The Spectator

Soleimani’s death shows just how easy drone killings have become

It’s no surprise the Ministry of Defence is struggling to recruit and retain drone pilots. The psychological burden of operating these remote-controlled killing machines can be considerable. Although thousands of miles separate the target and the person pulling the trigger, there is no escape from the fundamental point that drone operators – for right or wrong – are tasked with taking a person’s life.

This story is also a reminder that each new era of warfare presents its own unique horrors. In my career as a military lawyer, before my ordination as a priest, I devoted a great deal of thought to the morality of war and questions about the legality of drone strikes.

The battlefield is constantly evolving. In times gone by, crossbows were considered immoral because they enabled a foot soldier to kill a knight at distance. In the First World War, long-range artillery was regarded with suspicion as it allowed targets to be engaged ‘beyond the horizon’.

The Reaper drone, manufactured by General Atomics – renamed Protectors when sold to the UK – are simply the latest manifestation of the future battlefield but, like weapons of old, they are not proscribed in law. The real question for our armed forces is not whether drones themselves are ethical but whether they are being used lawfully. Recent political developments give us little confidence that they are.

In 2015, David Cameron announced a ‘new departure’ for the UK government when it targeted and killed a British citizen and others in a drone strike in Syria. The strike against Reyaad Khan marked the first time the UK had deployed drones in a US-style targeted killing outside an area where parliament had approved military action. In fact, parliament had expressly refused the government permission to strike in Syria.

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