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May 31, 2012 Tomgram: Nick Turse, Hot Drone-On-Drone Action
[Note for TomDispatch Readers: Today,
you are witnessing the birth of a TomDispatch experiment. Nick Turse
and I are launching Dispatch Books, our own little publishing venture
(and adventure), with our initial e-book, Terminator Planet: The First History of Drone Warfare, 2001-2050. We’ve carefully reworked the original analysis and reporting we’ve been doing on drones for years at this website. It’s a
rich history of the last decade of drone warfare, a clear-eyed look at
its present, and a far-reaching guide to its future. You used to have
to watch science fiction movies to imagine where that future was headed,
now you can read this book -- and know.
Because Amazon now has the capacity to create books remarkably quickly, Dispatch Books is a reality. We think it’s a unique chance for TomDispatch to reach new audiences in different ways. We only hope you agree. If Dispatch Books isn’t to be a one-shot wonder (or the book equivalent of a crash-and-burn drone), we have to sell some copies. We’re hoping that you, the corps of TomDispatch readers, are ready to lend a hand. Our wish is that a surprising number of you will buy Terminator Planet for yourself, give a copy to a friend, and then convince everyone you know who might be interested to pick up a copy as well. Word of mouth remains crucial in our world, especially if, like us, you don’t have the finances or staff to publicize a book in other ways. If you are an Amazon customer and buy the e-book by clicking here, you not only give a lift to our latest venture, but a little contribution to the site as well (since we get a cut of every Amazon purchase at no cost to you). If you’re like me and you still prefer the ancient paper version of the book, you can buy a print-on-demand copy at Amazon’s CreateSpace by clicking here (and then, of course, clicking “add to cart”). We’re hoping the response is a strong one. If so, we’ll release our next book in the fall. If not, we’ll have learned a lesson. One more thing: If you would like a paperback version of the book, personalized and signed by both Nick and me, you can get one for a contribution of $75 (or more) and give a real boost to TomDispatch’s always shaky coffers. Check out the offer at our donation page by clicking here. As part of the launch of Terminator Planet, we’re posting the book’s conclusion today. Tom] It’s now commonly estimated that more than 50 nations have drones, are making plans to develop them, or are at least planning to buy them from those who do produce them. In other words, the future global skies are going to be a busy -- and increasingly dangerous -- place. They will be filled not just with robotic surveillance aircraft, but also with non-U.S. remotely piloted armed assassins which, thanks to the path Washington has blazed, need pay no attention to anyone’s national sovereignty in a search for their version of bad guys to destroy. Iranians, Israelis, Russians, Chinese, Indians, British -- you name it and if they don’t already have something robotic aloft, they undoubtedly will soon enough. And those estimates don’t even include insurgent groups and terrorists, who are undoubtedly giving real thought to how to develop and use the equivalent of suicide drones. Just keep an eye on the news, because those numbers are only going to rise. In fact, just this month they’ve gone up by at least one, thanks to the decision of the Obama administration to sell surveillance drones to the Iraqis (and it is evidently also preparing to arm Italy's six Reaper drones with Hellfire missiles and bombs). Right now, Washington is almost alone in launching drones at will in countries ranging from Yemen to the Philippines, but that won’t last long. Already we know that these wonder weapons, hailed like so many previous wonder weapons as the ultimate answer to a military’s problems, as the only game in town, will kill many, but won’t deliver as promised. Take Pakistan. Last week, among other attacks, a U.S. drone launched two missiles at a bakery in the North Waziristan tribal area, killing (we are assured by ever-anonymous officials) four suspected “foreign” militants “buying goods.” (No information was available on the fate of the baker, of course.) Strange to say, the Pakistani people, or at least 97% of them, haven’t taken as well as Washington might have expected to its urge to launch endless drone attacks on their territory, no matter what they or their parliament might say. Drones, which have certainly killed their share of “bad guys” (and children) in the Pakistani borderlands, have also managed to throw U.S.-Pakistan relations into chaos, caused a surge of anti-Americanism, undoubtedly created future blowback among the relatives of the dead, and have almost singlehandedly made it impossible for the Pakistani government to reopen its borders to supplies for our Afghan War. This, in turn, has helped send the already-exorbitant costs of that war skyrocketing, an immediate form of blowback for the American taxpayer. Like most wonder weapons, drones have proven a distinctly mixed bag for Washington wherever they have been used (though you wouldn’t know it from the press they get), but like most wonder weapons, not delivering ultimate global victory or even victory on local battlefields hasn’t stopped them from proliferating. In search of the perfect solution to impossible-to-win local and global wars, Washington has ensured that drones will proliferate everywhere on what, for all of us, will turn out to be the worst possible terms. Assassination was once a complex, secret, shameful, difficult to arrange, and relatively rare act of state. Now, it’s as normal, easy, and -- amazingly enough -- almost as open as sending a diplomat to another country. Nick Turse, TomDispatch regular and co-author of the new book Terminator Planet: The First History of Drone Warfare, 2001-2050, explores just why the drone has a remarkably dismal future ahead of it and why that won’t stop the dronification of our world for a second. Tom A Drone-Eat-Drone World |
