The Inherent Evil of Drones

Dear Mr. President,

A report in this morning’s New York Times about the UN panel that will investigate the “exponential rise” in the use of drone strikes in counterterrorism operations “with a view to determining whether there is a plausible allegation of unlawful killing,” must be giving some in your administration, like John Brennan, Dr. Death by Drone, heartburn. The head of the panel is hopeful the U.S. will cooperate even though we never have in the past. Unless you’ve changed your spots like all those columnists proclaim, there will be non-cooperation and stonewalling as usual. A UN panel is certainly not needed to determine whether there is plausible allegation of unlawful killing. There is plenty of documented evidence—video, photos, eyewitness testimony—largely ignored by our press and discounted by our government. The UN panel is pure political theater but at least a step toward transparency Drones by their very nature are inherently evil. Those who operate them risk nothing; there is no danger to operators—euphemistically called pilots—sitting in an air-conditioned cubicle in front of a computer screen 8,000 miles from a victim; for them it is nothing more than a variant of one of the video games they grew up with. For those under the drone, however, there is the sound, a distant hum like a lawnmower engine somewhere high above, unseen, circling for hours or days, watching with its unblinking robotic eye, never knowing when death will strike or who it will take. This is modern-day terrorism, Mr. President, and you perpetuate it with your Kill Lists and targeted assassinations and drone strikes. How much vengeance is enough? How many lives make up for 2,752 Americans? The threat is long past, Al Qaeda has been decimated, it’s leaders are dead, and yet the American killing machine grinds on in relentless pursuit of more victims. Militants in the mountains of Waziristan, the deserts of Somalia and Yemen, in Mali, in Libya, in Algeria and around the Horn of Africa are not an imminent threat and yet we bankrupt our nation spiritually and financially to continue the slaughter. How have we come to this, where targeted assassinations are accepted policy, where the rule of law is secret memos and extra-judicial murder, where our enemies are endless? And all without debate, transparency or understanding. Secrecy destroys democracy and secrecy is the hallmark of your 4-year reign of terror. This is your legacy, Mr. President, and it is not something to cheer.