Drones Flashcards
What percentage of all warfare deaths in last 100 years have been civilians? (Downes)
-60%
whats the two ideas of relationship between democracy and targeting civilians? (Downes)
- less likely to target civilians due to the ethics of their political system
- more likely, as the vulnerability of leaders to public opinion makes them wary of incurring heavy costs on the battlefield
What two factors cause states to target civilians regardless of regime type? (Downes)
- desperation to n and save lives on one’s own side
- attacking enemy civilians often makes good strategic sense because it elimantes ‘fighting olumns’ thaty could rebel in an army’s rear area, as well as potential revolts that may occur later
how does viewing opponent as barbaric change things?
and example? (Downes)
- makes it more likely to occur
- John dower documented how racial hatred between Japan and US in WW2 contributed to atrocities
What is the coercive aspect of civilian victimisation? (Downes)
- meant to sap morale of an adversary’s population or undermine the enermy’s ability to act
- also manipulates costs and thus affects adversary behaviour
What is civilian victimisation driven by ? (Downes)
-a perceived strategic neccessity: leaders may see themselves as having little choice but to target non combatants if they wish to prevail at a price they can afford, avoid defeat, or annex desired territory
What are the two circumstances under which states are likely to employ civilian victimisation? (Downes)
- when conflicts devolve into protracted and costly wars of attrition, they become desperate to win
- when a belligerent wages a war of territorial conequest and intends to annex land inhabited by an adversary’s civilian population
what does a statistical analysis of interstate wars between 1816 and 2003 show? (Downes)
-states involved in costly protracted wars, and belligerents aiming to conquer are more likely target civilians
What are the main goals of US counter-terrorism ? Do drones serve them? (Cronin)
Main Goals:
-defeat of al-qaeda and affiliated groups
- containment of local conflict so they do not breed new enemies
- preservation of security of american people
- Drones do not serve all 3, they protect from attacks in short, they are not helping to defeat al qaeda, and they may be creating sworn enemies out of a sea of local insurgents
What impact can the killing of leaders of groups have? (Cronin)
-can ruin it eg Abu Sayyaf in Phillipines lost its political focus and became petty criminal org after army killed leaders in 06 and 07
Why is killing leaders of al qaeda not as potentially effective? (Cronin)
Al Qaeda is resilient, more than 25yrs old with broad network of outposts, group was never dependent on bin laden
what number of strikes in Pakistan since 2004 and what impact have they had? (Cronin)
- 350 strikes since 2004
- cut core number of al qaeda members in tribal ares by about 75% to 50-100
What impact have drones had on al qaeda propaganda? (Cronin)
- helps it
- footage of drones strikes portrayed as indiscriminate violence against muslims
what does the secrecy of Washington’s drone programme do? (Cronin)
-lets criticsallege that strikes are deadlier and less discriminating than they really are
What is an inevitable result of loosely defined targets? (Cronin)
-civilians being killed
