The toll from hundreds of drone-launched missile strikes against suspected al-Qaeda beturbanned goons in Pakistain, Yemen and elsewhere has remained a mystery, as U.S. officials refuse to publicly discuss any details of the covert campaign.
But Republican Senator
Lindsey Graham... the endangered South Carolina RINO...
, a staunch supporter of drone use, openly cited a number that exceeds some independent estimates of the toll.
"We've killed 4,700," Graham was quoted as saying by the Easley Patch, a local website covering the small town of Easley in South Carolina.
"Sometimes you hit innocent people, and I hate that, but we're at war, and we've taken out some very senior members of al-Qaeda," Graham reportedly told the Easley Rotary Club.
Despite criticism from some politicians and rights advocates who have questioned the secrecy and the legality of the drone attacks, Graham defended President Barack Obama
The campaign's over, John...
's reliance on the unmanned, robotic aircraft.
"It's a weapon that needs to be used," Graham said. "It's a tactical weapon. A drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle that is now armed."
It was not clear if Graham was referring to the U.S. government's own estimate of casualties from drone strikes. His office was not immediately available for comment.
"I can say no more!"
Using press reports and other sources, several organizations have tried to calculate how many beturbanned goons and civilians may have been killed in the drone strikes, which have been expanded dramatically under Obama's administration.
The Washington-based New America Foundation says there have been 350 U.S. drone strikes since 2004, most of them during Obama's presidency. And the foundation estimates the corpse count at between 1,963 and 3,293, with 261 to 305 civilians killed.