While Malala Yousafzai bravery deserved the attention it received, it lies in stark contrast to the many other innocent victims of political violence in Pakistan. Indeed, the Drone War continues with hardly a mention in the U.S. media. It is not hard to imagine that if Malala lived in a different village, she could just as well have been killed by a Predator drone as by the Taliban—and we’d know nothing about her courage.
In the interest of keeping vital global issues in the discussion, Foreign Policy in Focus reached out to scholars at the Institute for Policy Studies—our institutional home—to sketch out progressive perspectives on the world issues we don’t expect to get fair treatment in the debates between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Without an informed citizenry, these crucial topics will always fall by the wayside. So read up, and share widely!
Medea Benjamin is one of the founders of CODEPINK, a peace and social justice movement that has been working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and prevent new wars. In her recent book, Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control, she educates her readers on the growing use by the United States and countries around the world of this no-accountability, remotely piloted aircraft.
The White House neither confirms nor denies the air war in Yemen.