I believe that we must reconsider the use of drones in military acts.
In July1, President Obama’s administration announced that between 64 and 116 civilians have died during the years 2009-2015 from U.S. drone strikes. The specific nation is not released, but the number also includes the civilians that were not in a combat zone. According to the organization of journalists reports, they estimated that 200-1000 people have died by drone strikes. Furthermore, according to the Reuters, in the document of the United States government that has been published, civilians deaths from drone attack was 35 time more than the death from an airstrike in a manned aircraft.
I could not believe my eyes when I first saw this article. When we compare the number of the death between civilians and militants, we feel civilians deaths are much less than the militants. But the fact of this number of innocent people have been killed by an unmanned aircraft, and the fact that more civilians death are remained to be announced, I think this situation cannot be ignored. Counts of civilians drone death have always caused controversy, given the difficulty in investigation the aftermath of strikes and unreliable reporting from on-the-ground sources. It is also difficult to distinguish accurately whether the body is a civilian or a militant. But this won’t be a reason that we can overlook this problem.
But why does the U.S. government insist on the use of drones? There are some advantages. First, since there is no need to ride on an aircraft, it is possible to attack for militants without danger. Second, even if the drone had been destroyed, we can provide a replacement with mass production which we cannot provide with human . And finally, we can reduce the labor cost of militants who had to go to the battlefield. Therefore, military attacks by drone is a breakthrough method which is safe and efficient. Truly, this is a low risk high return way for U.S. militaries.
But how do you think when you view this problem from a moral point? As long as they are operating drones in a safe place, I think that probably militants who operates drones are more or less short of awareness that they are doing military attacks than the militants who goes directly toward the battlefield. And moreover, I think that they are also lack of awareness of guilt when they have killed people. Surely, this is a killing so-called the extra-judicial killing. Obama’s presidency was meant to institutionalize a rigorous reporting process for the next commander in chief. He also requires the administration to disclose yearly the civilians death from strikes. He will not deny the policy of the use of drones to the bitter end.
The use of drones is a breakthrough method for militaries. In fact, It might be a military tactic which is necessary to fight with terror. But the future, when the use of drones will be the mainstream in war, it cannot possibly be in a bright direction. I think the use of drones should be exterminated immediately.