Public opinion about U.S. drone attacks

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The use of drones by the United States military has attracted differing public opinion both within and outside the United States.

Contents

Overview

Drones are used by the military in situations where manned flight is considered too risky or difficult. The United States Air Force has drones that range from small intelligence drones to surveillance drones and large spy planes. The drones are unmanned, but they have a pilot. Trained crew steer the craft through cameras that send back what they see.

The military began using these crafts to strike suspected militants in Pakistan's tribal areas under President George W Bush, but the use of drones has almost doubled since the Obama administration took office.

The year before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, drone funding stood at around $284 million. By the fiscal year 2016, the Pentagon spent close to $3 billion on drones. Since their start 3,900 people have been killed in 422 strikes in Pakistan, where the drones are controlled by the Central Intelligence Agency. The controversy of drones stems from the American people's concern of using advanced technologies to kill an enemy in foreign countries. [1]

Opinion in the United States

The US public has broad, nonpartisan support for drone strikes, likely due to the perception that they limit risk to US troops. [2] Monmouth University Poll on July 25–30, 2013 asked 1,012 adults nationwide the question "How much have you read or heard about the use of unmanned surveillance aircraft, sometimes called drones, by the U.S. military overseas: a great deal, some, just a little, or nothing at all?" 29% replied a great deal, 31% some, 25% just a little and 15% said nothing at all (margin of error of 3.1) The same group of people were asked the question "How confident are you that FEDERAL law enforcement agencies will use drones appropriately: very, somewhat, not too, or not at all confident?" 11% said very confident, 36% somewhat confident, 18% not too confident, 31% not confident at all and 4% unsure (margin of error of 3.1). [3]

In a poll was taken by Fox News in February 2013 with a margin of error of 3, the majority of Democrats, Republicans and Independents approve of the use of drones to kill a suspected foreign terrorist on US soil. They also collectively disapprove of killing a suspected terrorist who is a US citizen on US soil using drones.

The same group of people were asked the question "Do you think the president of the United States, on his own, should be able to authorize the use of deadly force, such as a drone strike, to kill a suspected terrorist who is a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil?" This question was asked while Barack Obama was in office. The public answered by 32% of people saying yes, 63% of people saying no, and 5% of people saying they were unsure (margin of error of 3). [4]

In February 2013, Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind poll conducted a study to measure U.S. public opinion on the use of drones. The study was conducted nationwide, and it asked registered voters whether they "approve or disapprove of the U.S. Military using drones to carry out attacks abroad on people and other targets deemed a threat to the U.S.?" The results showed that three in every four (75%) of voters approved of the U.S. military using drones to carry out attacks, while (13%) disapproved. [5]

Another poll in February 2013 conducted by the Huffington Post was more equivocal: 56% of Americans support using drones to kill "high-level terrorists", 13% support using drones to kill "anyone associated with terrorists", 16% thought no one should be killed with drones, and 15% were not sure. [6]

A 2015 poll conducted by Jacquelyn Schneider and Julia Macdonald for Center for New American Security qualified some of this perceived support for drone strikes by giving respondents a chance to choose between drones, manned, neither platform, or both to conduct air strikes. They found that, while the American public was more likely to support unmanned than manned air strikes by approximately 10-15 percentage points, this support for unmanned was much less pronounced than previous polls suggested. In many cases the U.S. public supported air strikes from both manned and unmanned at similar rates. [7]

International opinion

Outside America, support for drones is far lower. A Pew Research study of 20 countries in 2012 found widespread international opposition to US drone killings. [8] The web aggregator blog 3 Quarks Daily in partnership with the Netherlands-based Dialogue Advisory Group hosted a symposium on drone attacks in 2013. [9]

Germany

In Germany, Ramstein Air Base has been highly controversial due to its importance to the US drone war. German journalists, civil rights activists and opposition politicians have repeatedly asked the German government about its role in US drone attacks. For years, the German government has repeatedly denied any involvement in US drone attacks and claimed to have no knowledge of such activities. [10] [11] In spring 2013, German media first reported that Ramstein Air Base plays a key role in directing US armed drone strikes in African and Middle Eastern countries. [10]

