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Imagine for a moment that the death toll and civilian casualty toll were exactly the same as our drone program except that instead of carrying out such killings
by InclinedPlane 11y ago
Imagine for a moment that the death toll and civilian casualty toll were exactly the same as our drone program except that instead of carrying out such killings using drones we were using remote detonated car bombs. Would that affect your judgment of the morality of the campaign?
- rhino369 11y agoNo. IED's aren't terrorism unless they are directed at civilians (or used without regard to civilian casualties). For example, most IED attacks in Iraq were not terrorism because they were aimed at US troops.
- alttab 11y agoSo what does that say about the people we are supposedly droning, relative to our own moral standard? Seemingly we are equals.
- marcosdumay 11y agoWell, fist, US media does not seem to agree that "most IED attacks in Iraq were not terrorism because they were aimed at US troops". Then, what's the difference? The fact that some people in an office at another country decided that a building has military relevance, instead of PR relevance? Ok, some targets are clearly military. But lots of them aren't. And there's a huge amount of overlap between those "military, because we said so" targets and what most groups labeled as "terrorists" target.
- aqme28 11y agoThis is begging the question. These drone strikes seem to be used without regard for civilian casualties. Are they state-sponsored terrorism?
- ionised 11y agoYes. They've been described that way numerous times.
- InclinedPlane 11y agoI did not ask whether it was terrorism, I asked if it changed the moral calculus. There is a lot of ground between terrorism and the justified use of force, where drone based assassination falls is still an open question.
- rhino369 11y agoI said no. I don't see the difference between a missile dropped by a drone or a remote controlled roadside bomb.