A killer above the law?

The UK use of drones to kill “high-value targets” in Afghanistan should have come as no surprise. British troops are fighting in some of the most dangerous and rugged parts of Afghanistan, and drones have great attractions. They are a relatively cheap way of killing people in areas that are otherwise largely inaccessible. The lives of British troops are not put at risk. Remote pilots carry out an apparently clinical operation, with none of the gore and messiness of military combat.

Nor is it surprising that the Ministry of Defence responds to the news with bland assurances that every effort is made to ensure that drones are used in compliance with the laws of war. There are “no reports” of civilian casualties, the ministry adds. If taken at face value, these are heartening assurances. But they also illustrate the heart of the problem: the use of killer drones is shrouded in secrecy, and the accountability mechanisms that apply to regular warfare are simply absent.