Probably everyone understands that the CIA, which flies our drones, is not a police force that we send out to
arrest people for the crimes they might have committed in the past. That
is a strange thought--that we would send out the CIA to arrest criminals and
bring them back for trial. That is a job for the police, right?
After 9/11 we did not send the police to arrest bin Laden. No one even suggested it. You don't send the police to fight a war, not even this new odd kind of war.
When our government sends out CIA drones, the mission is to stop
an attack on the the United States or its allies. This claim came up in the recent Senate hearings. In a conflict with al Qaida or the Taliban, to
talk about police, arrests and trials puts you (as Wittgenstein might say) in the
wrong language game or discourse.
Progressives can still oppose the drone method of
stopping attacks, of course. But stopping al Qaida attacks is apt to remain politically popular.
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