Drones and death

[Oscar]

Drones and death

[ https://mcc.org/stories/drones-death ]

by Joshua Russell March 10, 2015

Drones are one of the most popular innovations that new technology has brought us in our society today. Drones can be put to many uses such as crop monitoring and resource management.

Armed drones, however, have been used by the U.S. government to wreak havoc in various corners of the globe. Civilian casualties, such as the well-publicized death of a 13-year-old boy in Yemen, have drawn increasing criticism toward the use of armed drones by the U.S. [ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/f ... cia-strike ]

On February 17, the Obama administration announced that it would begin selling armed drones to foreign countries that meet vaguely-worded standards set by the Department of Defense.
[ http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/nat ... story.html ] The Obama administration has shown no signs of reducing its own use of drone strikes, and is now proposing this new policy of exporting the frightful power of drones to other parts of the world.

Some have argued that drones are necessary because they save U.S. lives. But drones take the lives of innocent civilians, create instability in a volatile region, and give fuel to the fire of extremism, which can increase the risk to U.S. troops.

The faith community, long concerned with the use of armed drones, is now calling for a complete halt in the face of their wanton destruction. Last month at Princeton Theological Seminary an interfaith group gathered to consider the moral, ethical and legal questions raised by drone warfare.

. . . .

Agreement on this recommendation by such a wide variety of faith groups, including many that are not pacifist, was highly significant.
[ http://www.peacecoalition.org/campaigns ... rfare.html ]

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