UAVs – The Silent Killer

MQ-9 Reaper firing a Hellfire missile

Drones

• What are they?• History• Are they effective?• Are they moral/legal?• Long term consequences

Auspicious Start

• November 3, 2002, Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, accused of helping plot the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, along with 3 suspected AQAP terrorists were killed in the Yemeni desert when a Hellfire missile struck their Toyota pickup truck. This joint CIA/CENTCOM strike appeared on pg. 4 inside the NY Times

Predator/Reaper/Avenger

At Sea

X-47 Pegasus

Effective?

• 2001-2013 - 4,756 people killed by UAVs• By 2009 half of the 20 most wanted al Qaeda

terrorists have been killed by UAVs including Hakimullah Mashud

• 95 per cent of targeted killings or “personality strikes” have been conducted by drones

• Does not put U.S. military personnel in harms way

• Cheap

Moral/Legal?

Moral/Legal• Extrajudicial Killing of

American citizens• Civilian deaths – Who is

a militant?• “Signature Strikes”• Psychological Trauma• Congressional Approval

outside of war zone

Anwar al-Awlaki

American Citizen killed with is 16-year-old son

Long Term Consequences

• Is the number of militants decreased or al Qaeda defeated? (Think Faisal Shahzad or Chechnya)

• Pakistani relations (WikiLeaks)• AFRICOM strikes from Djibouti• Kill or Capture? Guantanamo Bay• PTSD• Does it make intervention more Likely? (Think Kant)• Basing in Afghanistan