"We have guided missiles and misguided men."
-- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
The advent of nuclear weapons and the mechanisms by which we deliver them inspired this famous quote and have kept it relevant.
It makes one wonder what Rev. King would say about America's development and expanding use of drone technology. With predator drones we may silently kill anywhere at any time. We issue extrajudicial death and destruction in the form of an instantaneous explosion- terror from the sky- and we do it from the comfort of an air-conditioned room and a comfortable chair and with all the ease of a simulated computer game.
Except it is very real for those whom, half-way around the world, death or injury is imminent.
Proponents of drone technology say it's a valuable weapon in the 'war against terrorism.' Unfortunately, if America were truly serious about eliminating terrorism we'd change the means by which we seek the end: first, war is something one nation state wages against another, not against rogue organizations with little heirarchy and lots of autonomy whose members don't wear uniforms and look a lot like you and me. If defeating terrorism is really the goal, we would employ policing and coordinated intelligence gathering in tandem with other nations geared to eliminating the 'crimes against humanity' that are acts of terrorism.
But 'war powers' are like an aphrodisiac to the Executive; with an endless war and unlimited power there's no constraint to what a President may do. So the need for war powers necessitates Orweillian terminology like a 'war against terror' which, as Lewis Lapham once wrote, "makes as much sense as a war against dandruff."
In fact, if the American government were truly serious about terrorism it would take a long, hard look in the mirror concerning its foreign policy. Contrary to ex-President Bush's claims that they "hate us for our freedoms" is this crushing reality: they hate us for our economic, military and geo-political policies and initiatives. This is understandable given America's post-World War II foreign policy has generally been geared not to peace, justice or the world's greater good but to our own geo-political and corporate self-interest. Unfortunately, most Americans don't realize their way-of-life comes at the expense of many of the planet's other inhabitants. There's a saying, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," which Martin certainly got right.
Furthermore, American's don't want to contemplate that 9-11 may be what historian Chalmers Johnson termed 'blowback': what the C.I.A. calls 'the unforseen consequences of American foreign policy.' Osama Bin Laden stated his motives were driven by America's foreign policies in the Middle East and particularly Saudi Arabia; why was it so difficult to take him at his word- other than that did not mesh with the official government line?
Ironically, with drone technology we have developed a new means by which to ensure we never win hearts and minds and, as 'collateral damage' accrues, that we create new terrorists in the process. How many men whose wives, sons or daughters unjustly died, and how many boys whose parents or siblings were unjustly killed, will seek vengence or vow revenge and thus turn to terrorism to fight an enemy who wouldn't show his face while delivering death from above? How would you feel if your mother, wife, son or daughter were taken in such fashion? I know how I'd feel; my belief in non-violence might well be compromised.
It's worth thinking about, because more and more people are living this reality each day, and while you may not know their names or stories now, the day may come when you will- that is, after they've brought their vengence here.
Certainly predator drones are a formidable instrument of war, but in fighting terrorism the problem is that in order to minimize civilian casualties, America requires solid intelligence gathering on the ground. That's something the U.S. doesn't have in most of the world and certainly not in Afghanistan and Pakistan where most drone flights and strikes occur. Without good ground intelligence, the drone operator, watching a computer monitor of a satellite-relayed image, must determine whether four men standing by two trucks on a road are exchanging guns or shovels. Even if it is guns it doesn't necessarily mean they're the enemy, and if they're actually construction workers it's a tough and risky job when your life may be snuffed in an instant by a decision made 10,000 miles away.
I keep thinking of a statement often heard: "We fight them there so that we don't have to fight them here." Unfortunately, there are seemingly innumerable documented instances of injustice in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan- injustice inflicted by the United States in the course of a decade of waging city-centered, guerilla-type warfare which steadily mounts through our conventional tactics and now through examples of drone strikes gone awry. Frankly, it's hard to envision a future where additional 'blowback' will not come our way.
To minimize terrorism, America would be better off if it's economic and geo-political foreign policies were fair and just, but that would require corporate economic sacrifice and a drammatic lessening of our military colonialization of the world: goals well worth imagining but nearly impossible to implement given the amount of lobbying and cash spent by the military-industrial complex in Washington.
Developing good ground intelligence and policing is the other half of a cheaper and more effective one-two punch in the fight against terrorism, whereas use of drones for extrajudicial killing is... simply imperial hubris. Yes, we occasionally kill a terrorist, but the real question concerns the diminishing return on investment: how many more terrorists do we create, through civilian casualties, for each one we kill?
Time will tell.
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Additional Reading:
"The human toll of the U.S. drone campaign"
Glenn Greenwald, Salon, November 3, 2011
"Pakistani civilian victims vent anger over U.S. drone strikes"
Orla Guerin, BBC, November 3, 2011
"Are Drones Creating a New Global Arms Race?"
Andreas Lorenz, Jouliane Von Mittelstadt and Gregor Peter Schmitz, Der Spiegel, October 21, 2011
"America's Secret Empire of Drone Bases: It's Full Extent Revealed for the First Time"
Nick Turse, Alternet, October 16, 2011
"As the Drone Flies"
Ralph Nader, Common Dreams, September 26, 2011
"Former Intel Chief: Stop the Drone Strikes"
Josh Gerstein, Common Dreams, July 29, 2011
"Lobbying Report: Drones Fly Through Congress to Enter U.S. Skies"
Nick Mottern, Truthout, April 16, 2011
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