Why Drones Should Be Banned

In 2009, a small town in Yemen called al-Majala was at the mercy of a drone attack that killed 41 civilians, including 21 children. Not even half of that number was confirmed to be militants. The people in this country can only imagine what it is like to have death flying above them, but the innocents in the Middle-Eastern countries do not have to imagine. The number of innocents on the receiving end of drone attacks has only increased over the years, because the drones act on a program that cannot discern between militants and civilians. Drones create tension between us, families of victims and even other countries that dislike their use. Drones should be banned in the U.S. because they cause the loss of innocent lives, violate international …show more content…
There is no international consensus on the use of drone strikes, so whenever one occurs overseas, the country involved has no real say in the matter. There are no standards or any forms of safeguards, involving drones.(Greg Kennedy- U.S. Army War College) The use of drones, without the knowledge of the international community can result in a possible chaotic situation, leading to an accident in which a high level officer or official could get hurt. In 2011, it was revealed that the U.S. had kept a secret drone facility in Saudi Arabia. The CIA used drones in the facility to kill 2 American citizens suspected of Al-Qaeda connections. The government of Saudi Arabia had no knowledge of this base, and was not happy about it. But who can blame them? If Saudi-Arabia launched a drone attack on our soil, claiming that it was to kill two potential traitors from a base that we did not know about, we would not take it lightly either. Kennedy explains, “This could potentially damage counter-terrorism collaboration with Saudi Arabia”(2). Saudi Arabia is not the only government affected by our drone strikes. There are numerous smaller governments throughout the world that are damaged by drone strikes as well. Using drones to attack bigger organizations, can potentially damage the already weak governments partnered with the United States (Kennedy 2). There are many small Middle-Eastern countries attempting to establish themselves because of our help in removing whatever group that was occupying it. Drones are making enemies with people who were on our side, as the drones create local instability in the smaller governments leading to resentment against us. There is no international law concerning drone attacks, which means that there is not any way to prevent established governments from destroying the ones that are not so