Drone strikes

Drone Strikes: Death From Above
The war in Afghanistan has proved to be very costly. With budget cuts being enforced with the financial meltdown, the Department of Defense is looking for a cheaper alternative to fight the war on terror. This is where drones and other sophisticated autonomous military hardware come into play. One such military platform that has proved its efficiency to combat terrorism is the drone. A drone being a unmanned air vehicle such as the Predator currently used in Afghanistan do not require a lot of human inputs to perform combat missions. They are more efficient in performing tasks that would otherwise require a large number of human soldiers. Also these platforms can perform tasks that humans on their own cannot. These drones are also on top of their game when it comes to gathering intelligence through ELINT (Electronic intelligence) and SIGNT (Signals Intelligence). The armed forces of United States basically have eyes and ears flying behind enemy lines with the capability to bomb suspected terror establishments and hide outs. News about drone strikes are aired frequently and one shouldn’t be surprised about the controversies they have raised. Often the risk of collateral damage is disregarded endangering innocent lives. The safety of this innocent population is being compromised in order to secure our national interests and protect foreign civilians from becoming victims of Jihad. The usage of drones by the CIA should not and cannot be justified as a an acceptable warfare tactic against militants.
The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a country located in Central Asia. The country is war torn and witnesses daily battles between allied forces (NATO) and Islamic militants. Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist political movement is responsible for all the bloodshed in the region. While in power, it enforced its strict interpretation of Sharia law, and leading Muslims have been highly critical of the Taliban's interpretations of Islamic law. The government of Afghanistan, a democratically elected body to represent the state of Afghanistan does not have control of all the regional provinces in the country. The Taliban once an ally of the United States of America were deemed an terrorist organization for backing Al Qaeda, the Terror establishment responsible for planning and executing the September,11,2001 attacks in American soil. Shortly after the September 11 attacks in New York and the Pentagon, the United States of America launched the war on terror with the responsibility to destabilize and eradicate terror establishments from remote tribal belts in Afghanistan. But the war has proven costly with mounting military and civilian casualties. The cost for funding the war till date is approximated to be around 662.4 billion U.S dollars (Ref: http://nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/notes-sources/). The United States thus has approached an alternative method to continue its global counter terrorism campaign using drones such as the Predator and Global Hawke. These drones provide the Intelligence apparatus such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the armed forces with day and night surveillance capabilities and keep the forces informed about the enemy’s movements and plans giving them an unprecedented tactical advantage.
However the operations conducted using drones are highly classified and not disclosed to the public including innocent Afghans who are being spied and sometimes targeted. Missions undertaken by the drones are supervised by the CIA and hence there is no doubt in mind that they are covert in nature. Staples in his essay mentions “Are we in our attempts to preserve our freedom and security, entrapping ourselves in our own solutions?” (Staples, 261). The very people whose lives we are trying to protect are sometimes killed due to collateral damage caused by drone strikes. This kind of warfare not only fails to meet the objectives of our mission in Afghanistan but also greatly undermines the reputation of the United States of America as a reliable state to fight the war on terror. The very purpose of securing the lives of innocent civilians in Afghanistan is being compromised by covert surveillance and air strikes. If drones are supposed to be the ultimate weapon of choice for intelligence and covert strikes then they should be capable of fighting terror without risking the lives of ordinary individuals.
Also Staples in his essay argues about the fear psychosis that surveillance induces in the minds of its victims. He provides examples of the rotating camera model being enforced in all the buses belonging to his home district’s fleet. Also he mentions about the “Panopticon” which is a central guard tower used in 18th century prisons. These innovative surveillance marvels prevented mishaps and in a way helped regulate rules and order. But on the contrary, the use of drones to prevent terrorism sometimes backfires on the resident population of Afghanistan and elsewhere. People live in constant fear of an impending drone strike and this in way tends to affect their everyday life. Studies report that since the day the drone campaign was initiated there could have been as many as 147 civilian deaths out of which 94 were children. (Ref: The Bureau of Investigative Journalism). The usage of drones for warfare is now unconstrained despite all the collateral damage it can be associated with. These platforms of war are now being deployed in countries like Pakistan and Yemen which are also safe havens for terrorist organizations like the Al Qaeda. The studies conducted by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism also found evidence of the CIA resorting to double-tap drone strikes. It’s a warfare technique which comprises of two back to back drone strikes on the same target. This warfare technique is used to erase all evidence of a drone strike as the second strike would make it harder for investigators to find clues and samples required to conform a drone hit. The study further points out that the CIA authorized 2 double-tap strikes in mid-2012 (Ref: http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2013/08/01/bureau-investigation-finds-fresh-evidence-of-cia-drone-strikes-on-rescuers/). In order to conceal any evidence of a drone strike the CIA is further compromising the safety of the local population.
