( CNN ) -- `` There 's a danger that something that feels easy to do and without risk to yourself , almost antiseptic to the person shooting , does n't feel that way at the point of impact , '' General Stanley McChrystal , the former U.S. commander in Afghanistan , told the BBC when asked about drone strikes earlier this year . `` There is a perception of helpless people in an area being shot at like thunderbolts from the sky by an entity that is acting as though they have omniscience and omnipotence , and you can create a tremendous amount of resentment inside populations -- even not the people who are themselves being targeted but around -- because of the way it appears and feels . '' When the former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan is making this kind of warning about the drone program , things must be getting bad . The latest report by U.N. Special Rapporteur Ben Emmerson QC can only add to these concerns . Emmerson cites a whole raft of cases where civilians -- many of them clients of legal charity Reprieve -- have been killed or injured by the misguided and shadowy campaign of drone strikes carried out by the CIA and the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command ( JSOC ) . Read more : U.N. investigator calls for more transparency . The cases highlighted by Emmerson demonstrate the devastating impact of drone strikes on innocent people from all walks of life in countries such as Pakistan and Yemen ; and his call for states to publicly respond to the allegations set forth only underlines the total lack of accountability which currently exists for the covert drone campaign . 'Resentment on massive scale ' But perhaps more than anything , these cases give force to the concerns voiced by General McChrystal : that the danger of the drone campaign to the U.S. and its allies is that , far from being the easy , `` antiseptic '' fix it may appear , it is in fact creating resentment on a massive scale , and making all of us -- whether we live in Waziristan , Wyoming or Warwickshire -- less safe . Perhaps one of the most devastating examples of this is the case of Saleem Ahmed bin Ali Jaber . Saleem was an imam who locals say was killed along with his nephew in an August 2012 strike in the Hadramout area of Yemen . On the Friday before he was killed , he had given a sermon in the local mosque denouncing al Qaeda . His nephew , Waleed , killed alongside him , was a local policeman . So what did that strike -- that `` thunderbolt from the sky , '' in Gen McChrystal 's words -- achieve for the U.S. ? It killed the very people it should be supporting in Yemen : a brave religious leader , prepared to use his pulpit to take on al Qaeda ; and a government employee who worked to enforce the law . `` Our family are not your enemy , '' wrote Faisal bin Ali Jaber , Saleem 's brother-in-law and Waleed 's uncle , to President Obama ( in a letter sent last year which has yet to receive a response ) . `` In fact , the people you killed had strongly and publicly opposed al Qaeda ... Our town was no battlefield . We had no warning . '' Faisal has been very clear that , while he wants an apology and accountability for the deaths of his loved ones , he `` wish [ es ] no vengeance against the United States or Yemeni governments . '' However , we can not ignore the destabilizing effect the drone campaign is having on those areas it targets . Yemen vote ignored . How can the West credibly encourage Yemen down the path towards democracy and the rule of law when it ignores both in pursuing its policies inside the country ? Both Yemen 's Parliament and its National Dialogue -- which is mapping out the country 's post-Arab Spring future -- have voted overwhelmingly against the U.S. carrying out drone strikes in the country , yet both have been ignored . The U.S. -- helped by the UK , which shares intelligence and provides communications infrastructure in support of the strikes -- continues to carry out bombing raids with impunity in a country with which it is not at war . The covert drone campaign has produced hundreds of stories of personal tragedy -- many of which remain unknown , due to the intense secrecy which surrounds it . Emmerson 's report helps lift the veil on just some of those stories , but the majority will remain in the shadows -- despite the efforts of human rights investigators and journalists -- until the U.S. and its allies accept that , at the very least , there should be some accountability and transparency in this deadly campaign . Yet with the CIA still refusing to even publicly acknowledge that any such campaign is taking place , any such accountability seems as far away as ever . Read more : Obama calls for review of drone use . In the meantime , politicians and public alike should reflect on the warnings of General McChrystal and the story of Saleem bin ali Jaber , and demand to know how it is that this secret campaign , which alienates or incinerates the very people we should be trying to support , really makes any of us any safer . The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of Clare Algar .
A report by U.N. Special Rapporteur Ben Emmerson QC cites civilian drones casualties . Clare Algar says the report shows the `` devastating impact of drones on innocent people '' She says Gen. McChrystal has warned the strikes can create tremendous resentment . People should demand to know how the secret drone campaign makes them safer , Algar says .