Anybody concerned about the possible spread of drone warfare outside the core theaters of Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan, or about drones generally, will want to consult the review article by Christian Caryl in the Sept. 29 issue of the New York Review of Books.
Two noteworthy points: on the positive side of the ledger, because of the drone’s prodigious surveillance capabilities, drone “pilots” often are more acutely aware of collateral damage and civilian casualties than traditional pilots. (That’s one reason they also suffer from battle stress.)
On the negative side, like nuclear weapons, drones will not remain a U.S. monopoly for long.