February 21, 2013
In Defense of Drones
William Saletan in Slate:
“UN: Drones killed more Afghan civilians in 2012,” says the Associated Press headline. The article begins: “The number of U.S. drone strikes in Afghanistan jumped 72 percent in 2012, killing at least 16 civilians in a sharp increase from the previous year.” The message seems clear: More Afghans are dying, because drones kill civilians.
Wrong. Drones kill fewer civilians, as a percentage of total fatalities, than any other military weapon. They’re the worst form of warfare in the history of the world, except for all the others.
Start with that U.N. report. Afghan civilian casualties caused by the United States and its allies didn’t go up last year. They fell 46 percent. Specifically, civilian casualties from “aerial attacks” fell 42 percent. Why? Look at the incident featured in the U.N. report (Page 31) as an example of sloppy targeting. “I heard the bombing at approximately 4:00 am,” says an eyewitness. “After we found the dead and injured girls, the jet planes attacked us with heavy machine guns and another woman was killed.”
Jet planes. Machine guns. Bombing. Drones aren’t the problem. Bombs are the problem.
Look at last year’s tally of air missionsin Afghanistan. Drone strikes went way up. According to the U.N. report, drones released 212 more weapons over Afghanistan in 2012 than they did in 2011. Meanwhile, manned airstrikes went down. Result? Fifteen more civilians died in drone strikes, and 124 fewer died in manned aircraft operations. That’s a net saving of 109 lives.
More here.
Posted by S. Abbas Raza at 06:52 AM | Permalink
Comments
Drone:
http://jimculleny.wordpress.com/drone/
Posted by: Jim | Feb 21, 2013 7:29:41 AM
Drones don't kill innocent people, the people flying them do.
Isn't that a distinction without a difference, except maybe to the choir boyz?
Posted by: Dredd | Feb 21, 2013 1:11:40 PM
Whether directing missiles or snooping on people from the sky, remote-controlled drones are here to stay and proliferate.
There is a lot of money in drones for those who build them and operate them.
Posted by: waqnis | Feb 21, 2013 3:05:25 PM
There is a hell of a lot MORE money in manned aircraft. Drones were an orphaned technology only reluctantly used by the Bush administration. Obama, seeing the potential, has stepped it up.
Drone contracts may seem huge by themselves, but look at the cost of the F-22 Raptor program for comparison and you see that Drones are the "red headed stepchild" of the DOD. Drones are f-ing CHEAP, accurate, and carry way fewer risks than the manned aircraft equivalent. Here's a reference, written way better than anything I could come up with:
https://www.nsfwcorp.com/dispatch/cheap-drones
Posted by: DrunktankDan | Feb 21, 2013 3:43:35 PM
waqnis--
Inertia
Posted by: Jim | Feb 21, 2013 8:20:19 PM
Yeah but its nothing like the money circulated in manned aircraft. In fact, I have read a rather convincing argument that a lot of the anti drone BS comes from people with direct ties to Pratt and Winley (the company that manufactures engines for the F-35 and such).
Drones are damn cheap. Any time I hear the 'money' argument I laugh out loud.
Here's a source:
https://www.nsfwcorp.com/dispatch/cheap-drones
Posted by: DrunktankDan | Feb 21, 2013 8:59:24 PM
Drones introduce the new kind of super-fighter that replaces the ace of the air, the Red Barron, the RAF hero of the sky, the Red Army Morozov... by the over-weight nerd with a joystick in one hand and a Cola in his other hand.
Technology means also that for the first time in last decades the advanced and developmental countries have an weapon that other countries/terrorists/guerrillas have not; the battle of Agincourt where the English longbow prevailed; the Battle of Shiroyama where the modern weapons destroyed the Samurai forces. However this is not for longtime: the most sophisticated and unique technology drone is in the Iranian hands and Iran is the provider in money and weapons for many terrorist groups.(Hamas, Hezbollah,Mahdi army,al-Qaeda,the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain...)
Posted by: mirel | Feb 22, 2013 6:15:16 AM
Mirel -
Your comment about "terrorist groups" made me think of the time, not so long ago,when some of them were embraced by the west (the USA) as freedom fighters. What goes around, comes around.
Posted by: waqnis | Feb 22, 2013 11:14:46 AM
Waqnis my friend:
"The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again."
Ecclesiastes 1:6-7
True and the drones will be in the hands of all that have money to buy them .
if you need one:
http://uavdronesforsale.com/
Posted by: mirel | Feb 22, 2013 12:10:34 PM
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