March 7, 2014: Drone Warfare

On March 7th, a guest speaker named Kathy Kelly came to the Science, Technology, and Society lecture block to discuss America's use of drones in the war taking place in Afghanistan. As an advocate for the Voices of Create Non-Violence, her arguments came from a humanitarian standpoint. While this perspective is important to consider, the effect that drone technology has had on America's international relations as well as the treatment of basic human rights must also be scrutinized. The development and integration of drones as a tactic in US warfare has resulted in numerous negative consequences because it has exacerbated our relationship with the Middle East and provided a technological blanket for the Obama administration to hide the truth from its own citizens.

Drone attacks have worsened our already crumbling relations with Afghanistan and Pakistan due to the growing number of unlawful killings occurring on their soil. Of the deaths in Pakistan caused by drones at the start of the Obama administration, only 2% were of their intended targets, high level terrorists. The remaining 98% consisted of low level militants, civilians, or unknown militants. About fifty civilians are murdered for every one high level target (Greenwald, 2013). When reflecting on the lecture lead by Kathy Kelly on drone usage in Afghanistan, she mentioned that these unpredictable and unwarranted attacks on innocent lives have created a significant amount of fear as well as resentment towards Americans. She also shared that the Taliban have targeted civilians purely under the suspicion of being a spies for US drones. Back in Pakistan, "Al Qaeda linked groups have killed dozens of local villages they accused of being spies for US drone strikes. Residents of Mir Ali told Amnesty that bodies are routinely seen dumped by the side of streets with written messages warning that anyone accused of spying for the US will meet the same fate" (Amnesty International, 2013). From these sources, one can gather that these Middle Eastern countries are growing weary and frustrated with Americans for forcing them to live in a state of constant fear, whether that fear be of US drones or of terrorist groups.

In addition to damaging America's relationships abroad, the motivation to use drones in modern warfare have also created suspicion against the Obama administration in US citizens. As Steve Coll mentions in "Remote Control: Our drone delusion", the Fifth Amendment seems to have been conveniently forgotten over and over while military efforts in the Middle East escalate to terrifying heights. Families of victims and survivors of drone strikes receive barely enough compensation for their losses and have little to no chance of securing justice for being wrongly targeted (Amnesty International, 2013). Meanwhile, propaganda is consistently waved in the faces of Americans to convince them that the technological advances in drone development guarantee precision and accuracy over human beings. Truthful statistics about these machines have either been altered prior to release or hidden from the public, resulting in growing distrust towards the C.I.A. and the Obama administration.

Technological developments in US drones and their implementation in the Global War on Terrorism has resulted in growing resentment from Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as suspicion from American citizens. The ruthless nature with which drones have been used to "eliminate threats to national security" may have created more enemies than destroy them (Coll, 2013). Without a serious reassessment of this innovation and its utilization abroad, the United States are in a dangerous position to push the boundaries of both its citizens and global interactions.

References

Amnesty International. "Will I be Next? US Drone Strikes in Pakistan." Amnesty International Executive Summary. Amnesty International, 2013. Web. 5 March 2014.

Coll, Steve. "Remote Control: Our drone delusion." The New Yorker, 6 May 2013. Web. 7 March 2014.

Greenwald, Robert. "5 Myths Used to Justify Death By Drone and America's Assassination Policy." Alternet, 12 Aug. 2013. Web. 6 March 2014.

Kelly, Kathy. "Voices of Creative Non-Violence." Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Darrin Communications Center, Troy, NY. 7 March 2014. Guest Lecture.