The Ethical Use Of Drones

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In April 2015 an American hostage Warren Weinstein was killed by a US drone strike in Pakistan. Despite the fact Warren was affiliated with the terrorist group al-Qaeda, his death highlighted on going questions regarding the use of drones as weapons. Drones are unmanned flying machines usually controlled by remote pilots. During the 21st century, United States has been using these machines and utilizing them in military air strikes. Drones have propped criticism worldwide over the ethical implications of their use. Some argue that drone pilots could end up with a video game mentality, and become dissociated with casualties. In addition, some also fear that the more smart drones are developed, the higher the risk of killing both civilians or …show more content…
In the article, “Living Under Drones” it mentions that “ the research provides unequivocal evidence refuting government and media claims that drones are pinpoint weapons with limited collateral impact.” With the Obama government stern stance on the use of drones, its revealed that drones especially are effective at targeting only individuals against whom the United States wishes to harm, and minimize the killing of civilians. In the leaked documents The Intercept, “ it is the politically advantageous thing to do- low cost, no U.S. casualties, gives the appearance of toughness.” However, according to Thompson, author of “Can the Drones be stopped?” “drone strikes have been ineffective or have actually backfired. Drone strikes are ineffective if some organizations are large and strong enough to survive the deaths of their leaders. According to the article, drone operators can distinguish “civilians from militants…its is more difficult to determine if a militant or group of militants are core members of one insurgent organization.” This presents a real problem as to whether a group is a group of militants or just a group that can lead them to focus on using …show more content…
But the implications arise from the different ways in which people can be killed in war. Another worry people have of drone strikes are tolls on their operators, that a soldier could end up with a video game mentality piloting a drone. According to Christof Heyns a professor of Human Rights Law, “ those operating drones are many thousands of miles away from the battlefield, outside of harm’s way, and so they are removed from the realities of violence and war on the ground… In addition, they view battlefield just through computer screens similar to a video game.” But on the other hand, it seems that when soldiers are deployed to combat zones, it seems to be the time when they are under enormous

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