6 Unanswered Questions About Obama's Drone War

[nil desperandum]

36. Drones

One thing no one ever talks about in these articles is the US response should AQ or others start using targeted drone killings of US Citizens. I can build a really good drone for less than a grand that can carry a payload heavy enough to kill several people. Using a cell phone GPS chip i can program that drone to orbit several waypoints and then detonate at a predetermined time. Or I can use a camera and fly it into a home or vehicle.

AQ is funded well enough to use weapons like this against us. Indiscriminate use of these devices to kill targeted individuals and anyone nearby will hardly grant us any moral high ground when these hobby level weapons are used against us.

The problem with technology is that it always gets cheaper, and it can always be used in ways never intended. As seen recently with the ability to deliver the weight of a six pack of beer to ice fisherman, a more deadly cargo of similar weight could also be delivered. If the current legal battle over FAA authority to regulate these devices goes against the FAA things can get interesting quickly.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/02/04/this-lawyer-says-beer-delivery-drone-should-be-free-to-fly/


Indiscriminate targeting of individuals in violation of the airspace of nations we are not at war with is a particularly immoral act. Either we are at war with Yemen or Pakistan or we are not. If we are at war their airspace is open to offensive operations, if we are not at war what legal justifications are we using that actually pass any test of legality in killing individuals through the violation of sovereign airspace?