‘Drones have changed everything’
Daniel Nelson
Are US drone attacks the effective use of a new weapon or cowardly, illegal acts that may prove counterproductive and lead to a permanent state of war?
A new documentary, Drone, is in no doubt where it stands: that the drone campaign is a crime likely to reap a deadly harvest – and it makes its case with quiet authority, piling up evidence through telling soundbites and articulate and moving interviews backed up by powerful newsreel footage.
If that makes the film sound dull, think again. It’s gripping as well as thought-provoking. Every few seconds comes another memorable soundbite:
· * We’re no longer warriors, we’re murderers for the state
· * Tell me how we’re winning, when every time we kill four [potential tourists], we create 10?
· * When rescuers come, there’s another drone attack – the CIA is bombing the rescuers
· * The US is a national security state whose raison d'être [ultimate purpose] is war
· * There has never been any technology of warfare that is not ultimately adopted by your enemy or enemies … It is only a matter of time before we have a drone that isn’t ours over New York City looking down on Manhattan
· * If [drone pilots troubled by the killing] saw a chaplain we were told ‘It’s part of God’s plan’
· * War is an unbelievably profitable business
· * If you get an al-Quaeda guy, isn’t it worth just about any cost?
· * We’re getting orders to take these people’s lives. It was just point and click
· * The military has invested in creating video games that they are using as recruiting agents
· * The US, the traditional upholder of human rights, is violating the most fundamental right of all – the right to life
· * Those who are ok with the US wielding this authority have to ask themselves what their response would be if Russia, China, Iran claimed the authority to target and kill enemies of the state without identifying who they are, what standards apply, what factual basis there is, what civilian casualties occur. This is a precedent we are setting for others to follow
· * The drones have changed everything
The film takes a fairly conventional documentary approach that doesn’t recourse to current fads such as perky animations that always reek of desperation by film-makers who have lost confidence in their ability to hold the public’s attention through 90 minutes of a serious, complex topic.
Its power comes from the way the interviews are cut and interwoven and the way different aspects of the drone war are illustrated: the impact on several haunted pilots (“I didn’t understand what it meant to kill at first. It was horrible.”) and on bewildered, powerless survivors; the self-righteous politicians and their officials; the activists and lawyers; the recruitment of young pilots at giant gaming conventions and the moral stance of engineers behind the technology (“The business started in the 1990s to help fishermen find tuna. We sold zero”).
You may be left unconvinced, perhaps thinking, There are ‘bad guys’ out there – what else can we do? Or even agreeing with President Obama that “the US must remain a standard-bearer in the conduct of war. That is what makes us different from those we fight.” You may find some big holes in the areas covered, such as the Pakistan government’s always murky motivations and involvement. But you’ll have to think about the issues raised, particularly about the potentially disastrous long-term effects of what has been called "the biggest targeted killing programme in history”.
Drone
Image by Drone
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+ 9 April, UK Premiere, The Bertha DocHouse Screen, Curzon Bloomsbury, The Brunswick, London, WC1. Info: info@dochouse.org/ http://www.dochouse.org/cinema/screenings/2015/04/02/dochouse-thursdays-drone-qa
+ 10-16 April, Bertha DocHouse Screen, Curzon Bloomsbury, The Brunswick, London WC1N 1AW. Info: info@dochouse.org / http://www.dochouse.org/cinema/screenings/2015/04/10/drone
+ Dochouse: www.dochouse.org | @IntheDocHouse | fb/inthedochouse
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