Wednesday, July 26, 2017

"Even more disturbing, said Lisa, was the environment of sheer terror that the drones created in small Afghan communities"

Ars:
in more traditional scenarios, planes fly overhead only to drop ordinance. But armed drones can circle overhead for many hours, leaving the people below in constant fear for their lives. She compared the endless circling to walking through town while carrying large machine guns, pointing them at people randomly. It felt to her like a terrorist tactic.

She also said that she'd signed up for the military to work for her country, not for corporations. A big part of the push for drones is coming from military contractors like Raytheon, which stand to profit from the adoption of their machines. Lisa said it became obvious to her while in the military that corporate interests were guiding military decisions.

When she left the military, Lisa got two commendations for her work. One said that she'd affected the lives of more than 100,000 Afghanis with her work, and the other said she'd killed hundreds.