We Kill Because We Can: From Soldiering to Assassination in the Drone Age

by Laurie Calhoun

Welcome to the Drone Age. Where self-defense has become naked aggression. Where courage has become cowardice. Where black ops have become standard operating procedure. In this remarkable and often shocking book, Laurie Calhoun dissects the moral, psychological, and cultural impact of remote-control killing in the twenty-first century.

Can a drone operator conducting a targeted killing be likened to a mafia hitman? What difference, if any, is there between the Trayvon Martin case and the drone killing of a teen in Yemen?

We Kill Because We Can takes a scalpel to the dark heart of Western foreign policy in order to answer these and many other troubling questions.

Genres: War, Nonfiction

416 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2015

About the author

Laurie Calhoun, a philosopher and cultural critic, is the author of Questioning the COVID Company Line: Critical Thinking in Hysterical Times (new in 2023), Theodicy: a metaphilosophical investigation; You Can Leave; We Kill Because We Can: From Soldiering to Assassination in the Drone Age; War and Delusion: A Critical Examination, Philosophy Unmasked: A Skeptic's Critique, and Laminated Souls (new in 2022).

The Drone Deception and The Tyrant's Secret are both forthcoming.

¨Et tout le reste est littérature.¨

Listen to audiobook samples:
https://www.audible.com/author/Laurie...

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I had more time to write about this book. It's an important book, and there's so much to discuss from it. You read this book, and you will certainly not look at your country the same way again.

I'm not a person that believes that we shouldn't have a strong military, nor am I someone who believes we should never go to war. And I don't necessarily have a problem with the existence of drones and our use of them in a just war. But I am someone who believes that the American people don't think deeply about the use of military force. It is that lack of deep thought that has allowed us to inappropriately use both our military and drone technology in lands far and away.

9/11 was an incredibly heinous act, but the question becomes does an equally heinous action, in this case the execution of "enemy combatants" with little evidence become an acceptable response. This author makes a resounding argument that it is not.

One of my favorite aspects of this book is that this author is intellectually consistent. Bush was wrong, and so is Obama. They're both essentially killers. And yes, I'm fully comfortable with the use of that terminology in reference to these two monsters that have occupied the White House for the last 15 years of my life.

America was once a force for good. I no longer believe we have the right to say that we are based upon our continued use of this military technology.

And please, save me the nonsense about needing to be protected. Years of drone executions have done nothing but increase the risk of terrorist attacks in this country and abroad. We are certainly not safer.

We need more books like this, but more importantly, we need more open-minded people to sit down and read them. Unfortunately we're short on both of those items.

[Jared Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book in 2016, and I am only now getting around to posting a review in Goodreads. The following is from my Amazon review. Laurie Calhoun has produced a compelling case against the use of drones in the so-called Global War on Terror (GWOT). The book is well researched and includes many footnotes which the skeptic may use to research her claims. Calhoun refutes the popular propaganda that drones are effective in stopping terrorism, that "collateral damage" is a rare but necessary evil, that drone strikes save money. She makes a strong argument that drone "warfare" is closer in nature to illegal assassinations. The primarily difference is that in latter case, a hired assassin risks his own life and liberty to murder a target; this act is veiled in secrecy and illegal, although usually only the assassin and the target are at any risk. In the former case, there is absolutely no risk to the life or liberty of the drone operator; this act is carried out (relatively) and is legal, although the intelligence used to target terrorist suspects bis rather unreliable and anyone (guilty or not) within a certain radius will probably die as well. Potentially high numbers of innocent victims are redefined by the US government as enemy combatants, provided they are males aged approximately 16-50 (drones don't check I.D., of course), who happen to live in "hostile" regions. Most targets are unarmed and unaware they are being targeted until they are ripped to shreds by Hellfire missiles. In most cases, not even their names are known. Many drone attacks take place in countries the US and allies are not even at war with, such as Pakistan and Yemen. I advise everyone to research the truth behind the State funded lies regarding drone warfare, and this book is an excellent place to start.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers a very interesting account of the moral debate that is on-going due to the increasing use of armed unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to kill people in various countries as part of the Global War on Terror. I will definitely look further into this topic and its implications on the basis of this short insight into the murky waters this technology has created. Particularly interesting elements were the discussion of the conservative nature of institutions and their confirmation bias, as well as the effect the work of remote killing has on the drone operators. Additionally, the book offers a good summary of the weaknesses of the "just war" theory when applied to modern times and the use of drones.

The only negative aspects of this book were for me, on the one hand, that it appeared a bit repetitive with regard to arguments and criticism; however, this style did ensure that certain aspects stuck in my head. On the other hand, the author seemed to employ a simplifying black-and-white perspective when discussing some elements which made me think that there is probably more to it than that.

Overall, "We Kill Because We Can" is a good introduction into the problematic aspects of drone warfare from a moral and political standpoint.

[alisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

a necessary, deeply researched, and nuanced account of the ethics of drone warfare, western military imperialism, and international law.

whilst this book mainly focuses on the war on terror era under george w. bush, and the obama administration, this book is extremely timely, and even more necessary today, as we witness greater deaths caused by drones in the middle east and non-western countries as we speak.

i found a lot of parts repetitive, and most information wasn’t exactly new to me, but i think the author has done a great job in expertly describing the various intricacies and broad arguments that are present in this topic, whilst simultaneously interrogating the rationales of the necessity of drone strikes, as well as those who are responsible for them. such an important read that dismantles the notion of conflict and killing by remote control.

[Dever · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting perspective on the use of drones and how it’s changed warfare. I thought her points about how drones and the language of war are used for things that in the past would have been issues for the legal system was interesting. It was a bit repetitive at times though

[T. Fowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Calhoun explores in great detail the problems related to the US policy of using drones for killing suspected insurgents. It's a very important issue but it was not really on my radar up to now. I knew that drones were being used more and more, but pretty well ignored the practice until now. But I now have to agree with most of what Calhoun argues - that targeted killing is fundamentally contrary to laws of any country, including the US, and this has been treated by US political leaders with reckless abandon and without sufficient serious thought. The extent of this practice may mark the breakdown of the conventions that have managed to keep warfare within reasonable bounds, as it is only a matter of time before other opposing forces begin using this new weapon in such an unrestricted way, following the example set by the US. It seems that the group that will suffer the most in this coming era with be unarmed civilians, as shown by the casualties already inflicted in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the Geneva Conventions which sought to protect civilians becoming increasingly sidelined.

My main objection to the book is the style of writing. Calhoun, described as a philosopher and cultural critic, carefully seeks to refute all the arguments for using drones in an almost academic style. I think she succeeded early in the text, but she continues to attack all aspects of the issue for many pages and this seems to get repetitious.