Droning On

I'm not a fan of Rand Paul for a lot of reasons, but I agree with him on the issue of drones. It’s something that needs to be talked about. I'm necessarily against the use of drones of any kind however. Like it or not, drones exist and they are here to stay. The way that our executive branch of government uses this technology will set the precedence for future presidents to use the technology. When McCain for instance says it is crazy to think the government will use it to kill unarmed citizens (I'm paraphrasing) well it may be for now, but who's to say that will be the case in 50 years?

If we use the drones to collect information, we have to be comfortable with other countries eventually collecting information on us. I am okay with that trade off and it may be an acceptable use of drones. IF we use them for surveillance on someone after a warrant has been issued—I’m okay with that as well. Just naming someone an enemy combatant however, just circumvents the constitution and that is the bigger issue that needs to be addressed regarding American citizens. Perhaps an American citizen should not ever be allowed to be declared an enemy combatant without a trial. That would solve a lot of drone problems, as well as future problems that may arise with ever increasing technology.

If we use drones to kill unarmed people in other countries, we have to be prepared for other countries using drones to kill unarmed people in this country within the next 10-15 years. You can be against the police actions the U.S. has taken, but the fact remains that we do have enemies. If drones can be made by the U.S. then they can certainly and clandestinely be made by countries like Saudi Arabia or North Korea. These drones may not be as sophisticated as our drones, but they still will make the perfect suicide bomber. The short term view taken by our government is what bothers me the most. Today I saw that North Korea wants to make a "preemptive" nuclear attack on the United States. It is unlikely that the country has the technology to do this now, but they clearly will have it within the next five to ten years. Like it or not, we are the example for the world to follow.

What bothered me most about the Iraq war was that making preemptive strikes against a country for allegedly having WMD will set a precedent for another country to execute preemptive strikes. It also gave a strong incentive for countries without weapons of mass destruction to get them as fast as possible because we essentially sent the message that you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t.

We have created a situation where mutually assured destruction is the only viable way of preventing invasion—a proverbial monster.

If we use drones to kill terrorists in other countries, drones will become the next terrorists. It’s only a matter of time. If we use drones to kill U.S. Citizens without regard to the fourth, fifth, sixth, or eighth amendments… then they already are terrorists.