January 25
Drones: Hiding the human costs of war
By David CortrightIn my most recent posting at Cato Unbound, I counter Daniel Goure’s assertion that drones do not increase the temptation to intervene militarily. I and many others have argued to the contrary, that drones are troubling precisely because they lower the domestic costs of using military force.
We know that concerns about casualties play a role in decisions about military intervention. This is as it should be in a democratic society where leaders are supposed to be accountable to public concerns. Some military operations have been called off because of military casualties. For example, this happened after the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and the “Black Hawk down” disaster a decade later in Somalia.
Because of the political sensitivity of military casualties, government officials sometimes try to hide the human costs of war. Drones change these dynamics. The ability to launch military strikes without the risk of U.S. casualties removes one of the principal political burdens associated with the decision to use force.
Consider the military interventions in Pakistan and Somalia. Without the use of drone strikes, the only option for precise military strikes in Pakistan or Somalia would be ground operations. These would be much bloodier than drone strikes and far more dangerous. They would carry a high risk of failure.
If drones did not exist, and invasions were the only option, would the United States really launch major ground operations in Pakistan or Somalia? Highly unlikely. Without drones there would be no campaigns of military strikes against Pakistan and Somalia. And that’s the point. These weapons allow the use of military force in settings where otherwise it would not be an option.
David Cortright teaches peace studies and nonviolent social change at the University of Notre Dame and is the director of policy studies at Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
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