We have a new kind of threat, a new kind of enemy, a new kind of war, the war on terror. This was the stance of George W. Bush after 911.
His first attempt to fight this foe was the invasion of Afghanistan. The justification given was that if a nation supports those who plot and attack Americans, that nation is our enemy.
If a nation supporting terror makes them our enemy, what about a village? Officially Pakistan does not support terror. Officially they just don’t have the means to root out terrorists from some regions within their boarders. Obama is helping them.
Obama is charged with the responsibility to create a new type of warfare to combat this new kind of deadly enemy. Obama’s came up with the drone program. Reportedly drones have killed some 4,700 people. If the justification for invading Afghanistan holds, then a village or even an individual harboring terrorists is our enemy and the case is made that only terrorists have been killed.
Violence is bad, Killing is wrong, war is an abomination. All nations recognize self defense or defense of the sovereignty of their country justification for the basic crime of taking human life.
If terrorists consider it an honor to their family to strap bombs to their sons, daughters, and wives and send them out to kill as many innocents as possible, how is it that a drone killing the terrorist and his family unjustified? (That’s a question, not a statement. Help me out readers.)
If an American solder on the battlefield turned his weapon on other American solders, this is treason and lawful summary execution would be swift. In this new kind of war, the “battlefield” is anywhere terrorists plot. An American joining with the deadly plots of terrorist becomes a terrorist himself. These traitors have turned against their own people and have earned the same swift summary execution. As Henry McCarthy wrote, “you ride with outlaws, you hang with them.”
Over 5,000 Americans died and over 100,000 enemy soldiers and innocent civilians died when America invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. Compared to 4,700, terrorists and those who support them have died by drones.
President Clinton had a chance to kill Bin Laden and did nothing. George W. Bush had a report on his desk titled “Bin Laden determined to attack in America” and did nothing. I am glad that Obama is not sitting on his hands doing nothing. 911 showed us the result of doing nothing.
All of the criticisms of the drone program are valid. All of the support for it is also valid. This is a new kind of war. We need to examine, change what needs to be changed and get it right.
We must not do nothing.
Angus Croix 
My biggest problem with the drone program is that Obama has authorized them to kill citizens without oversight. No charges, no trial, no oversight. Simply put Obama has authorized the assassination of citizens on his word alone.
Now if there were oversight then I would have less problem with that aspect. I think they could present a evidence before a judge and get approval prior to killing citizens. Then I would feel better about it. But it is always dangerous to allow a small group of people to be judge, jury and executioner. It is always best to split those roles.
Otherwise I don’t have a huge problem with the drone program. I think that the collateral damage caused by drones may fuel more terrorism. But it also does kill terrorists. So I don’t know if on the balance it is better. I do like that it keeps our armed forces out of harm’s way.
Killing is wrong. Finding justification for killing should be gut wrenching. I have no answer. Thanks for your insights.
I agree killing is wrong and should never be taken lightly. The difficulty is in the fact that sometimes killing is necessary for self defense. Honestly I never agreed with the rational of either the war in Afghanistan or Iraq. I thought we should have targeted Al Qaeda specifically and not the countries as a whole. Now that we are there we should eliminate real threats when possible.
Though I think that our decade of wars has probably created more terrorist than it eliminated. I think that for the most part we have just brought the targets over to Al Qaeda so it is easier for them to kill. I don’t think the wars have been productive.
But I separate that question from the question of drones overall. Because drones can be utilized in a variety of theaters even if we haven’t done so yet. For drones the biggest issues are collateral damage and the occasional violations of sovereign countries to use drones on targets. Those issues create some complexities. Unfortunately I don’t really have an answer to the problems they pose.
Thanks again, it seems we agree that “the answer” is elusive. Let us continue to work on it.