US Drone Attacks on Pakistani Militants

Well, it's apparent now that all those moms who said nothing good would ever come of video games were dead wrong.

Although perhaps "useful" would be a better word than "good". It seems that the US has started to really implement its Predator UAV program in Pakistan, making huge stirs in American and global news corp. For although the program has been fairly successful, "500 to 720" militants being eliminated over the program's life, concerns have been raised about whether the estimated 300 civilian deaths are worth it.

I think there are two things to consider here when deciding if this action represents a travesty. The first is that it's important to consider how different the drone attacks are from manned aircraft attacks. If the predator is about as accurate as a manned aircraft, that is as good at minimizing civilian casualties, it would seem that all of the fuss is over the craft being unmanned. I have yet been unable to find such data, but I think it should be the first thing to look at. The second consideration, which ties into the first is that the predator is not fully autonomous. Pilots on the ground are operating the machines, much like a video game. The pilots are surrounded by screens that simulate what they would see if they were in the craft. This seems hardly different than the pilot actually being there.

I feel like our values as a country should put civilian life very high on the list, and if the drones are incapable of minimizing those deaths, then perhaps we should consider their removal. However, it should be stated that in the case of Pakistan, civilian deaths are unavoidable. The militants often live and operate maliciously among civilian, which makes the situation difficult when those militants are firing on US troops.

So, at the end of the day, if US troops are put out of danger, and the bad guys are eliminated without unnecessary civilian casualty, the drones are probably a good option.