October 18, 2015  

Drone Warfare: Ban it now before it is too late

Recently, we have heard of USAF drone strikes operated from Nevada and in the past we have heard of our “pilots” based in a Lincolnshire airfield conducting warfare in Pakistan . Forget for a minute the rather obscene joke of operating “precision strikes” on Medicin Sans Frontiers hospitals, or as so often on Afghan wedding parties, and the “lads” then going down to Vegas and placing bets on the results; and just stop and think.

Maybe it’s the impact of coming back from a weekend visiting the cemeteries on the Western Front but it seemed an appropriate time to take up the issue.

Does distance from blood and carnage remove all sensibilities? Does it strip us bare of moral scruples?

War by drone largely by-passes war correspondents and war photos. It largely obliterates moral choice. It is all very well when responsible powers, that is “our” side, have the power but what if, and when, rogue states or even ISIS obtain the finances and power to fight by drone? There are prudential as well as moral considerations to cause us concern.

It seems to me that the sooner truly responsible politicians and powers campaign for banning the use of drone technology for offensive purposes, the better for us all. In the meantime we should strenuously oppose their use by “our” military. It is just too easy to argue that other countries use them so we will have to or that it is a safer way for us to exercise our power than by putting boots on the ground.

But no! The world has to negotiate battlefield bans on the use of drone technology just as earlier generations agreed to ban poison gas. That ban may not always work but it is effective more often than not and it does make its users vulnerable to charges of being war criminals.

In reality using drones says, “with our money we can kill your young men (and increasingly women) with impunity. We won’t bother to try persuasion, or winning the argument – that’s far too difficult”.

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About Tony Belton

Labour Councillor for Latchmere Ward 1972-2022, now Battersea Park Ward, London Borough of Wandsworth Ever hopeful Spurs supporter; Lane visit to the Lane, 1948 Olympics. Why don't they simply call the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, The Lane? Once understood IT but no longer

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