Saleem posted the following with links:
Latest … until 10 Oct 2012:
Drone attacks in Pakistan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Reported by Bureau of investigative journalism
Total drone strikes (from 2004 to 10 Oct 2012): 347
Total reported killed: 2572 (Min) to 3341 (Max)
Civilians reported killed:474 (Min) to 884 (Max)
Out of those civilians, total number of children ~ 176
Total injured: 1232(Min reported) to 1366 (Maximum reported)
That means 2398 (Min) to 2457 (Max) terrorist animals got killed due to drone strikes
Until March 2009, 9 out of top 20 A-Q commanders got killed by drones (the figure must be much higher today). Result was that, to save their lives, many top A-Q and Taliban commanders moved out of Tribal areas to settled areas, especially Quetta and Karachi.
**Compare that with number of innocent civilians, Pakistan government officials and Pakistan armed personals these Taliban and A-Q animals killed … that I believe could be in 10s of thousands, thousands of them children.
In my opinion, even though few hundred civilians got killed due to drones, drone strikes killed few thousand terrorists. Actually, drone strikes also saved lives of many innocent Pakistanis by not only killing these A-Q and Taliban animals but causing fears in their heart and mind.
[As for number of children that got killed, it is believed that some of them who got killed I believe in 2006, were getting terrorist or suicide training in one of the Madrasas during night time (hours before fajar), so if the report is right than these children were brainwashed and were Taliban weapons for killing innocent civilians].
…
**Now a problem with wikipedia is that anyone can post anything. But even if we assume that it is accurate i would simply say this.
The Taliban and other like minded militants must be fought. So we will have civilian death, because this is a war. Its simply how it is, I cant sugar coat it.
Taliban are killing Pakistani/Afghan civilians, govt officials and soldiers. No one is taking action against them, the PAK army is not doing its job.
Pakistan has effectively given up on its own sovereignty, the Taliban control large swathes of the FATA without any govt oversight. They are independent in all but name. So violation of sovereignty by drones is disingenuous at best.
The Taliban attack Afghanistan and Pakistan at will, and no one is doing anything about it. The Americans arent allowed in to pakistan, yet the Pak army does nothing to constrain either those attacking Pak or those attacking Afghanistan or Nato.
Under these circumstances, the drones are the only effective means left.
The drones arent really any more or less advantageous then other means of warfare, except they are all thats left. Aerial assaults by jets would be just as or even more devastatng. An all out invasion wil result in mass displacement, but has the advantage of clearing the area and forcing the enemy underground as is the case with Swat. However, until the Pak army decides to do something about the TTP, that option is of the table. So again, all thats left is targeted drone strikes.
And in the over all scheme of things, if you consider how many have died at the hands of militants compared to how many have died by drone strikes, I think its clear, that taking out the militants will save far more lives then are taken.