But outside those wars, in places like Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, and Libya, drone use sets a downright dangerous precedent. In active war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, the use of drones presents a host of thorny ethical questions. The policy is assassination."Įven though the United States has banned assassinations since the Ford administration, the Obama administration has used drones to assassinate thousands of purported terrorists, amid a rebranding campaign that casts drone strikes-which often kill many civilians-as "targeted killings."Īlthough the United States has used drones outside of war zones since at least 2002, the government released no official standards and procedures until 2013. As Jeremy Scahill points at in The Intercept's important exposé "The Drone Papers," "Drones are a tool, not a policy. The Bush administration was often derided for its attempts to whitewash its most egregious policies with bureaucratic jargon torture was famously rebranded as "enhanced interrogation." When it comes to drones, the Obama administration's rhetoric has been equally Orwellian. Military armed drone technology has been Obama's weapon of choice since he came into office, and it threatens to leave a salient stain on his legacy. But when it comes to military drones, the president has so far missed a key opportunity to work with the international community to help restore America's image and moral standing in the world.
Now, as his tenure winds down and he looks to cement his foreign-policy legacy, Obama is making a renewed push on both nuclear policy and closing Gitmo. Along the way, an obstructionist Republican-led Congress repeatedly stymied Obama's efforts, as the administration struggled with the logistics of transferring the detainees to their home or third countries.
Looking to repair America's global status, Obama also signed an executive order on his first day in office to close the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay. In the seven years since he first laid out his vision for a "world without nuclear weapons," Obama has had some modest successes-such as the new START treaty and the Iran nuclear deal-but has ultimately made little progress toward his goal of a nuclear-free world. One particularly conspicuous black mark as he prepares to leave office, however, will be his administration's military drone policy, and the perilous precedent it has set. President Obama's foreign-policy record has many strident critics, but all but the most partisan can agree that America's image in the world has markedly improved since he took office in January 2009.
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