By Brendan McGlone
Innovation in technology has changed how most everything operates. From health care to banking to warfare, it allows for the operations in these industries to happen more efficiently. Yet, often the negative consequences of replacing humans with tech equivalents are overlooked due to the overestimated benefits the tech provides. Implementing drone warfare into the military is such an issue, and its continued use serves to produce more harm than good.
The United States Armed Forces is the most respected military in the world; it is the strongest and most internationally widespread. We are a military presence felt in over 130 nations worldwide, but the use of drones serves to undermine the message of our presence in these nations.
There is indubitably an upside to using drones in warfare: the lack of need to risk the lives of American soldiers. However, such a benefit leaves a staggering cost that is not incurred by us: civilian deaths. Regardless of our intent to kill the underestimated 2,400 civilians killed by US drones in the last 5 years, we are undeniably responsible.
The most pressing issue with drone warfare is its covert and detached method of bombing. Drone pilots use remote controls to function many miles away when using a drone, relying on satellites to pinpoint location. What the drone captures on camera is then transmitted to the monitor in front of the pilot. This creates a separation between the killer and those killed absent in conventional warfare. Ashamedly, it is this distance that propagates thousands of civilian deaths.
Though they are far away, as most strikes are focused in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Syria, these civilians are humans that should be entitled to the same rights as any individual. Drone strikes are not close encounters, and so when there are civilian deaths that result from the bombings, holding the perpetrator accountable is not a feasible task. We must halt the inhumanity allowing for such deathly injustice to be dealt to innocent men, women and children in order for the American mission to be respected abroad.
The United States attempts to cultivate democracy and international influence by spreading its military throughout the world. However, the many deaths of civilians provide international terrorist organizations a reason to grow their own violent missions against us. By continuing with these drone tactics, we are creating unforeseen blowback and removing what little humanity there is left in modern warfare.
