the victims and the drone operators, kill large numbers of civilians, and emotionally disconnect our country from war.
The CIA commissioned its drone program in 2002 as a result of the 9-11 terrorist attacks a few months earlier. Since then, it has killed dozens of high profile targets in the Middle East as well as over 2,000 militants. Among these is Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud. President Obama said that "highly skilled Al Qaeda commanders, trainers, bomb makers and operatives have been taken off the battlefield [by drones]. Plots have been disrupted that would have targeted international aviation, US transit systems, European cities, and our troops in Afghanistan." Drone supporters also point out that UCAVs make military personnel much safer as soldiers do not need to put themselves in the danger of the battlefield since they are thousands of miles away. Finally, drones are much cheaper than manned aircraft and are six to forty-two times less expensive to operate per hour. The reasons to use drones are extremely valid, as it seems very beneficial to have a cheaper and safer way to get rid of terrorists; nevertheless, the immorality and social consequences are unacceptable.
Brandon Bryant, a drone operator, says his work makes him numb and that he slips into a "zombie mode." This man's only job is to follow orders: maneuver the camera, aim the laser dot, and release the trigger when his overseers instruct. In Bryant's confessions to GQ magazine, he recalled a time when he was directed to destroy a home containing a "high-value individual" on whom he had no information. He silently sat there, his laser hovering over a corner of the house, until he received the word to fire. Six seconds before impact, a small figure scurried across the screen. A bright flash later, there was no person there. Bryant swears it was "a little kid," but the commanders continually affirmed him that it was just a dog. After playing the surveillance video over and over again, Bryant and his co-pilot are certain that the figure is not a dog. Drone operators like him experience high levels of emotional and psychological stress from the dozens they have stalked and killed all while sitting in boredom in front of a computer within a sweaty, cold room in the Nevada desert.
When Bryant returned home, he became angry, isolated, and depressed, and most of his co-operators felt the same way. Many became alcoholics, and almost all felt had nightmares of all those they had killed without ever experiencing a single battle. Bryant said that the effect was worse because he and a majority of the others “weren’t prepared to take a life.” He even had recurring dreams of his favorite video game, World of Warcraft, in infrared. Air Force psychologists found moderate to high stress in 42% of some six hundred operators surveyed. Bryant broke down and told a therapist, “I wanted to be a hero, but I don’t feel like a hero. I wanted to do something good, but I feel like I just wasted the last six years of my life.” She diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder, something surprisingly common for drone pilots.
An article a few years ago revealed that drone pilots commonly used the word “bug splat” to describe the mess on the ground left behind after killing someone. Murder and destruction being desensitized so much that the remainders of a walking, talking, and loving human being is compared to “bug splat” is sickening. It also becomes much easier for the United States to start new battles and greatly extend existing conflicts. According to Keith Shurtleff, US army chaplain and ethics instructor, when these soldiers are "physically and psychologically removed from the horrors of battle and see the enemy not as humans but as blips on a screen, there is a danger of losing the deterrent to war that its horrors normally provide." For example, targeting a group of low level terrorist grunts that would normally be ignored could lead to unnecessary conflict and slaughter. Out of around 500 militants killed by drone strikes between 2008 and 2010, only 14 people were "top tier targets" and 25 "middle to high level organizers." Additionally, the number of terrorists in the Arabian Peninsula has actually grown exponentially as the number of drone strikes have increased. The "Underwear Bomber," who tried to blow up an American airliner in 2009, and the "Times Square Bomber," who tried to set off a car bomb in New York City in 2010, have both stated that they were motivated by drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. These strikes are unpopular even among the civilians who are victimized by the terrorists. Out of all of the residents in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of northwestern Pakistan, 76% oppose American drone strikes, 16% think these strikes accurately target militants, and a whopping 48% think they largely kill civilians. A top-secret program where robotic hovercrafts annihilate thousands of unknown targets seems like something right out of a dystopian book or movie. In Ender's Game, children play violent simulation games that turn out to be real war…
Drones have many benefits, but the way that they are being used and the fact that the CIA is hiding the program in the shadows cannot go on any longer. US law states that the activities will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly, and the CIA's reluctance to release statistics on the casualties is very suspicious. According to research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 20% of some 4,000 killed are civilians and children, while a whopping 3/4 of those targeted and killed are marked as "other militants." The US has been very sensitive when it comes to the system for identifying the affiliation and role of these people, and some go as far as accusing the US of putting any military aged man into this group. A bill was devised in the House of Representatives that will give the CIA a modest amount of transparency and shed light on this program. It would make the governmental statistics public for anyone who was interested enough to pursue them. Currently, the program is not worth it because of the trauma that the strikes bring upon local populations and drone pilots; however, if this bill could instill trust in our government to "take out" the right people, drone strikes would not seem as bad. On the other hand, if the data was too terrible, it would become clear that the program should be abolished until more advances are made. Sadly, this bill has an extremely slim chance of becoming law despite its apparent worth. This shows that there may be something the government is trying to hide. The CIA might be too scared too hear the possible outrage. One thing is for sure. They aren't as scared as they would be if a MQ-1 Predator drone was circling their house.