War on Drones: An Aerial Outside Agitator Coming to Your Neighborhood

I have previously blogged on the dangers of U.S. drone attacks but the recent writings of Jeff Morley, who writes for Salon Magazine, have given updated context in terms of frequency of drone attacks, number of victims, the fear and intimidation they cause, and their use in the United States.

Jeff Morley's estimate that Barack Obama has launched three to four times the number of drone strikes as George W. Bush did, over a comparable period, is in line with other informed estimates. Morley's number of 174 children killed by drones is probably taken from the U.K.-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which puts the number of Pakistanis killed by drones in the range of 2,500 to 3,000, with between 479 and 831 being civilians.

According to polls Morley has see, opposition to drones is almost universal in Pakistan, fueled not only by the strikes themselves, but by the fact that in some areas of Pakistan, seeing a drone is almost a daily occurrence. it has got to be frightening to realize that anyone of those drones could be targeting you, your family, or friends and associates.

The accuracy of identifying legitimate targets is certainly a problem. During the war in Iraq, the International Red Cross found that most of the thousands of Iraqis being held in captivity by U.S. forces had not been charged with a crime. The fact that U.S. intelligence did not have good information on suspected insurgents meant that family members and close friends were held, because they might supply incriminating evidence or clues to suspect's locations.

During the early stages of the war in Afghanistan, some suspects were detained on the basis that they had the same or similar name of a suspected insurgent/terrorist. Others were turned in by someone who had a score to settle or wanted to get rid of an inconvenient rival.

Jeff Morley raises the issue that as the top terrorist leaders are being killed off, the bar might be lowered to attack lower echelon terrorist suspects. It wasn't long ago that reports surfaced of an argument raging in the Obama administration of targeting the "soldiers" who carry out terrorist plots. Thus, those seen unloading what looks like explosives could be hit, along with those frequenting a terrorist hangout.

Besides the real possibility that U.S. drone strikes might be creating more terrorists than they eliminate, Americans should be concerned about aerial outside agitators coming into their communities. Miami-Dade County and a county in Texas already have certification to use drones in law enforcement and ten more counties have applied for certification. We have already given up much of our privacy to government surveillance.