By Thomas H. Naylor*/Counterpunch
Could it be that when Nobel Peace Laureate Barack Obama leaves office that the defining image of his presidency will have been his use of unmanned drone aircraft and military death squads to achieve the will of the Empire?
Hardly a week goes by in which we do not learn of the deaths of innocent civilians in Afghanistan or Pakistan resulting from attacks by U.S. drones. Attack drones have also been deployed in Libya, Somalia, and Yemen.
Predator drone firing Hellfire missile | Wikimedia Commons
This form of pilotless aircraft can be used to inflict death and destruction anywhere in the world. Drones are controlled by well-trained, high-tech, gutless assassins seated in air conditioned comfort in front of sophisticated instrument panels thousands of miles away from their intended targets.
The beauty of desktop, drone warfare is that it is neat, clean, precise, risk-free, sanitized, and bloodless and can be waged by those who have never set foot on a battlefield or smelled the stench of death. It’s almost like playing a video game.
The Pentagon recently ordered 55 Global Hawk drones for a cool $23 billion. There is even talk of converting the Burlington International Airport in Vermont into a drone base.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 