It should be is obvious that launching airstikes from drone aircraft controlled from thousands of miles away by operators viewing and assessing ground “targets” from high altitude though video links is a bad idea. Based on grainy video that lags a bit behind the actual action on the ground, operators decide remotely who to blow to bits. Clearly, this will be highly prone to accidents.
Predator drone firing missile
Common sense should have stopped the US military from using drones for combat rather than just for reconnaissance. Unfortunately, it didn’t.
So now we are faced with an ever-growing list of incidents in which erroneous drone strikes killed and maimed innocents. Past Peace Pundit posts have documented previous incidents (see list below). Sadly, a new incident must now be added to the list (excerpted):
US Deaths in Drone Strike Due to Miscommunication, Report Says
By David Zucchino and David S. Cloud, Los Angeles Times, Oct 14, 2011
Washington — A Marine and a Navy medic killed by a US drone airstrike were targeted when Marine commanders in Afghanistan mistook them for Taliban fighters, even though analysts watching the Predator’s video feed were uncertain whether the men were part of an enemy force.
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The 381-page report, which has not been released, concludes that the Marine officers on the scene and the Air Force crew controlling the drone from half a world away were unaware that analysts watching the firefight unfold via live video at a third location had doubts about the targets’ identity.
The incident closely resembles another deadly mistake involving a Predator in early 2009. In that attack, at least 15 Afghan civilians were killed after a Predator crew mistook them for a group of Taliban…
In that case, analysts located at Air Force Special Operations Command in Florida who were watching live battlefield video from the aircraft’s high-altitude cameras also had doubts about the target. Their warnings that children were present were disregarded by the drone operator and by an Army captain, who authorized the airstrike.
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[Read extra story detailing errors that led to the incident.]
Related Previous PeacePundit Posts
- US Drone Strikes in Pakistan Incite Resistance There and Here
- Pakistan Nixes US Widening Drone Strike Zone
- CIA Drone-airstrike in Pakistan Kills 17 Civilians
- Tall Afghan farmer killed by remote missile
- Don’t Call It “Collateral Damage”
- Child Casualties Are Not Acceptable
