One More Question for Chris Woods: Have U.S. drone strikes served a purpose?

One More Question

Journalist Chris Woods, author of the book “Sudden Justice: America’s Secret Drone Wars,” responds to CCTV America’s Anand Naidoo’s question on whether the use of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, in the fight against terrorism has had an impact.

“I think they’re certainly suppressed al-Qaida in Pakistan. I think in Yemen we’ve seen the work of Dr. Gregory Johnson and others is showing al-Qaida is 10 times stronger today, that’s to do with many factors, but I think the drones have fed into that,” Woods said.

“But the one thing we haven’t really talked about is the international effect here. The United States is hugely unpopular globally, the Pew Foundation has polled over many years now, the targeting killing of people beyond the hot battlefield by the United States is proving almost as unpopular as the torture programs were back in the 2000s. So there’s a cost, a reputational cost, to the United States by these assassinations which really needs to be factored into… do the drones really work?”

Follow Chris Woods on Twitter @chrisjwoods