On Drone Warfare

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Recommended: The use of drones to counter terrorism

1. Introduction
There has been an increasing trend for the United States to rely on the use of drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to counter the threat posed by Al-Qaeda and other terrorists mostly from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Iraq. The emergence of this new technology has sparked widespread debate over the ethical justification of its use both in the United States and around the world. There are essentially two distinct camps in the debate, one endorsing armed drones as an efficacious, novel form of warfare, whereas another criticizing it as problematic. In this paper, I will introduce the arguments of both sides, namely, why some people endorse the use of drones and others oppose to it. I will then introduce Bradley Strawser’s viewpoints on drone warfare and explain why I find them persuasive. I will anticipate a few objections to Strawser’s position and demonstrate how Strawser might be able to respond.

2. The Debate Over Drone Warfare
Those in favor of drones argue that drones have many advantages compared with other military weapons in denying terrorists. First, drones are able to most accurately hit their intended targets, thus they help prevent unintended deaths of noncombatants . Drones allow the operator to study his or her targets carefully instead of reacting in the heat of the moment, making strikes more discriminating. The Long War Journal tracked the performance of U.S drones in Pakistan, and the report showed that civilian casualties resulted from drones only counted as 6% of overall fatalities. This number shows that drones kill a lower ratio of civilians to combatants than we have seen in any wars in which other weapons were used. Second, drones reduce risk of their own operators and prevent the...

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... US Drone Attacks? by Kenneth Roth. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/apr/04/what-rules-should-govern-us-drone-attacks/ (accessed May 11, 2014).
Bradley Jay Strawser, “More Heat Than Light: The Vexing Complexities of the Drone Debate”, The Quarterly Dialogue Advisory Group/ 3 Quarks Daily Peace and Justice Symposium: Drones, (2013), http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2013/02/the- quarterly-dag-3qd-peace-and-justice-symposium-drones.html
Strawser, Bradley Jay. "Moral Predators: The Duty to Employ Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles." Journal of Military Ethics 9, no. 4 (2010): 342-368.
John Fabian Witt, “On Adopting a Posture of Moral Neutrality”, The Quarterly Dialogue Advisory Group/ 3 Quarks Daily Peace and Justice Symposium: Drones, (2013), http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2013/02/the-quarterly-dag-3qd-peace- and-justice-symposium-drones.html

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