Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Forget Drones. The Real Problem Is “War Without Boundaries”
Let’s ignore, for a moment, the debate over killing civilians and assassinating American citizens with armed drones.
Let’s hold off on wondering whether these drones create more enemies than they kill.
Instead, let’s focus on the context in which we’re using them, and why it’s problematic.
In the Washington Post last week, Mark Jacobson called armed drones “the weapons of choice for today’s battlefield without boundaries.” For The Daily Telegraph, Con Coughlin wrote in favor of using drones by arguing that “al-Qaeda and its allies are waging a war against the West which knows no boundaries.”
This theme of a global battlefield has become common and accepted. And what Jacobson, Coughlin, and others are saying, of course, is partially true: that terrorists and gangsters are not confined by lines on a map. But somewhere along the way, we redefined the words war and battlefield.
Let’s hold off on wondering whether these drones create more enemies than they kill.
Instead, let’s focus on the context in which we’re using them, and why it’s problematic.
In the Washington Post last week, Mark Jacobson called armed drones “the weapons of choice for today’s battlefield without boundaries.” For The Daily Telegraph, Con Coughlin wrote in favor of using drones by arguing that “al-Qaeda and its allies are waging a war against the West which knows no boundaries.”
This theme of a global battlefield has become common and accepted. And what Jacobson, Coughlin, and others are saying, of course, is partially true: that terrorists and gangsters are not confined by lines on a map. But somewhere along the way, we redefined the words war and battlefield.
http://nation.time.com/2013/02/13/forget-drones-the-real-problem-is-war-without-boundaries/
11 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm probably at just that age where I can say WTF, what ever happened to the wars that eventually end, like Viet Nam, WW2, and (sort of) Korea?
I think IKE knew what was afoot.
