Droning On

Over the past two years, the US military is making more and more use of unmanned drone aircraft to bomb targets. One obvious reason for the increased use of this questionable strategy is that it means less US casualties and this singular fact is a very important consideration in an increasingly unpopular "war".

When casualties of US forces go up, more members of the public and the mainstream media take notice. There are far more calls to bring the troops home and to quit wasting taxpayer dollars on this insipid fight. So, from a strictly political standpoint, drone attacks are a great way to keep the war going without a lot of public notice.

But two questions still remain. For one thing, is it ethical to conduct a war by this manner? Drones make war ever more impersonal. If something goes wrong and a drone kills countless innocent citizens -- something that seems to happen with great frequency -- it can always be blamed on a malfunction or something akin to that (e.g., a misidentified target).

The second question concerns if it will help us defeat "terrorism" in the first place. Yes, a missile from a drone MAY take out a few key people, but the animosity the use of drones conjures up may also turn more average Afghani and Pakistani citizens into potential terrorists. Even the Pakistani government understands this ramification far better than their US counterparts.

Pakistan said Thursday there was "no justification nor understanding" for US drone strikes on its soil that have ramped up to record levels in the past month.

"We believe that they are counter-productive and also a violation of our sovereignty," foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told reporters, adding:

"We hope that the US will revisit its policy."

Basit said that the drone war was "not serving the larger strategic interests, especially in the context of our efforts to win hearts and minds, which is part and parcel of our strategy against militants and terrorists"...

Unfortunately, there IS a more cynical view to this increased use of drones. While there's no question that US government officials want to keep our own casualty stats low (see above), they also may be employing this tactic precisely BECAUSE it generates more animosity. More anger equates to more resistance and more resistance provides the government with the political cover to continue the war effort!

Truly this represents a tried and true American ploy: Goad the opposition to react and then, when they react as anticipated, use it as a justification for maintaining or increasing military action. If this is their plan (and I suspect it is), it's working just the way they had hoped.