[lbo-talk] The effect of drones

[Wojtek S]

[WS:] That is basically the purpose of any "pacification" campaign -
to terrorize civilian population in the hope of reducing support it
gives to the insurgents.  The use of drones changes nothing, it  is no
different that the "time -honored" practice of using B-52s in North
Vietnam.  The mythology of "laser precision" is mostly PR bullshit to
counter the misgiving that the images of B-52 bombing of North Vietnam
may evoke.

The right question to ask is not whether the use of this or that
technology is justified, but whether the war itself is justified.  My
sense is that the anti-war people correctly feel that opposing the war
in principle is not a very popular proposition when you fight unsavory
characters like al Qaeda or Taliban, so the change the subject and
oppose using a particular technology, which dove-tails with populist
sentiments (cf. water fluoridization or immunization of children
scares.)

-- 
Wojtek

"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."