William Barber

3/6/14
B2

Unmanned drones have been used in the past to eliminate terrorist leaders and other
suspected terrorists. A drone is an unmanned aircraft that can be controlled remotely
and is capable of firing guns and dropping bombs. This practice is highly unethical
however. Civilians are caught in the blast radius every time a shot is fired at a target.
The people on the other side of world who control them have no deterrent from risky
missions. And the civilians who take no part in these massacres are given a bad name.
Civilians who are not a part of any terrorist activities are wounded and even killed
by drones. Out of the 3325 people killed in drone strikes 881 were civilians. (
Anderson Keith). These people who were killed were not a part of the crimes the people
who had a bomb dropped on committed. The guy shouldnt have even had a bomb
dropped on him in the first place. But the people around him are also nailed by the
bomb. The civilians were not the target of the strike. Yet they were killed without a
thought from the controller. 881 unnecessary, unwarranted deaths could have been
avoided by not using drones.
The people who fire the shots at the terrorists have no risks involved with the
slaughtering of people. They have all the risks associated with playing a video game.
There is no deterrent from going kamikaze. A good rule of thumb would be to only
deploy a drone where we would be willing to send a pilot. (Volker, Kurt). An ideal that
makes a lot a sense. We simply take the pilot out of the cockpit and pretend hes still
there and viola! We risk one less life each mission. In its stead we send drones to do
the risky missions that we would barely be willing to send a human on. Like
assassinating terrorist leaders. Making it by definition unethical.
America is given a bad public image by the use of these drones. A bomb
dropping drone may be the only experience people will have with an American. Which
naturally would not rub off well with them. Oh hey look at all dem nice americans! They
totally blew up my kid! God bless America Would naturally not be the expected
response after you killed his kid. So why would it be unlikely that he would hate us after
killing his kid. After all, the cold, uncaring drone is his only experience with
Americans. What do we want to be as a nation? A country with a permanent kill list? A
country where people go to the office, launch a few kill shots and get home in time for
dinner? A country that instructs workers in high-tech operations centers to kill human
beings on the far side of the planet because some government agency determined that
those individuals are terrorists? (Volker, Kurt.) Because right now we are portraying the
very demons they think us to be.
Some might say that the pilots distance from the actual plane leads to increased
accuracy and efficiency. However I can easily refute that. 881 civilians are dead
because of their Increased accuracy. So you tell me if that is increased accuracy.
In conclusion drones are unethical due to the large quantity of civilian casualties.
The complete and utter total lack of risks for the person controlling the plane, and the
bad public image it gives America.