"I Love Drone Attacks!"

While having a very cordial late night (read: over a few beers) discussion this past weekend, a friend of mine proudly stated that he "loved drone attacks".  This comment took me back a bit.  Maybe us libertarian bloggers get trapped in a bit of a bubble here on the interwebs, but it never had really occurred to me before that attacks against nameless, faceless targets in countries most people can't find on a map might actually be popular.A recent study by the Pew Research Center seems to show just that, at least here in the United States where the drone program has a 62% approval rating.  But drone attacks aren't nearly as popular outside of the Motherland.  According to the report, drone attacks had less than a 50% approval rating in 17 of the 21 countries surveyed.  The authors of the study went on to further state that

“There remains a widespread perception that the U.S. acts unilaterally and does not consider the interests of other countries....especially in predominantly Muslim nations, where American anti-terrorism efforts are still widely unpopular.”

Translation: people tend to not appreciate having missiles fired at weddings, schools, and even funerals.  This seems relatively logical.  When someone's family gets blown to bits, I'd imagine they aren't terribly concerned with the method by which it occurred (drone, cluster bomb, shotgun to the head), but the fact that their family got blown to bits.Back to the the friend in question.  I had to put myself in his shoes.  He is a self-stated Obama supporting progressive, not a particularly rare breed out here in California.  I would imagine someone with this viewpoint generally has a trusting view of the President and the decisions he makes.  He also likely believes the typical assertion that these drone attacks are targeting evil terrorists that mean us harm, and hey a drone attack is a lot better than launching a whole war, right? If one views a drone attack as a pinpoint shot that targets a specific individual known to be planning harm against the United States, then it makes perfect sense that one might actually "love" the drone program.The problem is that the presumptions above are fallacious.  For starters, there is absolutely no way of knowing what individuals or groups of individuals are being targeted by drone attacks.  There is no accountability  on behalf of the government to provide any evidence whatsoever regarding the guilt of those murdered under this program.  There is no Grand Jury, no Judge, no indictment.A recent New York Times article detailed how the President and his advisers have a "Secret Kill List" of terrorist suspects destined for death by drone.  He even has one of his trusted  "Czars" overseeing the whole thing.  The Times article revealed that two of the targets currently on the list are teenagers, one being a 17-year old girl. And they wouldn't be the first teenagers murdered under this program.  Last October Obama ordered the execution of Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, the 17 year old son of the also-murdered-via-drone Anwar al-Awlaki.  Anwar is an American citizen who has never actually been charged with any crime or act of terrorism; rather it seems his only crime was incendiary speech against the United States.Accepting the premise that one man, without going through any legal process or judicial review whatsoever, can order the assassination of anyone including American citizens and teenagers is to accept a completely totalitarianism.  My friend's premise that Obama is well meaning and that everyone he orders to their death via the drone program may very well be true.  But what of the next President? Or the one after that? Do we want President Skippy Santorum to have that power in 2060?  The issue is not necessarily the specific attacks or specific targets, but the allowance of that much power lying in the hands of the Chief Executive.  I wonder how my progressive friend would feel about George W. Bush having that power right now?Another false premise about the drone attacks is that they primarily kill terrorist targets and therefore save the lives of civilians.  The facts don't back this up.  Between 2004 and 2012, it is estimated that drone strikes in Pakistan resulted in the deaths of between 2,479-3,180 people.  Between 482-832 were civilians, and 175 were children. Quick math tells me that approximately 25% of the victims of these strikes were "civilians", and about 5% children.  Maybe those are acceptable numbers to some people.  But that's the problem. These aren't just "numbers".  They are human beings.  Human beings with families.  Human beings with families who suddenly have a really, really good reason to hate the United States.Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has assured us that drone strikes will continue in Pakistan and elsewhere, and claims that we are at war in Northern Pakistan.  Funny, because I don't recall Congress ever declaring a war in Pakistan. Or at any time in the last 60 years for that matter.  But who'm I to quibble? The justification for this of course will be that we have to "kill them there before they kill us here" in order to "prevent another 9/11".  But as Ron Paul so bravely pointed out to Rudy Giuliani in the famous 2007 debate moment, it is attacks like these that inspire terrorists in the first place and create the conditions for events like 9/11 to happen. As Paul also points out, this in no way justifies horrific acts of terrorism.  But to ignore the motivations of one's enemies is foolish and childish, and can only lead to more needless war and death. The idea of drone attacks may be all peachy keen when all they are doing is killing nameless, faceless, "crazy Muslim terrorists" all over the world. But what about when the drone program comes home? Already Congress has passed a bill calling for 30,000 drones to be patrolling American skies by 2020.  Combine that with America being declared part of the battlefield and the admission that American citizens can be secretly targeted for assassination, how long will it be before we hear of a drone taking out "suspected terrorists" on American soil ?The slope of tyranny is a slippery one.  Secret Kill Lists and Drones might seem all well and good while they aren't affecting us.  The problem is that once they do, it may very well be too late to stop it.As always, we encourage feedback on this issue, and encourage you to spread the word if you are as concerned as we are.Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!