Drones Kill the Innocent: Innovation Too Slow (NOT FOR GRADING)

Summary:

    In this post, I am going to argue that drones kill the innocent because the innovation of drone is too slow.

Since June 7th 2004, when the first known drone strike took place in Wana, Pakistan killing the infamous Taliban leader Nek Mohammad and two children, an estimated total of 3213 (by the end of 2013) fatalities have been cause by unmanned military drones attacks. one of the worst incidents of the entire drones campaign was on a religious seminary on Oct 30th 2006 killed up to 69 children, among 80 civilians, in Chenegai, Pakistan. Each one of these drone strike is said to be having at least one target, or one suspect. However, it turns out to be only 50 out of the total 3213 death are intended. The majority component are civilians, children, and innocent people that are not directly related to Taliban or terrorism. There are even strikes such as one took place on Jan 13 2006 that miss the target and killed only the innocent.

In a robbery, police will not shot at the bad until they assure the security of hostages. When flu spreads, a vaccine will not be mass produced until its developer fully test its side effects. It is reasonable to carry out something new and effective until you make sure it is as effective as intended to be. So the issue is seemingly clear: drone technology is developing too fast, exceed the limit of law and regulation. But the problem is, these killing drone attacks were actually done by the government, more specifically the US air force. 

Drone is desirable in many ways. They are usually deployed for military and special operation applications, but also used in a number of civil applications, nonmilitary security work, scientific research, search and rescue, and a lot more. They are often preferred for missions that are too 'dull, dirty or dangerous' for manned aircraft. As you can see the newly introduced drone delivery of packages, drone is being widely used and is proved to be sometimes better than manned aerial vehicles. Optimistically, drones evidently better our lives, and securer our pilots. And if the security of innocent people can be assured, military drones will also be appreciated without a doubt.

I would say that the reason of drone killing the innocent is that the pace of drone technology development is too slow. 

It is slower than its military expectation. For pilots and their families, drone is too good to be true. Before President Obama's involvement in drone strike decisions, thousands of US soldiers were killed in international war zones such as Iraq. Wife lose her husband, child lose her father. People expect a lot on unmanned military vehicles. The introduction of drone challenged the belief that war is dangerous, that soldiers are also potential victim. In the war against Taliban an terrorism, drone are expected to reduce cost, however not at the cost of other innocent people. The innovation and development on drone is roughly fast enough for civil application, but apparently not enough for military usage, for the need of minimizing cost of striking terrorist. 

In countries outside of US, it is slower than its international political expectation. At the time when the US drop the fatal atomic bomb on Japan in WWII, the endless arms race begins. The Soviet Union tried hard to catch up with the US in military technology at all cost. Today, being out of the shadow of the Cold War, arms race is still alive, with more participants such as China, India and Israel. I personally agree with the view that arms race reduce large-scale war. Inside the fact that drone pilots are too easy to fire and that they might have been given the power to see human as bug, they are also aware of the powerlessness of these victim across the world. Just like the threat of atomic bomb remained alive until several countries announced their successful development on atomic bomb, I believe that the threat of drone killing the innocent will never be completely removed unless other countries catch up with the US on the innovation and technology of military drones.