Drone Warfare and Moral Challenges

There are those who have supported and urged even more use of drones by the US in battles against terrorism and in conflicts that take place around the globe. There are many who have opposed their use and who have known that it was just a matter of time until we saw some of the terrible flaws associated with their use. The discussion of 'collateral damage' or more clearly, the killing of civilians, has been known since the onset of their use. Yet others have sold the use of drones by talking about their surgical precision and the identification of targets.

Many have written about how we are in fact creating terrorists through the expierience of civilians and families being injured and killed by drones in addition to identified targets. It has always been quite clear that drones don't have good enough 'eyes' to identify and distinguish perceived enemies from innocent civilians. The targets are broad. They are in many cases good or best guesses based on limited intelligence.

We have now seen what happens or what can happen with the recent reports and admission that hostages were killed in a drone attack on high value targets. With the report and admission comes shock and sorrow by many. Political leaders and journalists start asking about policies and processes. In the meantime hundreds if not thousands of innocent civilians have been killed or wounded by drones and their weaponry. The accounting for these deaths and injuries has been minimal and difficult to get. Perhaps it will become a bit easier in the future but what a cost people have paid.

There are those who predict that drones are a bigger threat to the world then nuclear weapons. We need to think honestly about how we will react when the inevitable use of drones to kill and destroy people in the US occurs. It will be horrific. We will not take it well. But others have already experienced it. Children don't go to school. Families look to the skies in fear. Lives are changed. Drones were never the answer. They are just one more technological weapon that seems more humane than an alternate weapon - until of course we dig a little deeper. Striving for peace and justice is the only real hope. Beware the hawks who always justify collateral damage as a wartime necessity.