This article posted on the HuffPost, mentions a perhaps unintended consequence of the not-really-closure of Guantanamo Bay. Because of the Obama administration's promise to close Guantanamo Bay, it isn't feasible to capture suspected al-Qaeda or Taliban fighters and send them to Guantanamo Bay for interrogation or for indefinite detention. Instead, drones have been used to kill suspected terrorist/al-Qaeda leaders (often with their families and any bystanders). While Guantanamo Bay is, and was, a highly problematic way of dealing with potential or suspected combatants in the war on terror, the use of drones to summarily kill them is clearly not a step up. The fact that some of the suspected terrorist leaders are within the borders of Pakistan (in which ground troops are forbidden) may mean that Pakistan is an even more lethal place to be a terrorist organizer.
This has interesting implications for how the war on terror is fought, as well as for state sovereignty. Is it really a meaningful distinction to use drones to kill fighters in Pakistan instead of ground troops in Afghanistan? Does this mean that Bush administration procedures for dealing with 'terrorists' are necessarily better?
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From what I read in the article, it does seem like Obama is very hypocritical in his policy on terrorism. I am not exaclty sure what the best method would be, but just outright killing "suspected terrorist leaders" is no better than indefinitely capturing and torturing suspected terrorists.
ReplyDeleteThe question you bring up about state sovereignty is also very interesting. Using drones to kill fighters in Pakistan is pretty equivelant to using ground troops in Afganistan. Whether human or machine, both proceduers equally impose on state sovereignty, by invading the nation's borders and acting against its own interests. However, I do not believe that one policy is in any way better than the other. Both policies are very flawed, and it will take an extensive conversation to find a method that is both humane and effective.