Death by Drone

Death by Drone PDF

Author: Amrit Singh

Publisher: Open Society Institute

Published: 2015-01-01

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781940983370

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In 2013, President Obama promised that before any U.S. drone strike, "there must be near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured." Death by Drone questions whether he has kept that promise. The report casts serious doubt on whether the United States' "near-certainty" standard is being met on the ground, and whether the U.S. is complying with international law. The nine case studies documented in this report provide credible evidence that U.S. airstrikes have killed and injured Yemeni civilians. These incidents include a drone strike that killed 12 people, including a pregnant woman and three children, and another in which the U.S. struck a house containing 19 people, including women and children.

Drone

Drone PDF

Author: Hugh Gusterson

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2016-05-13

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 0262034670

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Drone warfare described from the perspectives of drone operators, victims of drone attacks, anti-drone activists, international law, military thinkers, and others. "[A] thoughtful examination of the dilemmas this new weapon poses." —Foreign Affairs Drones are changing the conduct of war. Deployed at presidential discretion, they can be used in regular war zones or to kill people in such countries as Yemen and Somalia, where the United States is not officially at war. Advocates say that drones are more precise than conventional bombers, allowing warfare with minimal civilian deaths while keeping American pilots out of harm's way. Critics say that drones are cowardly and that they often kill innocent civilians while terrorizing entire villages on the ground. In this book, Hugh Gusterson explores the significance of drone warfare from multiple perspectives, drawing on accounts by drone operators, victims of drone attacks, anti-drone activists, human rights activists, international lawyers, journalists, military thinkers, and academic experts. Gusterson examines the way drone warfare has created commuter warriors and redefined the space of the battlefield. He looks at the paradoxical mix of closeness and distance involved in remote killing: is it easier than killing someone on the physical battlefield if you have to watch onscreen? He suggests a new way of understanding the debate over civilian casualties of drone attacks. He maps “ethical slippage” over time in the Obama administration's targeting practices. And he contrasts Obama administration officials' legal justification of drone attacks with arguments by international lawyers and NGOs.

The Assassination Complex

The Assassination Complex PDF

Author: Jeremy Scahill

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2016-05-03

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1501144138

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The "author and his colleagues at the investigative website, The Intercept, expose stunning new details about America's secret assassination policy."--NoveList.

On Killing Remotely

On Killing Remotely PDF

Author: Lieutenant Colonel Wayne Phelps

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2021-06-08

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 0316628271

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A “can’t-miss for anyone interested in current military affairs,” On Killing Remotely reveals and explores the costs—to individual soldiers and to society—of the way we wage war today (Kirkus Reviews, starred). Throughout history society has determined specific rules of engagement between adversaries in armed conflict. With advances in technology, from armor to in the Middle Ages to nerve gas in World War I to weapons of mass destruction in our own time, the rules have constantly evolved. Today, when killing the enemy can seem palpably risk-free and tantamount to playing a violent video game, what constitutes warfare? What is the effect of remote combat on individual soldiers? And what are the unforeseen repercussions that could affect us all? Lt Col Wayne Phelps, former commander of a Remotely Piloted Aircraft unit, addresses these questions and many others as he tells the story of the men and women of today’s “chair force.” Exploring the ethics of remote military engagement, the misconceptions about PTSD among RPA operators, and the specter of military weaponry controlled by robots, his book is an urgent and compelling reminder that it should always be difficult to kill another human being lest we risk losing what makes us human.

Reforming U.S. Drone Strike Policies

Reforming U.S. Drone Strike Policies PDF

Author: Micah Zenko

Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations

Published: 2013-01-01

Total Pages: 53

ISBN-13: 0876095449

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Douglas Dillon Fellow Micah Zenko analyzes the potentially serious consequences, both at home and abroad, of a lightly overseen drone program and makes recommendations for improving its governance.

A Theory of the Drone

A Theory of the Drone PDF

Author: GrŽgoire Chamayou

Publisher: New Press, The

Published: 2015-01-06

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 1595589759

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The Parisian research scholar and author of Manhunts offers a philosophical perspective on the role of drone technology in today's changing military environments and the implications of drone capabilities in enabling democratic choices. 12,500 first printing.

