There is a remarkable statistic in Jane Mayer’s superb piece [abstract] on the Predator war in The New Yorker:
It appears to have taken sixteen missile strikes, and fourteen months, before the C.I.A. succeeded in killing [Baitullah Mehsud]. During this hunt, between two hundred and seven and three hundred and twenty-one additional people were killed, depending on which news accounts you rely upon.
Remember, this took place under the best of circumstances, with friendly governments in both Islamabad and Kabul, a steady flow of human intelligence from the ground, and 100,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan. With all the talk of a classic COIN campaign in Afghanistan not being worth the cost, and of resorting to a cheaper off-shore CT option instead, it’s easy to forget what it actually takes to kill a guy with a flying robot. And it’s not only the man-hours and the innocents incinerated — it’s also the inevitable moral damage to a war-fighting nation’s psyche. What else is a suicide bomber who targets an army patrol and kills 10 bystanders but a drone sent from afar by a deft operator¹ to carry out an assassination? Scott Horton sums up the dilemma:
Saying ‘no’ to predator drones would not serve the nation’s security interests. But reconsidering the troubling deviations from American traditions of civilian-military control over weapons systems and accountability for their use is an imperative.
See also:
Revenge of the Drones (appendix 1) — New America Foundation
Analysis: A look at US airstrikes in Pakistan through September 2009 — The Long War Journal
Suicide Attacks in Afghanistan (2001-2007) — United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
¹Amir is a fifteen-year old boy who was born in Pakistan to a family from Gardez. He has spent half of his life in Pakistan and the other half in Gardez. He is uneducated and spent only two days in a madrassah when his father asked him to leave and start working with him. He was greatly influenced by a local mullah (religious leader) who told him to go to Kabul to kill the ‘Angrez’. [...] He claims that the Gardez mullah gave him 200 Afghanis and told him that he is in fact giving him heaven. The mullah told the boy that jihad is farz, required against the foreigners that have come to occupy Afghanistan and if he manages to kill a foreigner, he would go to heaven.
Be very happy it’s not the “Greatest Generation” (WW2) running this gig. It would have been nukes galore starting about 9/15/01.
I can’t believe given your CV you don’t get war. But you don’t. This is not police work.
Those poor innocent dears killed can pick a better class of people to associate with. Like the Germans, they bought it on their own heads.
They chose their fate. Let their throats be cut.
Elf:
I was trying my damnest not to make a value judgement. I merely meant to say the similarities between suicide bombers and using drones for assassination are striking. From the point of view of the operator, both forms of warfare (if they can be called that) are totally impersonal. I just think you ought to be aware of it.
You’re right, I do not “get” war as a soldier would, and never will, and that’s exactly why I’m so thrilled to learn more about it on every assignment.
I’m not sure what it means to “get war,” but despite whatever knowledge deficit that refers to, you still demonstrate the ability to rationally think about it and analyze it better than the vast majority of Americans. Even now, eight years after this goat rodeo began, many Americans still think that we haven’t “won” yet because our troops are somehow forbidden to kill the enemy due to unreasonable rules of engagement.
Jari,
Sorry was busy, would have answered sooner.
Look, I’m not trying to be an asshole. (sometimes it happens anyway). I don’t care that you are not a soldier, that’s your business. Actually you may have seen nearly as much as I have or more- it’s not material. Or fair. Nor is that what I was trying to say.
OK on seeing it from POV of operator (although I think the guy wearing the vest might be just a little more rectally puckered than the drone operator in Kansas- small LOL).
I thought it was moral equivalent arugment, sorry if I misread you.
Now, whether or not you subscribe to this, there is a certain mindset amongst many that we should somehow try to be more like the police or social workers.
Uh, no. It’s not possible. Makes good propaganda (see -the surge). Just can’t be done.
@Schmedlap – sorry we are 180% disagreement on this one. The restrictive, ridiculous and ever shifting sands of ROE have retarded and confused our efforts, we lost valuable people, time and good faith…AND…
It’s over for this COIN gig, dude. He’s folding. No one believes he’s gonna stick with this. Jimmy Carter had more street cred.
Oh maybe it could work. But that’s moot.
The American People chose their fate. Get the Military outta there now.
And CPT Schmedlap (no disrespect) while Andrew Exum’s war would only end with us giving up to the tribesmen since they have greater staying power, Andrew Jackson on the other hand…ah….with AJ in da house it’s over fast.