We Kill Because We Can: From Soldiering to Assassination in the Drone Age

Scholar and peace activist Calhoun (War and Delusion) adds her strident voice to the opposition to drone assassination in this uncompromising polemic. When a drone-launched Predator missile killed six supposed terrorists driving in Yemen in 2002, praise for the strike was widespread in America. As American drone attacks on suspected terrorists continue, American observers object on both moral and practical grounds, but they appear to remain a minority. Political assassination has occurred throughout history, often ordered by paranoid autocrats who proclaimed they were acting in national self-defense. Calhoun maintains that the “war on terror” declared by President George W. Bush is no different, with drone operators sitting at their consoles acting as the professional killers. Though U.S. leaders have proclaimed the right to kill anyone outside America whom they deem a threat (including U.S. citizens), this has not proven to be a perfect deterrent to those who oppose the U.S. Calhoun also connects the spread of drone warfare to the “perpetual motion” of defense-industry economics. This is a dense, detailed, and relentless chronicle of the dismal consequences and (so far) minimal benefits of targeted killing; opponents of drone warfare will find plenty to bolster their arguments, while proponents are unlikely to read it. [em](Nov.) [/em]