US exceptionalism is main cause of deadly US drone strikes: Analyst

David MacMichael noted that the deadly drone strikes have their roots in what he called ‘American exceptionalism’ which is a ‘strongly-held belief’ among the US authorities.

According to the analyst, American officials believe that they are entitled to carry out such indiscriminate mass murders in the Middle Eastern countries, including in tribal regions of Pakistan and Yemen, to eliminate the people whom they label terrorists, supporters of al-Qaeda, or the Taliban members.

“This is a very peculiar way of looking at international law and incidentally with regard to the innocent civilians who are killed. The justification is that if individuals are in the vicinity … of people who are designated as terrorists … they are ‘militants’ and, therefore, they cannot be counted as civilians or even collateral damage,” MacMichael added.

The former CIA analyst stated that the US rulers argue that drone attacks against unarmed people of Pakistan and elsewhere are carried out to protect those people from what they call the warlords, Taliban members and religious fanatics.

According to MacMichael, it is not a new trend in the US policies but continuation of the same old policy they had used in the Vietnam War, where the Vietnamese victims were labeled Viet Cong to justify random murders committed by the US military.

Earlier this week, the US Defense Minister Leon Panetta said Washington would continue its drone strikes in Pakistan despite criticism from Islamabad and the growing hatred of the suffering Muslim nation.

Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen have been scene of the deadly assassination drone strikes against ordinary people whom are perceived by the US authorities as terrorists.