SLIDE 1: INTRO
SLIDE 2: THE DRONE
You are looking at the future of warfare. The MQ-9 reaper drone.
It is high-tech in performance, sleek in appearance, global in reach
It is mysterious, distant, and deadly
…. its message of destruction is in its name: The Predator and The Reaper
SLIDE 3: WEAPON OF CHOICE
In the United States War on Terror , the drone has been the Weapon of Choice.
President Obama has ordered 500 strikes to Bush’s 50.
Largely due to the fact that in America’s costly wars this guy is frugal to the nth degree.
SLIDE 4: THE STRIKE
To the enemy the drone has an aura of divine retribution.
It means death, destruction, deceit, and despair from the Sky.
At 50,000 feet above ground, the modern drone can hover overhead for days,
Little escapes its scrutiny AND it strikes without blinking an eye
SLIDE 5: THE TARGET
The Ground zero of the CIA’s drone program has been WAZIRISTAN
For centuries the tribal people of this region have lived autonomously.
Their love for personal freedom, egalitarianism and a Code of honour and revenge is the stuff of legend.
SLIDE 6: THE PSY WAR
The capacity of the drone to see but not be seen – To deliver death in the most destructive ways and without warning.
Psychologically, it runs opposite to everything a Warrior Tribal stands for.
It is not only dishonourable but also smacks of sacrilege.
To the tribal the drone is appropriating all the powers of God and more.
SLIDE 7: AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE
Juxtapose this with the Americans : The drone frees Americans of any risk.
It can be operated safely and neatly
The pilot can complete work in his office and then go home to take his family bowling.
SLIDE 8: XBOX XPERIENCE
Ignoring the moral debate, drone operators are infatuated with the weapon and the sense of power it gives them.
It leaves them electrified and adrenalized…. almost like playing a modern console war game.
Only that it is real and the people who they observe are most vulnerable in their most private moments.
SLIDE 9: LIVES OF OTHERS
“We watch people for months,” “We know their patterns, we see their children playing, their women doing laundry.
We know them like we know our neighbours. We even go to their weddings and funerals.
Some operators speak of watching people having sex at night through infrared cameras.
SLIDE 10: THE DENIGRATION
Keep in mind the importance Muslim tribal peoples give to notions of modesty and privacy.
But it doesn’t’ end here : the military slang for a successful drone strike is “bug splat.”
Such denigration has been heard before, and as recent history teaches, it never ends well for the abused people.
SLIDE 11: ACCIDENTAL GUERRILLA
So- with absolute disregard to the due process of law – a drone acts as the Judge, Jury and Executioner all at once.
In the deathly shadow of collateral damage born is what we call the Accidental Guerrilla
The code of revenge is reinvigorated like a spell – and strapping himself with dynamite the Guerrilla destroys everything and anything that it comes across.
SLIDE 12: EDUCATE THY SELF
The more damaging aspect of this kind of warfare is that it obliterates the fabric of an ancient civilization.
Tribal communities represent the very foundations of human history.
In the most profound sense, they allow all societies a glimpse of their origins.
Their codes of honour and revenge will lead to escalating global violence.
In the end, may well bring about the destruction of one of the oldest forms of human society.