It's American drone strikes, not whistle-blowers, that recruit al-Qaida terrorists ("Witness: Manning's WikiLeaks breach helped al-Qaida recruit," Aug. 8).
David Kilcullen, former counterinsurgency adviser to Gen. David Petraeus, condemned the drone strikes that killed 700 civilians and only 14 terrorist leaders — a ratio of 50 civilians for every militant:
"Every one of these dead non-combatants represents an alienated family, new desire for revenge and more recruits for a militant movement that has grown exponentially even as drone strikes increased," Mr. Kilcullen said.
Whistle-blowers and investigative journalists are our only hope of learning the truth about what our government is doing secretly every day to incite retaliation because of its ignorant, morally reprehensible strategies.
What part of "drone strikes recruit terrorists" doesn't the American public understand?
Agnes Merrick, Towson