Protests focused on drones distract from the real issue of using targeted killings as a counter-terrorism strategy

Over the past decade, the US has carried out hundreds of strikes against terrorist targets using unmanned aerial vehicles, known as drones. The use of these drones has accelerated under the Obama Administration, which has led to growing protests over civilian casualties stemming from their operations. Natalie Allen argues that drones are in fact one of the most effective forms of warfare to prevent civilian casualties, and that whether the war itself is justified is an entirely different matter. She writes that the debate over the use of drones needs to move on from the technology used, towards how the ‘War on Terror’ is being conducted as a whole.