Drone strikes outside of declared war zones are illegal under German and international law, calling in question the legality of Ramstein Air Base. [11] [12] German and American government officials subsequently attempted to downplay Germany's role in the American drone war, though leaked documents have shown that without Ramstein Air Base, US drone strikes in the Middle East and Africa would not be feasible. [11] The Intercept and Der Spiegel published internal documents proving that the German government knew about Ramstein's role from the very beginning, but hid it from the German public and the German parliament. [11]

In 2014, Yemenis filed a lawsuit in the Cologne Administrative Court, holding Germany partly responsible for its role in the drone attacks. [13] One of the Yemenis said: "Without Germany, my brother-in-law and my nephew would still be alive. Without Germany, without Ramstein, the US would not be able to fly drone attacks in Yemen." Andreas Schüller, Head of International Crimes and Legal Accountability at ECCHR stated: "Ramstein is crucial to the US drone war. The German government must put a stop to its use for this - otherwise it will be complicit in the deaths of innocent civilians." [13] [10]

The German government responded, claiming that "whatever US forces are doing in [Ramstein Air Base] are 'independent sovereign actions of a foreign state' that do not require German authorisation or review". Civil rights activists and opposition politicians expressed their disbelief at the German government's answers, which effectively allow the US military in Germany to freely violate German law. [10]

German opposition parties have subsequently accused the government of being "complicit in the US' illegal killings in violation of international law" and that the German government is violating parliamentary checks on its power. [10]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramstein Air Base</span> US Air Force base in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Ramstein Air Base or Ramstein AB is a United States Air Force base in Rhineland-Palatinate, a state in southwestern Germany. It serves as headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) and also for NATO Allied Air Command (AIRCOM). Ramstein is located near the town of Ramstein-Miesenbach, which stands outside the base's west gate, in the rural district of Kaiserslautern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unmanned combat aerial vehicle</span> Unmanned aerial vehicle that is usually armed

An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, colloquially shortened as drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance and carries aircraft ordnance such as missiles, ATGMs, and/or bombs in hardpoints for drone strikes. These drones are usually under real-time human control, with varying levels of autonomy. Unlike unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance aerial vehicles, UCAVs are used for both drone strikes and battlefield intelligence.

Decapitation is a military strategy aimed at removing the leadership or command and control of a hostile government or group. The strategy of shattering or defeating an enemy by eliminating its military and political leadership has long been utilized in warfare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of unmanned combat aerial vehicles</span>

The history of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) is closely tied to the general history of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). While the technology dates back at least as far as the 1940s, common usage in live operations came in the 2000s. UCAVs have now become an important part of modern warfare, including in the Syrian civil war, the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 2008.

On 18 June 2004, the United States under president George W. Bush began drone striking of targets in Federally-Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan as part of the war on terror. They were conducted by the United States Air Force under the Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ibrahim al-Asiri</span> 21st-century member of al-Qaeda

Ibrahim Hassan Tali al-Asiri was a citizen of Saudi Arabia suspected of being chief bomb-maker of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He was reported to have been responsible for making the bombs used by his brother Abdullah al-Asiri in his suicide bombing, the 2009 Christmas Day bomb plot, the 2010 cargo plane bomb plot, and the May 8th 2012 Terror Plot.

The Burraq is an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) jointly developed and built by the National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Targeted killing</span> Removal of enemy combatants by governments against enemy forces.

Targeted killing is a form of assassination carried out by governments outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 2013.

Drone warfare is a form of aerial warfare using unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) or weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The United States, United Kingdom, Israel, China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, France, India, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, and Poland are known to have manufactured operational UCAVs as of 2019. As of 2022, the Ukrainian enterprise Ukroboronprom and NGO group Aerorozvidka have built strike-capable drones and used them in combat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 in aviation</span> List of aviation-related events in 2014

This is a list of aviation-related events from 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drone strikes in Yemen</span> United States drone strikes in Yemen

United States drone strikes in Yemen started after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, when the US military attacked Islamist militant presence in Yemen, in particular Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula using drone warfare.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jordanian intervention in the Syrian civil war</span> Ongoing military conflict between Jordan and the Islamic State

