An MQ-9 Reaper operated
by U.S. Customs and Border
Enforcement, presumably
similar to the units now being
sold to the French
government.
Is France to Start Killing People 'the American Way'?
(Liberation, France)
"Officially, France has acquired two U.S. Reapers for gathering
information, but they will be easy to turn into killer drones. No official
announcement or debate has been made about the conditions of the exchange. Will
they be used to kill men from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb across the Sahel
- the American way? States have the right and duty to defend themselves, but drones
operate in a legal vacuum that cannot be justified by the 'war against
terror.'"
War
without a battlefield, without direct confrontation and without any risk to the
attackers. Drones change not only the art of war, but also blur the laws of
war.
And
American monopoly currently only shared by Israel, drones have become the
weapon of choice of the "war against terror" - a phrase coined by
George W. Bush after the September 11 - then continued and expanded by Obama. From
Somalia to the frontiers of Pakistan, Yemen and Afghanistan, dozens of suspected
terrorists, including senior al-Qaeda leaders, have been killed by missiles launched
by drones operated from the comfort of sanitized bases in Virginia. These men
were killed secretly and without trial, in the manner of extrajudicial
executions. As sophisticated as these unmanned aircraft have become, however, hundreds
of civilian men, women and children, have fallen - collateral victims of this
shadowy war. It is a totally asymmetric conflict that feeds anti-American rage
and creates a breeding ground for new terrorists.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Officially,
France has acquired two U.S. Reapers for gathering information, but they will
be easy to turn into killer drones. No official announcement or debate has been
made about the conditions of the exchange. Will they be used to kill men from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb across
the Sahel - the American way? States have the right and duty to defend themselves,
but drones operate in a legal vacuum that cannot be justified by the "war
against terror."