The United States of America has accepted this kind of asymmetric warfare approach to be more efficient than using human soldiers to do the same job. Anyone reading this probably already knows that killing by remote control has become common practice for a number of Western states. While this form of warfare is more efficient and prevent human casualties (Allied military personnel) its draw backs are being disregarded. As Margaret Talbot argued in her essay “Brain Gain” that usage of neuroenhancers is being considered as the final solution to stay on top of this increasingly competitive world, drones are being considered the same to fight the global war on terror. Advocates of neuroenhancers say that their use results in higher test scores, increased cognitive function and focus, increased memory, and most important to the argument, that they are relatively safe with little abuse potential inside of prescribed doses. But studies indicate that overdose of these drugs such as Ritalin, Adderall, Modafinil and Donepezil just to name a few can lead to addiction, cardiovascular problems, sleep deprivation and headaches. Despite these health hazards the average number of neuroenchancers is raising rapidly. There are no specific regulations for usage of neuroenhancers such as Adderall. Any person can fake symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in front a medical professional and obtain prescriptions for these drugs. If these drugs are not regulated in schools and colleges than academic expectations from students will be unfairly raised and those who don’t abuse these drugs will be forced to do so. Similarly the usage of drones for combat operations should be regulated if not completely eradicated. The United States has started a new arms race with nations across the globe spending billions of dollars in research and development of UAV’s. Israel, France, United Kingdom, Russia, China, India etc… have all initiated and even developed indigenous drones similar to the Predator. Some countries have even gone further developing stealth UAV’s such as the X-47B which can violate foreign air space without being detected and perform air strikes. This will further increase mistrust between nations and urge them to develop such capabilities raising a big question about the safety of civilians that might eventually become victims of such aerospace engineering marvels. Only students from affluent families have easy access to such neuroenhancing drugs giving them a non-proportional advantage over poor students. Similarly countries that have the capacity to spend big for defense have a similar non-proportional or unfair advantage over countries that cannot afford them. Rich and developing nations can therefore afford to spend billions of dollars and research and development of drones and related military hardware giving them the opportunity to exploits another nation’s sovereignty.
In order to compensate for the reduction of funds to fight the global war on terrorism, the Department of Defense (DoD) has resorted to asymmetric drone warfare. Though the costs of operating these drones are far less than maintaining combat troops, they come at a cost that cannot be settled financially. Naomi Klein in her essay “The Branding of Learning: Ads in Schools and Universities” argues that in the past two decades schools in the United States of America have started to accept funding for various corporations such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola. The United States of America ranks 9th in the world in terms of having the most number of obese citizens (Ref: http://www.infoplease.com/world/statistics/obesity.html). Soft drinks such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola will only worsen this already existing problem of obesity especially among teenagers. Despite their ill effects on student health, schools are forced to accept sponsorship from such corporations due to increasing strains on federal and state budgets. Money seems to overwhelm student’s health despite the fact that schools are meant to be instituions for overall development of teenagers. One can easily relate this issue among corporate sponsorships to schools to the deployment of drones to fight terror. Drones cut military spending only to risk civilian causalities due to collateral damage.
Nations across the world should therefore formulate rules and regulations concerning the use of drones to conduct air raids. Independent International organizations such as the United Nations should step up vigil and prevent nations from committing war crimes in the name of war on terror. There should be more transparency regarding the supervision and use of killer drones. The United States of America should also analyze intelligence more carefully before initiating a drone strike in order to prevent collateral damage.
Works cited
Klein, Naomi, “The Branding of Learning: Ads in Schools and Universities”, Insert Title Here
Staples, William G., “Everyday Surveillance”, Insert Title Here
Talbot, Margaret, “Brain Game”, Insert Title Here www.infoplease.com www.thebureauinvestigates.com