Monday, August 6, 2012

Charlottesville Op-Ed: Drone Users "Playing God"?

In an opinion piece published August 5, in the Charlottesville Daily Progress, U.S. Army veteran and peace activist Evan Knappenberger said, "it is obvious to me that the allure of drones is that of playing God: the promise of omniscience and the lust of being able to hurl thunderbolts at anything and everything."

Knappenberger emphasizes the trauma associated with attacks -- such as those carried out by drones -- and makes the connection to the 9/11 attacks. "Are U.S. drone attacks, most of which are carried out from offices in Nevada and Northern Virginia, not the very embodiment of the terror which was inflicted upon the New Yorkers in 2001?" he asks.

Knappenberger is an Iraq war veteran and board member of the Charlottesville Center for Peace & Justice, as well as acting president of Veterans for Peace Chapter 962, Charlottesville. In his article, Knappenberger refers to the "RQ-7 Shadow unmanned aerial vehicle [drone] that haunted a year of my life in Taji, Iraq." (Read more about DoD basing plans for RQ-7 Shadow at Fort Pickett and Fort AP Hill in Virginia.)

For full article, see "The ethical problem that drone warfare poses" in The Daily Progress.

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