GrÉgoire Chamayou of the Drone A Theory Military History / Current Affairs / Philosophy $26.95 U.S. A Theory of the Drone IN THE UNITED STATES, DRONE WARFARE has raised profound ethical and constitutional questions, both in GrÉgoire Chamayou the halls of Congress and among the public more generally. Not since debates over nuclear warfare has American military strat- egy been the subject of discussion in our nation’s living rooms, classrooms, and churches. Yet as this urgent and incisive new book shows, the full implications of drones have barely been addressed in the recent media storm. In a unique take on a subject that has grabbed headlines and is consuming billions of taxpayer dollars each year, scholar Grégoire Chamayou applies the lens of philosophy to our understanding of how drones are changing our world. For the first time in history, he argues, a state has claimed the right to make war across a mobile battlefield that potentially spans the globe. Remote-control flying weapons, he argues, take us well beyond even George W. Bush’s jus- tification for the war on terror. Drones, Chamayou contends, are the “anti-kamikaze,” remov- ing all risk from war-making and creating a huge gulf between sol- diers and their antagonists. What we are seeing, he says, is a funda- mental transformation of the laws of war that have defined military conflict as between combatants. As more and more drones are launched into battle, war now has the potential to become a realm of secretive, targeted assassinations—beyond the view and control not only of potential enemies but also of citizens of the democracies engaged in it. Far more than a simple technology, Chamayou shows, drones are profoundly influencing what it means for a democracy to wage war. A Theory of the Drone will be required reading for all who care about this essential question. www.thenewpress.com Cover design by Josh MacPhee/Antumbradesign.org THE NEW PRESS THE NEW PRESS Advance Praise for A Theory of the Drone “In Chamayou’s razor-sharp telling, drones fundamentally transform the psychic, moral, and physical space and art of killing. But it is his theory of the drone that is even more chilling. It demands that we consider the emergence of a new ethical and political norm of war that is neither war as we know it—nor peace. The ‘principle of immunity for the imperial combatant’ rests on a twisted logic: On the one hand is the achieved capacity of the drone operative (one of many newly installed masters of ‘lethal surveillance’) to move throughout a day between killing fields and coffee breaks, between combat zones and home. On the other hand is the enlisting of a citizenry to accept the ‘moral obligation’ to kill. In this compelling analysis, Amnesty International’s classing of drone strikes as war crimes would be only part of the story. Chamayou’s critical point is that drones alter the very terrain and logic of who deserves to die and implicates us all.” —Ann Stoler, Willy Brandt Distinguished University Professor of Anthropology and Historical Studies at the New School for Social Research Also by Grégoire Chamayou Manhunts: A Philosophical History A THEORY OF THE DRONE Grégoire Chamayou Translated by Janet Lloyd The New Press gratefully acknowledges the Florence Gould Foundation for supporting publication of this book. Copyright © 2013 by La Fabrique Editions, 64 rue Rebeval, 75019 Paris, France English translation copyright © 2015 by The New Press All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form, without written permission from the publisher. Requests for permission to reproduce selections from this book should be mailed to: Permissions Department, The New Press, 120 Wall Street, 31st floor, New York, NY 10005. Originally published in France as Théorie du Drone by La Fabrique Editions, Paris, 2013 Published in the United States by The New Press, New York, 2015 Distributed by Perseus Distribution LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Chamayou, Grégoire. [Théorie du drone. English] A theory of the drone / Grégoire Chamayou ; translated by Janet Lloyd. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-59558-975-0 (hardcover)— ISBN 978-1-59558-976-7 (e-book) 1. Drone aircraft—Moral and ethical aspects. 