Many Democrats are pushing for President Biden to change the military’s drone program. This comes after a long list of mistakes in which innocent bystanders have been killed, many of which have been made public.
The US drone warfare program remains unspeakably evil and indefensible — whoever is the President.
The only way out is to end it. https://t.co/fTwKHD7MEA
— MPower Change #NoTechForApartheid (@MPower_Change) January 22, 2022
On Thursday, Biden got a letter from 11 senators and 39 members of the House of Representatives.
In the letter, they said presidents have “claimed nearly unilateral authority to use deadly force all around the globe without Congress’ permission, massacring not only armed characters, but also innocent people, even U.S. citizens.”
Counterterrorism
They want the government to evaluate and overhaul the military’s anti-terrorism policy, which they say should be based on “civil rights and the safety of civilians.”
They also want the Armed Forces to use non-lethal techniques to tackle confrontation and precariousness and use force when constitutional or as a last resort.
The message arrived a day after the Defense Department posted the drone strike video that went wrong in Afghanistan on August 29 and killed ten people, including kids.
DoD leaders, at first, said the strike was a success; they used a secondary explosion to back up their story that the white Toyota Corolla they monitored for eight hours had explosives.
Following an investigative process, they said weeks later the assertion that Zemari Ahmadi, an aid worker, was the target of the attack was false.
They declared that Ahmadi, who was not the target, was an innocent civilian. Nine people, many of whom were family members, were brutally murdered in the strike.
Investigations into the Attacks
Democrats talked about this failed strike and the March 18, 2019 attack that managed to kill 80 individuals in Syria.
Central Command could only say 16 combatants and four civilians were dead. The rest of their fates are unknown.
"U.S. drone strikes, which have killed hundreds of civilians in the Middle East, radicalize enemies, keep the US involved in wars long past their expiration date, and cause post‐traumatic stress for those running the program." — @jbcohen92 & @jeallenFP https://t.co/n2SA2nC4h3
— Cato Foreign Policy (@CatoFP) January 23, 2022
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called for an investigation into the attack.
The commander of U.S. Army Forces, Gen. Michael Garrett, has 90 days to report back on the research results of his investigation, which will come to a close at the end of next month.
The report stated the complete collapse for years has led to failed strikes. U.S. military and government policy changes don’t occur when these big and costly mistakes keep happening.
This sends the message that civilian deaths, even when there is no military target, are a natural feature of modern warfare, rather than avoidable and costly policy mistakes that could have been avoided and prevented.
They worry that the military will use a lot of technology that can be utilized in the future in Afghanistan. As soon as the mistake was made, the Taliban overthrew a government backed by the United States.
With the withdrawal coming a few days later, the U.S. military intends to use its ability to launch attacks from other parts of the country. There is a greater risk of civilian deaths and mistakes if people don’t look at real-time documentation.
