The Washington Post on May 3rd editorialized in favor of continued drone strikes. They argued that the death of two hostages, one a US citizen, in a drone strike must be weighed against the success of drone strikes in reducing the ranks of Al Qaeda in Pakistan. On the same day, the New York Times reported of an artillery barrage between North and South Korea, in which a North Korean drone was shot down.
I am afraid it is only a matter of time before we are hoist by our own petard.
Our rationale for drone strikes has downplayed the fact that they are acts of war against other sovereign nations, and used the veil of national security to justify "counterterrorism" attacks intended only to eliminate members of terrorism organizations. We have gotten away with it because we are the big gorilla in the room and use a host of diplomatic tactics ($$$$$$$$) to silence or ignore the legitimate complaints of countries we attack.
The day will come, and relatively soon, when North Korea will use the same rationale against us. A North Korean naval vessel, operating in international waters, will provide the launch platform for drone strikes against individuals in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, and every state on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The individuals attacked by these drones will be identified as key members of organizations that plan terrorism attacks against North Korea.
The drone attacks will injure or kill many others who occupy the attacked homes and buildings. North Korea may express its regrets over the loss of innocent life, but assure us it was unintended and deemed unlikely by intelligence analysis. They will claim our unwillingness to cooperate with their legitimate law enforcement efforts to arrest and extradite the terrorists made the attacks necessary to protect their national security.
In short, they will follow our play book exactly. We, of course, will consider the attacks as acts of war, and there will be calls for invasion and regime change in North Korea. While we are engaged in North Korea, an Iranian naval vessel will start drone strikes targeting individuals who threaten their national security. They will be followed by an ISIL drone. And every strike will be launched with the same legal justification which we use for our drone strikes.
Instead of conducting more drone strikes, with better management as advocated by the Washington Post, we would be better served to cease them immediately and renounce our rationale as contrary to international law. And then try to drum up support for an international drone control treaty that recognizes they are weapons of war.
It is even more important to recalibrate our use of military force against sovereign nations to fight terrorism, since we are now aware that North Korea has tested submarine-based missile launches. Using our "counterterrorism" rationale, there is little difference between a drone strike and a guided missile strike except the potential scale of damage.
Hubris is a dangerous thing. We have been too reckless in using drones, and believed we could get away with it forever. Our rude awakening is coming. Now would be a good time to stop.