Exporting the Downside of War: Election Won't Change Drone Policy

November 06, 2012

by Matt Southworth

Since the US economy is the main issue on the minds of voters this election season, let's talk about Unmanned Arial Vehicles<http://bit.ly/U0Q0WF> strikes - drones strikes - in economic terms.

The use of drones for strikes in places like Yemen and Pakistan seems, to many, a justifiable short term investment. It's less expensive in dollars than Special Forces operations or a full scale deployment and almost all of the human cost - on the US side - is removed. However, this is a very poor, shortsighted investment with huge longer term risk. The likely long term outcome will be great US losses, and, riskiest of all, moral bankruptcy.

The US is hedging its bet on this one by assuming we can kill more extremists than the policy of killing "them" will create. Alarmingly, this increasingly seems to be a policy of choice, as articles appearing in the Wall Street Journal<http://on.wsj.com/RYCqCl>, New York Times<http://nyti.ms/SWt7gt> and Washington Post<http://wapo.st/TRO7pN> in recent weeks indicate.

War at What Cost? A Veteran Perspective

May 23, 2012

This coming fiscal year, the United States is set to spend more than $640 billion dollars on the Pentagon and war, accounting for more than 60 percent of federal domestic spending. In excess of $85 billion of that will be spent on the war in Afghanistan alone.

This unfathomable amount of money was approved by the House of Representatives in the National Defense Authorization Act. These funds will serve to bring suffering and pain to innocent people, further militarize the world and undermine peace and stability for generations to come—all on the backs of those who struggle at home.

In the backdrop of such spending, we’re told that we’re in a financial crisis. Elected officials tell us it is time to make tough choices. There isn’t enough money for programs like “Meals on Wheels” and for ensuring everyone has access to adequate healthcare. Our schools and bridges must wait to be repaired. New roads and schools must remain unconstructed.