Twisting the Tale of Counterterrorism 5 Ways that the Narrative of Excessive Civilian Casualties Resulting from Drone Strikes has Been Promoted

DOI: 10.5176/2382-5650_CCS17.29

Authors: Avery Plaw, Peter Sandby-Thomas

Abstract:

There are plenty of legitimate reasons to worry about the U.S. use of combat drones in places like Pakistan which are outside areas of conventional armed conflict – for example, are they permissible under international law? Are they effective in degrading the capabilities of terror organizations and suppressing terror attacks? But the persistent tendency of critics to rely on manifest distortions, and to build on one another’s misinformation to concoct a spurious narrative, suggests something about such critics as well – that is, a surprising reluctance to engage in the hard and necessary questions about whether this program can be justified or not based on the most accurate available information. This paper identifies and illustrates the five most prevalent means of distorting drone casualty data with the hope of better informing a serious debate over the justifiability of drone strikes outside conventional areas of armed conflict.

Keywords: component; drones; civilians; casualties; media; reporting; distortion.