Page 18
The
Portland Observer Black History Month
February 19, 2014
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The Dangerous Seduction of Drones
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They don’t just kill,
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M adea B enjamin
Senior Obama adminis
tration officials say our gov
ernment is sharply scaling
back its drone strikes in
Pakistan. That’s a step in the right direc
tion. It would be even better if the entire
U.S. program of targeted killings in Paki
stan, Yemen, and Somalia were scrapped.
By embracing drones as a primary for
eign policy tool, President Barack Obama
has taken on the role of prosecutor, judge,
jury, and executioner.
Without declaring a war there, U.S.
forces have hit Palÿstan with more than 350
drones strikes since 2004. These U.S.-
engineered operations have left a death toll
of somewhere between 2,500 and 3,500
people, including almost 200 children.
Despite being billed as a weapon of
precision, only 2 percent of those killed in
these drone strikes have been high-level
Taliban or al-Qaeda operatives. Most have
been either innocent people or low-level
militants.
Simply put, our drones have killed young
men with scant ability — or intent — to
attack Americans. And drones don’t just
kill people, they terrorize entire communi
ties with their constant buzzing and hover
ing overhead.
A Stanford and New York University
Law School study called Living Under Dennis Blair has called drones “danger
Drones shows how the mere presence of ously seductive” because they make the
drones disrupts community life. Parents government feel it has a strategy for com
grow too afraid to send their children to bating terrorism yet really only move the
school or remain in their own homes. They’re focal point from one place to another and
afraid — with good reason — to attend guarantee a perpetual state of war.
community gatherings, or go to weddings or
Finally, drones are dangerous because
funerals.
they are fueling a new arms race. As of
“Your government is terrifying 250,000 today, only the United States, the UK,
people in my province to get one or two and Israel have used weaponized drones,
individuals, who could easily be captured,” but there is already a multi-billion-dollar
a young woman leader named Entisar Ali arms race going on. Israel is the No. 1
told me in Yemen during my trip there last drones exporter, followed by the United
year. “In your fight against terrorism, you States and China. Over 80 nations pos
are terrorizing us.”
sess some form of drones, mostly for
By fueling anti-U.S. sentiment, drones surveillance purposes. Between 10 and
also act as a recruiting tool for extremists. 15 nations are working on weaponizing
In Yemen, when the Obama administration their drones.
started drone attacks in 2009, there were
Another factor fueling the proliferation
perhaps 200 people who identified as mem of armed drones is a global push to make
bers of extremist groups. Today, there are smaller weapons that can be tailored to fit
over 1,000.
smaller aircraft. This will make it easier for
With every drone strike, more and more non-state actors like al-Qaeda to get their
join the ranks of al-Qaeda to seek revenge. hands on these types of weapons.
Worldwide, a decade of drone strikes hasn’t
After 10 years of an unsuccessful policy
wiped out al-Qaeda. In fact, al-Qaeda has of remote-control killing, it’s time to seek
grown. It now has a larger presence in effective solutions that adhere to interna
Syria and Iraq, as well as in several coun tional law and promote democratic ideals.
tries in North and West Africa.
These include peace talks, alliance-build
If other states were to claim this broad- * ing, treating terrorists as criminals who are
based authority to kill people anywhere, arrested and tried, targeted development
anytime, using drones “the result would be aid, and empowering women. The drone
chaos,” explained Philip Alston, a former wars are making us less safe by simply
UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial creating new enemies abroad.
Executions.
Medea Benjamin is the founder of
Former Director of National Intelligence Codepink and Global Exchange.