Military Drone Strikes Against Terrorism

The CIA and the U.S. military have been using drones for more than 100 years, but only in the past 10 years the public has realized how powerful this technology is. Drones should be used to combat terrorism in Afghanistan because they are a step into the future for warfare. Drones are some of the most used technologies that are used to combat terrorism in foreign countries, and there is a reason for that. Drones are used to spy, track, and assassinate high priority terrorists. Regular ways of warfare are not working in Afghanistan and Pakistan because the terrorists are very good at hiding, and looking for them on foot is a not only a tedious job, but it is also extremely dangerous. Just like with any new technology, especially technology that kills, there are always controversies. Although there is problems with the current drone technology and the drone program in general, all these problems can be easily fixed. There are many more positive aspects to the drone program that overwhelm the negative aspects of it.

Byman continues with this argument, stating that drones achieve their intended goal without risking American lives. Because drones only require a remote control to pilot, they do not put a member of the US Air Force at risk. This not only reduces the amount of military deaths in foreign countries, but it allows drones to travel to places that are deemed too dangerous for actual US pilots. Byman states that in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, “the government exerts little or no control over remote areas, which means that it is highly dangerous to go after militants hiding out there. Worse yet, in Pakistan and Yemen, the governments have at times cooperated with militants” (Byman 2). The majority of the time, sending in an actual military force is simply too dangerous. Instead of sending people, the US military can send robots.

In President Obama’s speech on drone policy, given on May 23, 2013 in Washington D.C., he asserts, “dozens of highly skilled al Qaeda commanders, trainers, bomb makers and operatives have been taken off the battlefield... Simply put, those [drone} strikes have saved lives.” Many American’s support this view. According to a July 18, 2013 Pew Research survey, 61% of Americans supported drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia (Drake). However, this belief that drone strikes make the United States safer by decimating terrorist networks around the world is widely contested. An opposing viewpoint is that these strikes create more terrorist than they kill. There is a common misperception that drones are precise, killing only the target and entourage. According to a meta-study of drone strikes, between 8 to 17% of all people killed are civilians (Sing). People who see their loved ones injured or killed in drone

The 9/11 attacks killed 2,996 people and injured over 6,000. According to the U.S. State Department’s annual Country Report on Terrorism 2015, 28,328 people around the world were victims of terrorists in that year. By killing terrorists with targeted drone strikes, the U.S. military disrupts and slows down terrorist organizations. In the War on Terror, it is difficult to determine how successful drone strikes have been. However, if we did nothing to fight or stop the terrorists they would be able to recruit, grow, and attack without fear. Despite potential downsides, drone strikes need to continue. It is impossible to estimate how many terrorist attacks have been stopped or how many lives have been saved due to successful drone attacks, but imagine the devastation of unrestrained terrorist

Most Americans are in favor of drone strikes. A 2013 survey suggests 69% of Republicans, 60% of Independents and 59% of Democrats support the use of drone strikes in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen (ProCon). The next president of the United States will have to decide if our country will keep using drones and improve the drone program. It has been said that drone strikes are used as a “recruitment tool” for terrorist organizations such as the Taliban and the Islamic State (Pilkington and MacAskill). Even though most civilians in the Middle East hate drone strikes; the United States collaborates with local governments in the Middle East who gives us jurisdiction to carry out these strikes. For example in Pakistan where most drone strikes occur; they have decreased violence in that region. The Pakistani President even admitted to asking the US to conduct more drone strikes in his country (ProCon). If drones were not effective foreign government officials would not ask for more drone

Let’s examine drone strikes as a topic of discussion. Drone strikes are essentially controlled attacks made by unmanned aerial vehicles (often referred to as UAV’s), which provide an alternative where manned flight is considered too dangerous or too difficult. Does our military using drones to attack

