by Gordon S. Clark •
At the risk of dating myself, when I reflect on the Predator drone aircraft now being used by our government to hunt and kill "suspected extremists" in Pakistan, an episode of the original Star Trek TV series comes to mind.
In the episode, entitled "Mirror, Mirror," Captain Kirk accidently transports into a parallel, evil universe run on fear and violence. The mission of his ship the U.S.S. Enterprise is no longer to seek and explore new civilizations, but to conquer them. And the evil "mirror" Kirk maintains his hold on power with a secret device that allows him to spy on anyone in the ship - and to assassinate them with the press of a button.
Sound familiar?
As a largely peace-loving community in Takoma Park and Silver Spring that voted overwhelmingly this past fall for a change from the militarism of the Bush Administration, we have lots of reasons to be disappointed. The military budget has gone up - again. Our occupation of Iraq will go on, for at least another three years. No one, apparently, will be held to account for torture. More troops are being sent to Afghanistan, and Bagram Air Force base has turned into Obama's Guantanamo, a legal black hole in which the imprisoned have no rights.
Perhaps more disturbing than all of this, though, is our new President's increasing reliance on drone warfare.
Unmanned drones are literally that - pilotless planes operated by remote control, often from thousands of miles away. Equipped with both cameras and weapons, in the last two years the drones have been used increasingly to launch attacks rather than gather intelligence - a fact that has quietly and without significant protest slipped into the narrative of the U.S. war in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Yet there is every reason to vehemently oppose the drones' use and existence. Consider:
* While our military operations in Afghanistan have already been killing significant numbers of civilians, unmanned drones are by their nature incapable of distinguishing between combatants and civilians. David Kilcullen, an adviser to General David Petraeus, (former commander of coalition troops in Iraq), testified to Congress earlier this year that 14 Al-Qaeda leaders have been killed in Pakistan by drone attacks since 2006--along with 700 civilians. Even if the information about the Al-Qaeda leaders is accurate - and there's reason to question it - that's still an astounding ratio of 50 innocent victims killed for each targeted individual.
* Drone attacks fundamentally subvert our core legal foundation of innocent until proven guilty, and those targeted are usually reported only as "suspected" extremists or militants. Drones turn suspicion into an automatic death sentence, for those targeted and for everyone unlucky enough to be near them. The attacks are, as nonviolent anti-war activist Kathy Kelly notes, nothing more than extra-judicial executions. Haven't we had enough examples of faulty intelligence to understand how wrong such attacks are?
* It is a violation of international law to attack a country with which we are not at war. There has never been a declaration to extend the Afghan war in Pakistan, which is where the drones are primarily used. Moreover, drone attacks are considered "covert" and are not officially discussed by President Obama or Congress. This absurd artifice may help suppress domestic criticism, but it does nothing to diminish the illegality or moral turpitude of the attacks.
* The drone attacks are by all accounts solidifying Pakistani public outrage against the U.S. This will inevitably drive more into the ranks of the militants, thereby perpetuating and increasing the violence.
At the end of the Star Trek episode, the good Captain Kirk tries to persuade the "mirror" Mr. Spock (his evil but still logical Vulcan first officer) of the wisdom of cooperation over war and violence - and yet gives him the assassination device as a way to take hold of power.
President Obama seems to be following the same script. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced this spring that his proposed defense budget will call for "a major increase in unmanned aircraft," specifically the Predator drones now being used for the attacks. Far from changing the Bush policy in Pakistan, Obama is expanding it.
There is little doubt that to a U.S. President drone attacks may seem to offer a quick, inexpensive and "clean" alternative to deal with a troublesome adversary. But how is it possible for us to create peace in a shattered region or rebuild our nation's image and role in the world while relying increasingly on an assassination device that kills more innocents then enemies, and makes a mockery of both our laws and values?
Unlike a TV show which ends in an hour, we will have to live with the repercussions of these actions for years to come.
The Star Trek reference is sketchy at best. Expanding these operations to include drone strikes in the southern province of Baluchistan, where senior Afghan Taliban leaders are believed to be hiding is not only prudent, but necessary. It is from there that Taliban direct many of the attacks on American troops, attacks that are likely to increase as more Americans pour into Afghanistan. This is one of the few things Obama is doing right.