Drone dangers

A T a US Senate Committee hearing on drone warfare last Wednesday a witness from Yemen shocked its members by saying that being in a village attacked by a drone was like being in Boston when the bombs went off there -- for the victims, totally random and unpredictable. Another witness, a US law professor, accused the US government of “assuming the right to kill anyone anywhere on Earth at any time, for secret reasons in a secret process undertaken by unidentified officials”. Although it is difficult to know how extensive the US drone bombing programme has become it has grown considerably and takes the lives of many more innocent people than of those targetted. Despite its obvious advantages for the United States at the moment it raises difficult moral issues which will intensify when other countries develop the capacity to use drones.

As yet there is no international framework such as a Geneva Convention to provide even basic rules on the use of drones that would govern present usage and prevent expansion into more questionable applications. Since these are relatively early days it is important to establish international regulations before the issue gets out of hand. It was disappointing that the White House was not represented at the Senate committee hearings after President Obama's recent promise of engaging with Congress on the subject and encouraging “greater transparency” about drone operations and objectives.