The Jordanian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War began on 22 September 2014, with airstrikes on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets, and escalated after the murder of Muath al-Kasasbeh, a Jordanian pilot who was captured by ISIL when his F-16 Fighter Jet crashed over Syria in early 2015. Though Jordan's strikes in Syria largely tapered off after December 2015, airstrikes have continued through February 2017, and Jordan has continued to support rebel groups in Syria and host military activities of other countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civilian casualties from U.S. drone strikes</span> Overview of civilian casualties from U.S. drone strikes

Since the September 11 attacks, the United States has carried out drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Drone strikes are part of a targeted killing campaign against militants. Determining precise counts of the total number killed, as well as the number of non-combatant civilians killed, is impossible; and tracking of strikes and estimates of casualties are compiled by a number of organizations, such as the Long War Journal, the New America Foundation, and the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism. The "estimates of civilian casualties are hampered methodologically and practically"; civilian casualty estimates "are largely compiled by interpreting news reports relying on anonymous officials or accounts from local media, whose credibility may vary."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unmanned aerial vehicles in the United States military</span> US industry information

As of January 2014, the United States military operates a large number of unmanned aerial vehicles : 7,362 RQ-11 Ravens; 990 AeroVironment Wasp IIIs; 1,137 AeroVironment RQ-20 Pumas; 306 RQ-16 T-Hawk small UAS systems; 246 MQ-1 Predators; MQ-1C Gray Eagles; 126 MQ-9 Reapers; 491 RQ-7 Shadows; and 33 RQ-4 Global Hawk large systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American military intervention in Somalia (2007–present)</span> US military intervention against extremist groups in Somalia

Beginning in the late 2000s, the Federal Government of the United States has supported the Federal Government of Somalia in counterterrorism after the September 11th attacks. The Obama administration and the Trump administration increased their support of the Somali government mostly through strikes by drone and fighter aircraft, advisory missions, training, and the provision of intelligence to target the violent extremists al-Shabaab. Two U.S. special operations personnel, two contractors, one US Army soldier, and a CIA paramilitary officer have died during operations in Somalia.

The 2022 Abu Dhabi attack was a terrorist attack against three oil tanker trucks and an under construction airport extension infrastructure in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates conducted by the Houthi movement using drones and missiles. Although several missiles and drones were intercepted, 3 civilians were killed and 6 were injured by a drone attack.

References

  1. ↑ "Drones: What are they and how do they work?". BBC News. 2012. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
  2. ↑ Horowitz, Michael C. (2020). "Do Emerging Military Technologies Matter for International Politics?". Annual Review of Political Science. 23: 385–400. doi: 10.1146/annurev-polisci-050718-032725 .
  3. ↑ "Crime". www.pollingreport.com. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
  4. ↑ "Terrorism". www.pollingreport.com. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
  5. ↑ Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind, (February 7, 2013). Public says it's illegal to target Americans abroad as some question CIA drone attacks (press release)
  6. ↑ "Drone Program Poll: The Public Does Not Uncritically Embrace Targeted Killings". The Huffington Post. 15 February 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "U.S. Public Support for Drone Strikes: When Do Americans Prefer Unmanned Over Manned Platforms?". Center for a New American Security. 20 September 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  8. ↑ "U.S. Use of Drones, Under New Scrutiny, Has Been Widely Opposed Abroad". Pew Research Center. 6 February 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  9. ↑ Opposing Perspectives on the Drone Debate by Bradley Jay Strawser, Palgrave Macmillan [2014], ISBN   9781137432612
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Biermann, Kai. "Wie die Regierung Parlament und Bürger täuscht". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Scahill, Jeremy (2015-04-17). "Germany is the Tell-Tale Heart of America's Drone War". The Intercept. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  12. ↑ Schüller, Andreas (2020-11-27). "Ramstein und die Drohnen: Völkerrecht wird marginalisiert". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). ISSN   0931-9085 . Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  13. 1 2 "Ramstein vor Gericht: Deutschlands Rolle bei US-Drohnenangriffen". European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (in German). Retrieved 2023-09-23.
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