Predators

Predators PDF

Author: Brian Glyn Williams

Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.

Published: 2013-07-31

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1612346170

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Predators is a riveting introduction to the murky world of Predator and Reaper drones, the CIA's and U.S. military's most effective and controversial killing tools. Brian Glyn Williams combines policy analysis with the human drama of the spies, terrorists, insurgents, and innocent tribal peoples who have been killed in the covert operation-the CIA's largest assassination campaign since the Vietnam War era-being waged in Pakistan's tribal regions via remote control aircraft known as drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles. Having traveled extensively in the Pashtun tribal areas while working for the U.S. military and the CIA, Williams explores in detail of the new technology of airborne assassinations. From miniature Scorpion missiles designed to kill terrorists while avoiding civilian "collateral damage" to prathrais, the cigarette lighter-size homing beacons spies plant on their unsuspecting targets to direct drone missiles to them, the author describes the drone arsenal in full. Evaluating the ethics of targeted killings and drone technology, Williams covers more than a hundred drone strikes, analyzing the number of slain civilians versus the number of terrorists killed to address the claims of antidrone activists. In examining the future of drone warfare, he reveals that the U.S. military is already building more unmanned than manned aerial vehicles. Predators helps us weigh the pros and cons of the drone program so that we can decide whether it is a vital strategic asset, a "frenemy," or a little of both.

Kill or Capture

Kill or Capture PDF

Author: Daniel Klaidman

Publisher: HMH

Published: 2012-06-05

Total Pages: 309

ISBN-13: 0547547781

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“Divulge[s] the details of top-level deliberations—details that were almost certainly known only to the administration’s inner circle” (The Wall Street Journal). When he was elected in 2008, Barack Obama had vowed to close Guantánamo, put an end to coercive interrogation and military tribunals, and restore American principles of justice. Yet by the end of his first term he had backtracked on each of these promises, ramping up the secret war of drone strikes and covert operations. Behind the scenes, wrenching debates between hawks and doves—those who would kill versus those who would capture—repeatedly tested the very core of the president’s identity, leading many to wonder whether he was at heart an idealist or a ruthless pragmatist. Digging deep into this period of recent history, investigative reporter Daniel Klaidman spoke to dozens of sources to piece together a riveting Washington story packed with revelations. As the president’s inner circle debated secret programs, new legal frontiers, and the disjuncture between principles and down-and-dirty politics, Obama vacillated, sometimes lashed out, and spoke in lofty tones while approving a mounting toll of assassinations and kinetic-war operations. Klaidman’s fly-on-the-wall reporting reveals who had his ear, how key national security decisions are really made, and whether or not President Obama lived up to the promise of candidate Obama. “Fascinating . . . Lays bare the human dimension of the wrenching national security decisions that have to be made.” —Tina Brown, NPR “An important book.” —Steve Coll, The New Yorker

Drone Wars

Drone Wars PDF

Author: Peter L. Bergen

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 495

ISBN-13: 1107025567

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Drone Wars presents a diverse and comprehensive interdisciplinary perspective on drones and the current state of the field.

Drone Warfare

Drone Warfare PDF

Author: Medea Benjamin

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2013-05-01

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 1781684758

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Groundbreaking exposé of the rapid shift to robot warfare, by a leading antiwar activist. Drone Warfare is the first comprehensive analysis of one of the fastest growing—and most secretive—fronts in global conflict: the rise of robot warfare. In 2000, the Pentagon had fewer than fifty aerial drones; ten years later, it had a fleet of nearly 7,500, and the US Air Force now trains more drone “pilots” than bomber and fighter pilots combined. Drones are already a $5 billion business in the US alone. The human cost? Drone strikes have killed more than 200 children alone in Pakistan and Yemen. CODEPINK and Global Exchange cofounder Medea Benjamin provides the first extensive analysis of who is producing the drones, where they are being used, who controls these unmanned planes, and what are the legal and moral implications of their use. In vivid, readable style, this book also looks at what activists, lawyers, and scientists across the globe are doing to ground these weapons. Benjamin argues that the assassinations we are carrying out from the air will come back to haunt us when others start doing the same thing—to us.