Joey Ippolito Post #2

More than anything else, the emotional disconnect inherently part of any drone strike should be the primary focus of any discussions regarding their viability and morality. As described in the "Don't Fear the Reaper" article, the fact that operators aren't part of traditional military units that receive a debriefing, instead going home to their regular (possibly civilian lives) after a strike, complicates the already difficult situation. This is illustrated by the situation Ender finds himself in at the end of the film. Thinking his fight against the aliens was merely a simulation, or game, he became emotionally detached form the situation, making it easy for him to eradicate an entire planet's worth of the enemy aliens.
This sequence represents the issues faced by both drone operators and those who make the decisions on who to kill. Often separated by hundreds of miles, and knowing only basic information about terrorist targets, drone operators and decision makers don't have the same emotional investment in their mission that professional military members might. This detachment is not a new issue, as there are a myriad of ways to strike an enemy from a distance without having to face consequences.

Thus, the issue lies with how this emotional detachment regarding drone strikes combines with the fact that not all targets are necessarily immediate threats to the U.S. This conundrum was illustrated in the film as Ender points out how the aliens didn't mount a second attack on Earth for 50 years and seemed to be in a defensive position when the human forces attacked their planet. But, believing it was just a simulation, Ender attacked and eliminated the alien forces. This is similar to how the U.S. approaches terrorist threats in regard to drone strikes. Taking a preemptive strategy, drone strikes kill targets that might not have the capability to be an immediate threat. Instead these strikes are meant to eliminate the possibly of the targets becoming a future threat, much like the rational behind Enders attack.

Instead of focusing on the emotional distance that drones place between the decision makers/operators and the outcome of the drone strikes, and instead focusing on their legality, critics aren't discussing issues unique to drone strikes. Operations in foreign countries the U.S. has been at peace with have been going on for decades. Drone strikes in this regard are just a different way of carrying out a SEAL operation. The concern critics have with drone strikes should revolve around how easy they make it to kill from a moral perspective as opposed to the legality of their operation.