A Drone War Is Still War

Guernica by Pablo Picasso. 1937. Oil on canvas. Wikipedia

A Drone War Is Still A War -- Michael Kinsley, Bloomberg

The most famous painting of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica,” commemorates the bombing of the small Spanish town on April 26, 1937, by the German air force, in support of General Francisco Franco’s fascists in the Spanish Civil War. Hard to believe, but this was history’s first extensive bombing of a civilian population.

In his book “Postwar,” the late historian Tony Judt pointed out that more civilians died in World War II, of various causes, than did soldiers. That was not true of World War I or most earlier conflicts.

Guernica was a German dress rehearsal for the London blitz, the destruction of Warsaw, and so on. Soon to come on the Allies’ side were the destruction of Dresden, the firebombing of Tokyo and, of course, the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Today when we think of war, bombing from the sky is one of the first images that come to mind.

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My Comment: Drones are the weapon of choice for the Obama administration in their battle against Al Qaeda and their affiliates .... and with little opposition, this weapon of choice is going to be busy. So yes .... a drone war is still war .... it is (when modified) an effective weapon .... and with the other services developing their own drones .... a weapon that is going to be used even more.