Posted: Jun 09, 2011 6:59 pm
Emphasis mine.Father O Rielly wrote:The US has been relying, to an increasing degree, on unmanned drone aircraft to carry out hits on extremists in Pakistan, Yemen, and other places. In today's world some militant groups can cause destruction disproportionate to their actual numbers. They can also, apparently, hide quite successfully in chaotic or near-failing states.
What are the ethics here? Some might say that if culprits can't be reached by more conventional law-enforcement methods, then the missions are justified. If the extremists involved are committed to what is essentially sub-state level warfare, then this is an accepted practice. Some authorities can not, or will not, cooperate in law enforcement in this area. Leaving the extremists in place will very likely mean attacks and innocent deaths in the future.
On the other hand, despite the crowing about ultra-modern technology, it is clear that more innocent people get killed than militants. Targeting individuals from 40,000 ft is still not an exact science. Sure, these people should be arrested if possible, but the law will have to go through its process, without risking bystanders. Resorting to terrorist means just lowers us to their standards.
What do you think?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/world ... el.html?hp
You have yet to establish the bolded bit ... it's not clear at all, especially when the missions are highly classified.
From my own interaction with a variety of armed and unarmed manned and unmanned aircraft across two theaters of war, I can tell you avoiding innocent casualties is a huge priority. Certainly mistakes happen - not least because terrorists routinely seek cover among innocents - but multiple measures are put in place to try to avoid this sort of collateral damage.
Please don't go talking about the difficulty in targeting from any particular altitude until you have some experience using the systems and seeing imagery available - as yet, you simply don't know enough to express a meaningful opinion on the subject.