and intelligence official the most effective tactics available to directly attack terrorist groups especially the al Qaeda and the Taliban. According to CIA director Leon Pannetta, “the only game in town in terms of confronting or trying to disrupt the al Qaeda leadership” is through the use of drones. Drones are not only useful, but also necessary when it comes to capturing terrorist on the wanted list, such as Osama bin Laden, who live and hide in the mountains that is nearly impossible to find. Obama administration is right that “we will have to be nimble and precise in the use of military power [in order to] step up the pressure on al Qaeda worldwide.” Drones allows the US to directly pursuit terrorists,
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Until now, the US has claim they use drone strikes as a mean of self-defense against the al Qaeda therefore, they refused to allow any judicial investigation on the UAV program. The Pakistani ambassador claims that US drone strikes killed thousands of civilians and that drones “leads to greater levels of terror rather than reducing them,” he said. The ACLU estimated that around 4000 people were killed under US drone strikes from 2002-2012 in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, of these, a significant portion were civilian deaths. This number ascended quickly after Obama became the President. However, the CIA ensures that civilian victims casualties in a Predator strikes, compared to conventional military tactics, such as bombing and include rolling artillery, are much less severe. Also, the executive orders to the CIA to take fatal actions, such as calling drone strikes, are not public; therefore, CIA actions cannot be examined by other agencies. All in all, future presidents as well as the Obama Administration has a duty to itself and future successors to maintain the legal powers of conducting drone strikes for national security, and if the US doesn't use its legal power to defend the power to use UAV, the US will lose its power
Until now, the US has claim they use drone strikes as a mean of self-defense against the al Qaeda therefore, they refused to allow any judicial investigation on the UAV program. The Pakistani ambassador claims that US drone strikes killed thousands of civilians and that drones “leads to greater levels of terror rather than reducing them,” he said. The ACLU estimated that around 4000 people were killed under US drone strikes from 2002-2012 in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, of these, a significant portion were civilian deaths. This number ascended quickly after Obama became the President. However, the CIA ensures that civilian victims casualties in a Predator strikes, compared to conventional military tactics, such as bombing and include rolling artillery, are much less severe. Also, the executive orders to the CIA to take fatal actions, such as calling drone strikes, are not public; therefore, CIA actions cannot be examined by other agencies. All in all, future presidents as well as the Obama Administration has a duty to itself and future successors to maintain the legal powers of conducting drone strikes for national security, and if the US doesn't use its legal power to defend the power to use UAV, the US will lose its power