Yesterday, President Obama delivered a lofty foreign policy speech at West Point in which he announced his vision for American counterterrorism policy post-Afghanistan.
Much of the world that President Obama envisions reminded me of the world that we seek as Friends. There was talk of peace and prosperity, partnership and diplomacy. He rightly declared that “what makes us exceptional is not our ability to flout international norms and the rule of law, it is our willingness to affirm them by our actions.”
He further emphasized the need to move away from militarism as an all-encompassing solution to our every problem, and pointed out that true national security necessitates the respecting of human rights. We wholeheartedly agree, and hope to see these ideals carried forward. But there is a critically important problem with the President’s vision. This problem emerged as the soaring rhetoric of peace was accompanied by a pledge to shift away from war toward more targeted operations in the form of drone strikes.
Here is the problem: drone warfare is still war. Using remotely-controlled aircraft to conduct strikes still terrorizes people on the ground. The strikes still kill and displace civilians. The constant hovering of foreign aircraft, accompanied by arbitrary strikes, still builds international resentment and serves as a recruiting tool for extremists.
Shifting from traditional “boots on the ground” invasions to near-total reliance on global drone strikes is not a shift away from war toward peace. It continues the war in a way that is limitless and endless. Aided by the wide-ranging authority of the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, the drone war transforms the globe into a single battlefield in which all are potential targets. It is necessarily endless because the strikes will not eliminate the threat of terror. We have seen already that they are ineffective. Despite years of relentless drone warfare, terror still remains. One U.S. official even estimated that, with each strike, we have created 40 to 60 new enemies.
The peace that the President spoke of will not be achieved by continuing along this course. This is why FCNL advocates for peaceful ends through peaceful means – that is what is effective. We applaud the President for his desire to promote peace, respect the rule of law, and ensure human rights. But war is still not the answer, and that includes the drone war.