Jack Serle is a data journalist on The Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s Covert Drone War team who joined the Bureau in 2012 and was part of the team that won the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in 2013 for their work on drones and the US covert war on terror. Serle reports that the first known CIA drone strike took place September 19, 2002 in Yemen that turned out to be only the first in a long, rapid fire line of strikes to come in Middle Eastern countries with suspected al-Qaeda activity. Since 2004 in Pakistan alone, there have been 419 drone strikes in which approximately 2,463-3,977 people have been killed and of these thousands only 725 have been positively identified (“Naming the Dead”). Additionally, Serle finds that since 2002 in Yemen there have been as many as 121 confirmed strikes which killed approximately 467-695 people, since 2007 in Somalia there have been as many as 19 strikes which killed approximately 25-108 people, and in Afghanistan there have been 32 strikes which killed approximately 332-486 people (“Drone wars”). No matter how you look at it, these numbers are an astounding markup in these short years and it’s quite a wonder that these strikes and deaths don’t get more news time. It seems that when it comes to something as shady and gray area as CIA drone strikes the phrase “if it bleeds,

Strikes conducted by remotely piloted aircraft may undermine counterterrorism efforts or enhance them depending on the nature of the violence, the precision with which it is applied, or the intentionality attributed to it. (Kalyvas, 2006; Downes, 2007; Kocher et al., 2011) . Existing research has studied the effects of coercive airpower, (Pape, 1996; Horowitz and Reiter, 2001) , targeted killings (Jaeger, 2009; Jordan, 2009; Johnston, 2012; Price, 2012) and civilian victimization (Kalyvas, 2006; Lyall, 2009; Condra and Shapiro, 2012), but social scientists have conducted little empirical analysis of the effects of drone strikes.

There has been a long debate about drone strikes. Some people believe that we should stop drone strikes and others believe we should continue drone strikes. We should do drone strikes because it keeps the United States safer from terrorist networks in the world and Drones kill less than any other military weapon.

The United States military use of drone warfare has always been a huge controversial topic. Drones are unmanned flying robotics that are controlled by military officials that uses the drone to seek out the where about, as well as, killing any enemy combatant on the battlefield. Once drones became known to be helpful to our military, the American citizens questioned the United States military on how they would be used, as well as, the effectiveness of drones, and if there helpful (Scahill 7). With drone strikes being capable of doing what air strikes or bombings can do, they prevent less collateral damage. The United States Military uses drone for their excellent surveillance capabilities. Drones prevent the loss of our ground troops and civilian

Eleven years ago, the United States Air Force launched a missile from a drone for the first time at a test range in the Nevada desert (Drone Test) . The use of armed drones has risen dramatically since 2009. Now drone strikes are almost a daily occurrence. In 2011 the use of drones continued to rise with strikes in (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Somalia. Proponents of armed drones argue that their ability to watch and wait, with their highly accurate sensors and cameras gives increased control over when and where to strike its both increasing the chances of success and

In my opinion, it’s a difficult decision to argue whether the U.S. should or should not continue using drones for terrorist attacks in foreign countries. There are many benefits of using drones, so I don't think we should not use them altogether. Using drones helps to lower civilian casualties, protect the U.S. and make

To sum up, drones are causing more hazards by attacking the land of Pakistan than actually solving the terrorists' problems. Drone strikes do not always obtain the right people and make the civilians anxious by its surveillance. These attacks are causing people to want to join more terrorist groups, for most definitely not helping with the solution. Presumably, these drone strikes cause health conditions for the citizens and affect much of their daily lives. Drone attacks might cost less and be safer, but it is not solving much of the problem of

“The first recorded use of attack drones occurred on Aug. 22, 1849 when the Habsburg Austrian Empire launched 200 pilotless balloons armed with bombs against the revolution-minded citizens of Venice.” (Brett Holman, 2009). Today drones are launched from allied countries, and are remotely controlled by pilots in the United States. Since drones are remotely operated, ground troops and aircraft pilots risk of getting hurt is minimized. Drones are very effective and create few errors. According to Peter Bergen (2012), in 2012 there has been 153 drone strikes in Pakistan, and no civilian casualties have been reported. Nations around the World questions whether drone strikes need more

For some years now, United States involvement in foreign countries has been limited, but their presence has been widely known and discouraged. For those Islamic states drones strikes had been present for years but for how long?The first official drone strike was 9 months after 9/11, it was on Taliban Supreme Commander Mullah Mohammed Omar. It was initially a CIA secret weapon.The CIA had kept the project secret for as long as they could, but U.S. Air force general William Begert. For years drone strikes in Islamic states have been problems and have been addressed by both countries. Many call them a problem while I say they are not.