2. Military ethics. I. Lloyd, Janet, 1934– II. Title. UG479.C53 2013 172'.42—dc23 2014033225 The New Press publishes books that promote and enrich public discussion and understanding of the issues vital to our democracy and to a more equitable world. These books are made possible by the enthusiasm of our readers; the support of a committed group of donors, large and small; the collaboration of our many partners in the independent media and the not-for-profit sector; booksellers, who often hand-sell New Press books; librarians; and above all by our authors. www.thenewpress.com Composition by dix! This book was set in Walbaum MT Printed in the United States of America 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 In memory of Daniel CONTENTS Prelude 1 Introduction 11 I. Techniques and Tactics 1. Methodologies for a Hostile Environment 21 2. The Genealogy of the Predator 26 3. The Theoretical Principles of Manhunting 30 4. Surveillance and Annihilation 37 5. Pattern-of-Life Analysis 46 6. Kill Box 52 7. Counterinsurgency from the Air 60 8. Vulnerabilities 73 II. Ethos and Psyche 9. Drones and Kamikazes 83 10. “That Others May Die” 91 11. A Crisis in Military Ethos 96 12. Psychopathologies of the Drone 106 13. Killing from a Distance 114 III. Necroethics 14. Combatant Immunity 127 15. A Humanitarian Weapon 135 16. Precision 140 IV. The Principles of the Philosophy of the Right to Kill 17. Indelicate Murderers 153 18. Warfare Without Combat 158 19. License to Kill 167 V. Political Bodies 20. In War as in Peace 177 21. Democratic Militarism 185 22. The Essence of Combatants 195 23. The Fabrication of Political Automata 205 Epilogue: On War, from a Distance 223 Notes 229 Index 275 A THEORY OF THE DRONE PRELUDE That night, shortly before dawn rose in the Afghan moun- tains, they had noticed unusual behavior on the ground. PILOT: Can you zoom in a little bit, man, let ’em take a look? SENSOR OPERATOR: At least four in the back of the pickup. PILOT: What about the guy under the north arrow? Does it look like he’s holdin’ something across his chest? SENSOR OPERATOR: Yeah, it’s kind of weird how they all have a cold spot on their chest. PILOT: It’s what they’ve been doing here lately, they wrap their [expletive] up in their man dresses so you can’t PID [positively identify] it. The pilot and the sensor operator scrutinize the scene on a monitor. They wear khaki uniforms with a shoulder badge— an owl with outstretched wings against a red background and flashes of lightning in the talons. Wearing earphones, they are sitting side by side on fake-leather seats. There are warning lights everywhere. But this place is unlike an ordi- nary cockpit. They are shadowing something thousands of miles away. Images of vehicles, captured in Afghanistan, are relayed by satellite to Creech Air Force Base, not far from Indian 1 2 PRELUDE Springs, Nevada. In the 1950s, this was where the Ameri- can nuclear tests were carried out. The atomic mushroom cloud rising in the distance could be seen from Las Vegas. Today, drivers on Highway 95 regularly catch sight of other shapes above their heads: oblongs with rounded heads, like fat, white blind larvae. Creech AFB is the cradle of the U.S. Air Force fleet of drones. The soldiers call it “the home of the hunters.” But the antiwar organization CODEPINK calls it “a place of dis- belief, confusion and sadness.” 1 The work here is extremely boring. Men pass whole nights watching a screen on which, for the most part, appear un- changing images of another desert on the other side of the planet. Eating Doritos and M&Ms, they wait for something to happen: “months of monotony and milliseconds of mayhem.” 2 In the morning another team will come to take over the controls of the apparatus. The pilot and sensor operator will return to the steering wheels of their SUVs, which will take them back to their wives and children in a peaceful residen- tial suburb of Las Vegas, forty-five minutes away. The passengers traveling in three vehicles that, a few hours ago, left their little village in the province of Daikundi have no idea that for quite some time now, dozens of eyes have been watching them. Among those invisible spectators are not only the pilot and sensor operator but also a mission intelligence coordinator, a safety observer, a team of video analysts, and a ground force commander, the last of whom will eventually give the go-ahead for an aerial strike. This network of eyes remains in constant communication with one another. And on this night of February 20, 2010, their conversation is, as usual, recorded: 00:45 GMT (05:15 in Afghanistan) PILOT: Is that a [expletive] rifle? PRELUDE 3 SENSOR OPERATOR: Maybe just a warm spot from where he was sitting. Can’t really tell right now, but it does look like an object. PILOT: I was hoping we could make a rifle out, never mind. 01:05 SENSOR OPERATOR: That truck would make a beautiful tar- get. OK, that’s a Chevy Suburban. PILOT: Yeah. SENSOR OPERATOR: Yeah. 01:07 MISSION INTELLIGENCE COORDINATOR: Screener said at least one child near SUV. SENSOR OPERATOR: Bull [expletive] .