The Pros And Cons Of Drone Warfare

Within the past couple of decades, the US has introduced a new type of warfare–the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), or more commonly known as drones. Being as small as a hummingbird or as large as a Boeing 757 aircraft, their pilots can sit back and enjoy the ride in Nevada, while the UAV is hovering over Pakistan or Saudi Arabia waiting for the moment to launch a missile attack. Although drones have done harm to many civilians, the technology is improving every year, meaning drones will be more accurate with their attacks; thus, drones should be kept in our society because they also prevent US soldiers’ deaths and the percentage of civilian casualties in a drone attack has gone from 28% in 2008 to 16% in 2011, says The Moral Case for Drones.

For example, ABC News states that a percentage of UAV casualties are civilians. Also, since 2004, there have been thousands of deaths by drones. In addition, imagine being a civilian fearing a missile strike on his soil every day. Fear can be a potent ally to those who have the upper hand.

But at the same time, the question raises that ABC News put up–“Is [drone warfare] making the US safer?” The answer would be yes. Furthermore, by using drones, we don’t have to send people over to deal with this issue–the drones can take care of the work. By doing this, the number of US casualties will be kept to a minimum. In addition, these drones have a whopping advantage over other forms of warfare–meaning they are very efficient and do not endanger the lives of US citizens.

Since Obama’s presidency, ABC News has stated terror has grown 700%. This can be looked at both ways–saying that the civilians are fearing drone attacks, which means we need to cut down on the drones; more importantly, fear is what gives us the upper hand. With fear, our UAV victims will be terrified of the US, and this may cause terrorism and drone warfare to stop altogether. Equally important, President Obama says, “Drones are effective and vital to national