Drone warfare: politically expedient and disturbingly inaccurate

[The Northerner]

With almost no public debate, in the past decade the United States has increased dramatically the use of a significant new weapon in its military and counterterrorism efforts: unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. Drones have become such a major part of American counterterrorism efforts that current Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has described them as "the only game in town."

While many drone operations involve surveillance and reconnaissance, the most controversial aspect of the new drone warfare is its deployment in deadly strikes. Roughly 50 such attacks occurred during George W. Bush's eight years in office. By contrast, in the three-plus years since the start of the Obama presidency, there have been close to 300, and those strikes have killed as many as 3,000 people.

There is much about drone warfare that appeals especially to the political class. It's relatively cheap in comparison with conventional military methods. Drones enable America to deliver deadly force without fear of American casualties. Additionally, as the military affairs correspondent Michael Hastings has written, they allow "politicians to wage war while claiming we're not at war," for instance, in Pakistan, our putative ally. And the administration credits drones with having played a significant role in the decimation of Al Qaeda's senior leadership.

Yet remote-control warfare has also raised a host of disturbing questions. For starters, independent groups have estimated that the drones have killed several hundred civilians. Further, the drone program is being carried out in utmost secrecy. The ACLU, among other groups, has repeatedly asked the administration to explain the legal criteria by which it identifies targets for drone-based assassination. The Obama administration refuses to do this. The administration also refuses even to confirm or deny the existence of records related to civilian casualties.

Read more: http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/drone-warfare-politically-expedient-and-disturbingly-inaccurate/Content?oid=3065119


There would certainly be much more outrage if a foreign military decided to slaughter US citizens on US soil for being "suspected" terrorists on a nearly daily basis as compared to the slaughtering of civilians by drones in other parts of the world, right?

[Unaccountable]

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