CHALLENGING DRONOTOPIA - War Is A Crime .org

This includes extremist terrorist networks, and creating a hardening of enmity,
coalescing around extremists, and increasing cycles of violence. These concerns
have stimulated the view that armed drones pose a unique danger.” 8
3. Drone surveillance is in itself a weapon of intimidation and terror, particularly
since the people being watched fear they may be killed by a drone at any moment.
In Afghanistan and Pakistan, the sound of drone motors terrifies whole
populations, some of whom take sleeping medicine and anti-depressants because
they fear death from the sky.
The Global Hawk drone now has the capacity to monitor cell phone and texting
messaging. Constant visual and electronic monitoring on a global scale violates
rights of privacy and respect for national sovereignty.
Drone surveillance aircraft and airships are being developed that will stay aloft for
years, according to a recent U.S. Air Force report, which described airships with
“football field size radars” that would give “extreme resolution/persistence”. The
report discusses plans for three-dimensional urban mapping that would allow
“low collateral damage strikes in urban areas.” 9 One can envision whole sections
of the globe being subjected to a drone-o-sphere of surveillance, informing attack
drones and ground forces.
US law enforcement agencies have begun to embrace drones, and this trend will
accelerate with the recent passage of legislation forcing the Federal Aviation
Administration to develop rules that will enable drones to fly throughout U.S.
The new law does not prohibit flying weaponized drones in US airspace or drone
surveillance. This is of grave concern given the tragic history of police killings
and misconduct in America’s low-income communities.
4. Drones have imperfect “vision” resulting in the killing of non-combatants and
friendly forces through misidentification. In addition, contrary to official claims,
drone weapons are not “precise” because drones use missiles and bombs, creating
explosions, unlike a bullet, which inevitably kill untargeted as well as targeted
people.
5. Drone warfare, conducted by United States forces far distant from combat zones,
offers the temptation of being able to wage war without suffering consequences in
terms of loss of life, money and political capital. However, systematic killing
whether in conventional war or drone war does have consequences, as is evident
8 “Robotic Warfare in Afghanistan and Pakistan” pg. 2, Medical Association for
Prevention of War, Australia (MAPW). December 2010.
9 “Remotely Piloted Aircraft-Future Air Force Science and Technology”, Dr. Mark T.
Maybury, Chief Scientist, United State Airforce, September 27, 2011.
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