A new bounty of information regarding the United States’ usage of drones in Pakistan and Yemen has revealed that America is not acting very thoughtfully regarding the worth of foreign lives. Shocker, I know. Don’t get me wrong, I love America, I do. I have the right to vote, the right to study, the right to say what I want (a right I exercise actively as you may have noticed), the right to pray, the right to not pray, the right to profess my unhealthy obsession with the future father of my children, James Franco, etc. The list goes on and on. But gosh darn it, when are we going to realize that just because we have the strongest military in the world doesn’t mean that we need to be pricks about it?

Amnesty International reports that, since 2008,  there have been around 354 drone attacks in Pakistan. Just some clarification, an unmanned aerial vehicle, also known as a drone, is not an itty-bitty rocket that is dropped on land and causes a few casualties. Drones are completely independent aircrafts that are controlled by computers or remote controls, meaning that they do not need to have an actual human aboard to pilot them. Literal robot planes. Sounds like some shit straight out of one of the many apocalyptic films starring Will Smith that usually involve a dog and Will’s inability to die. Or is that just one movie? I have no idea; I don’t get out much …

Anyway, the United States government has deemed the drones to be a form of intelligent and life-saving technology that reduces the threat of terrorism (a.k.a. they kill Islamist militants). But surprise, surprise, not only have we cut down the number of al-Qaeda members (bad guys), but also the number of innocent men, women and children (good guys) living in Yemen and Pakistan, where these attacks are occurring.  The White House released a statement regarding the new information saying that these raids were “a course of action least likely to result in the loss of innocent life.” Least likely? That’s really the best we can do? When I get dressed in the morning I pick out an outfit that is least likely to require a bra, but, hey, it doesn’t always work out. The difference here is that my worst-case scenario is that I’m cranky about having to wear a bra, while in the world of drones, the worst-case scenario is that a bunch of innocent people die. Basically, in some situations, “least likely” just doesn’t cut it.

I think that when our government is at the point of telling us, “Listen, this terrorist stuff is hard, and we’re not killing innocent Pakistani grandmas on purpose, we swear,” we should maybe perk up and respond with, “Well, guys, that’s not good enough.” Because it simply isn’t. Imagine living in a country where there are creepy unmanned spaceship-looking planes hovering over your home all the time. Imagine trying to sleep while knowing that those drones very well may release a missile at any time. Imagine experiencing a complete loss of any sense of security, because the drones have cameras on them and are capable of watching every step you take. In a town called Miram Shah — considered to be a sort of guinea pig for the United States and the testing-ground of our drone capabilities — the sales of sleeping pills, antidepressants and anti-anxiety medicines have all soared, unsurprisingly. This is no longer regular warfare. We have crossed into the dirty world of psychological warfare, whether we intended to or not.

Not only is this information all terribly sad, and something that every American citizen should be ashamed of, but it is also something that has been kept from us until this past week. The United Nations released an investigation a few days ago that contained the information of a Pakistani secret document: their internal assessment stating that more than 400 unarmed non-combatants have been killed by drones. That’s hardly a tiny number, as the United States has often assured the public about the non-combatant deaths due to drones, justifying our actions by saying that the number of civilian causalities is “dwarfed” by the death toll inflicted by al-Queda terrorist attacks. It seems hard to “dwarf” a number as high as 400…

One more note on this topic to make you extra uncomfortable: These attacks are not officially being carried out by United States military; they’re being carried out as a “covert operation” by the Central Intelligence Agency. Yeah, add the CIA to any military operation information leak and a whole new door is opened to endless sketchy questions: Why has Pakistan’s own government officially denied the drone-caused casualties of their own civilians, which we found out that they have known about for years? Why is good old President Barry not immediately standing up and saying that the deaths of these innocent people is wrong and that it will not happen again? Why do we as Americans not deserve justification for these attacks beyond the easy response of “It’s for our own protection?” And for goodness sake, why did Lyndon B. Johnson and J. Edgar Hoover hire Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate President John F. Kennedy?! Oh sorry, wrong conspiracy theory. You get the point though…

Mckinley Krongaus still really, really loves America, the home of James Franco. Yeah, you’re welcome, world.

Views expressed on the Opinion page do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Nexus or UCSB. Opinions are submitted primarily by students.
Print