Is the Use of Unmanned Drones Ethical (Pro Argument)

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Is the Use of Unmanned Drones (Predators) Ethical? Pro Argument BCOM/275 December 21, 2012 When asked are unmanned drones such as the predator ethical, one may have mixed emotions. Reviewing the number of casualties of the United States and Coalitions since the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001, one would find they number 3,238 in Afghanistan and 4,802 in Iraq, totaling 8,042 casualties of war as of December 21, 2012. In addition to these casualties, there have been 18,154 wounded in Afghanistan and 32, 220 wounded in Iraq, bringing the total wounded in just these two places to 50,364. Do the math, that makes 58,406 wounded or killed in Afghanistan and Iraq since September 11, 2001 (Cable News Network, 2012). This makes an average of 5,310 per year. Not all casualties or injuries of war could be avoided by the use of unmanned drones (Predators), but some can. Predators can perform multiple missions at once while staying aloft for as long as 36 hours and are controlled by people a safe distance away. They are capable of performing intelligence missions of identifying chemical or biological agents used for weapons of mass destruction. Surveillance missions of relaying black and white photos of terrain and areas otherwise unknown to military officials can also be performed by Predators. In addition to these types of missions, Predators can be used for combat search and rescue missions and humanitarian missions. According to S. Ashley (1996) in a Mechanical Engineering article, “Drones could also be used for humanitarian missions: searching for boat wrecks or airplane crash survivors, tracking floods and forest fires, or serving as a communications relay platform as a “cell in the sky,” above disaster areas.” Predators can reach otherwise impenetrable areas of landscape, such as the mountainous terrain of the Middle East. Using Predators for

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