Predator strike sparks debate on UAV employment

May 19, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · 5 Comments 

Wired’s Danger Room reports that a Predator strike that killed 25 people in Pakistan has served as the starting point for a debate on a possible moratorium of using UAVs as strike platforms.

This is as much a moral as a political/military point of argument, as the wildly variant comments on Wired’s article indicate. The fundamental question arising (yet again) is whether strikes on a population amongst which enemy guerrillas are hiding are likely to demoralize the locals and thus make them reluctant to support the enemy, or instead harden their resolve and make them even more supportive to the insurgency. This is a recurring phenomenon in counter-insurgency operations since before WW2 and is likely to repeat itself in the future.

UPDATE: The director of the CIA claims that UAVs are the sole effective means of interdicting AQ operations in Pakistan.

What do you think?

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