Friday, December 06, 2013

Imagine

Perhaps the best contemporary argument against "drones" is that imagine if the Apartheid government of South Africa had them in the late 1950s when Nelson Mandela was in hiding and deemed a leader of a terrorist group, the ANC.  You think they'd not have used them to try to take him out?


This is not to defend many of the targets at present (though it certainly is to defend the collateral damage of innocent victims).

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Veering slightly off topic, but if drones had been around in the 80s can you imagine how many more people Reagan and Thatcher would have offed?

Geez.

pansypoo said...

oh god. thatcher w/ drones.

damned if i am watching that bio pic.

grouchomarxist said...

Important point, and one that needs repeating.

gratuitous said...

"This is not to defend many of the targets at present." Do we know who is currently being targeted, or are we content to sift through the aftermath of a drone strike or double tap and claim any victims of dubious character were the targets?

I really have to get over this whole "due process" hangup I have; it's really cramping my ability to enjoy blowing people to Kingdom Come without warning.