Dead Al Qaeda leader gives interview

Eli Lake reports. Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri was killed by a Predator strike last month. This week, he granted an interview to the Asia Times. Comment:

Cases like this highlight why drone strikes have to be part of a larger strategy,” said Andrew Exum, a former Army Ranger officer and part of an assessment team that advised Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.

“Drone strikes like this can’t stand alone because … they are heavily dependent on real-time intelligence,” said Mr. Exum, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “If we can’t measure the success that we are supposedly having with drone strikes, it calls into question strategies that rely almost exclusively on drone strikes in our war against terrorism.”

Cross-posted at Conventional Folly