Droning On and On...

“If we are not willing to commit blood to the cause, we should take an appetite suppressant for our drone use.” This quote, by West Point professor Ike Wilson, generally sums up the panel’s feeling on drone warfare during the Conference on World Affairs talk: “Droning On and On: New Conventional Warfare.”

Professor Wilson brought up three points to explain why he has an issue with drone strikes.  They are as follows:

1.     Legality.  Mr. Wilson took issue with the legality of drone strikes from a due process standpoint, (both domestically and internationally), as well as a violation of sovereign airspace. 

2.     Military sales.  Because of the cheap cost of drones, ease of purchase, and high return on investment, the US will eventually be surpassed in drone technology.  This means that adversarial states will have the ability to potentially use drones against the United States

3.     War theory dimension.  Drones further blur the line between combatant and noncombatant, executive vs. legislative control, and belligerent vs. non belligerent acts of war.  The president is able to authorize the use of drones by executive order, giving him emense power to carry out drone strikes without the public being aware.  Often times, these drone strikes are targeting “militants” who actually just may be ordinary citizens. 

Most importantly for Professor Wilson, drones dehumanize warfare, leading to an “easy war” solution.  If we aren’t willing to send soldiers a country for war, is the cause really worth it?  According to Wilson, “War should never be easy, especially for democracies.”

Dr. John Tirman, a professor at MIT, took similar issues with drones.  Mr. Tirman spoke on defense, pointing out the idea that with the introduction of any military weapon, adversaries eventually gain the same capability.  This is the case with chemical weapons, missiles, and, of course, nuclear weapons.  It is simply a matter of time until the US sees adversarial threats for drone use against the America. 

Though Dr. Tirman described himself as a “general supporter” of President Obama, the use of drones is an impeachable offense, according to him.  Drone use, he says, is not out of bounds itself, but the denial of use, collateral damage, violation of sovereignty, and conduction of wars in places where war has not been declared is down right illegal. 

What’s more, is the high rate of suicide among drone operators. One reason for this, Mr. Tirman hypothesized, is that a drone operator does not see the same culture of support from his or her unit, as they might during a boots on the ground operation.  The environments, without a doubt, are psychologically different. 

Other speakers discussed major problems with civilian casualties as a result of drone use.  Not only are civilians accidently labeled “enemy militants” and killed by drone strikes, they are also killed when they act as first responders to a drone strike—running to the scene of an initial drone strike in order to help, only to be injured or killed by a second drone strike.  And do these civilians receive any compensation for an injury or death of a loved one? Often times not. 

This panel raised some very real and concerning issues with the use of drones.  In fact, it has made me rethink my stance on drones.  I particularly take issue with the lack of transparency regarding President Obama’s authorization of drone strikes.  The unauthorized use of drones demonstrates not only a major transparency issue within our government, but allows our executive to carry out wars without public knowledge.  This I have a major problem with.

Though I am not discourage drone use completely, I absolutely do believe that drone strikes, and the executive decision-making behind the strikes, must come under control.  

Of War and Poetry

Mormon Boy, by Seth Brady Tucker, is a book of poetry that describes a young soldier’s time in the first Gulf War.  My favorite poem was called “Falling in Love During Wartime.”  This piece describes a soldier, barely 21 years old, and what he is missing while he is deployed.  He talks about the time he wishes he was spending with the girl he should be in love with.  For me, this poem puts in perspective the little things that war takes from us.  It not only takes lives in a literal sense, but disallows soldiers from having small, meaningful experiences such as legally buying alcohol when they turn 21, or falling in love with a pretty girl.  Mormon Boy reminds us of the small things in life that war destroys. 

Here, Bullet, by Brian Turner, is a collection of poems that guide the reader through the author’s experience in Iraq.  Turner was deployed to Iraq in 2003.  Here, Bullet is a detailed account of Turner’s experience with war, interactions with fellow soldiers and Iraqi citizens, and dreams of love and a normal life.  Many of the poems juxtapose the ideas of war, death, beauty and love.  Turner seamlessly ties in each emotion into one poem, enabling the reader to experience all four at the same time.  A great example I found was in the poem “Last Night’s Dream.”  Turner dreams of an encounter with a lover, in which every interaction is sexual, yet in some way ties back to war.  One of the lines reads: ”I am strung with wire, a huge receiver of UHF radio transmissions, frequency hopping with our tongues as we kiss.”  Turner has a talent for dancing between the ideas of love and war throughout his poems.  In his opening poem “A Soldier’s Arabic,” Turner translates the word love from English to Arabic and does the same with the word death, so as to set the tone for the entire book as we find juxtapositions of love and death, children, and war, throughout many of the poems.  In reading this book, I found it useful to do close reads of each poem, dissecting them as I went.  This is my interpretation of one of my favorite stanzas in the book from the poem, “Gilgamesh, in Fossil Relief.”  It reads:

History is a cloudy mirror made of dirt

and bone and ruin.  And love? Loss?

These are the questions we must answer

by war and famine and pestilence, and again

by touch and kiss, because each age must learn

This is the path of the sun’s journey by night

The first line describes history a mirror in which it is difficult to see a reflection because it is clouded by dirt, bone, and ruin.  It is sometimes difficult to see why history takes the course it does, as it is often plagued by death and violence.  And what of love and loss?  Turner employs contrasting words against each other: dirt, ruin, famine and pestilence, against touch, kiss, and love.  Each age, and each generation, must endure these hardships.  But they will also experience love and affection. 

The last line, one of my favorites of the book, reads: This is the path of the sun’s journey by night. I take this line to mean that although we will struggle with sickness, violence, and ills, we are also fortunate to be able to experience love and happiness.  Life is accompanied by both good and evil. 

War poetry is a great way to convey experiences of deployment.  I highly recommend both Mormon Boy and Here, Bullet.