Recent Posts

Tactically Precise, Strategically Incontinent?

I think the Washington Post gets the right position on the utility and effectiveness of drones in targeted killing — including their limits.  The editorial principally addresses two different things, both raised in John Brennan’s summary statement of the administration’s counterterrorism policy at Harvard Law School a week ago.  The first is the question of whether there is a “legal geography of war,” as I have put it; the administration’s short answer, as is mine and the Post’s, is “no.”  The second is the question of whether drones, just as a strategic matter for the US (meaning, looking solely to US interests, rather than a universal moral or welfare-maximizing policy for everyone, all sides and all civilians), have knock-on bad effects that should put a damper on them. A few days ago I criticized the eminent columnist David Ignatius and his view that the US is “addicted” to drones.  His view is that the “blowback” effects of drone use can easily, and apparently already do, outweigh their utility to the United States, used to the extent we do today and propose to expand into the future — and that is so, he says, even though he concedes that they are indeed more precise and sparing of collateral damage.  I criticized that quite sharply — mostly because he then stops short, without telling us what the alternative is, except to launch fewer or no attacks.  After all, he doesn’t seem to want to urge that we launch attacks with less precise weaponry.  I guess I’d sum up Ignatius’ view — I think this is fair and a characterization he'd agree with, not snark — that he regards drones as tactically precise, strategically incontinent. (Update:  Chris got an excellent discussion of this going on his FB page; one of the comments is posted in the comments below, and I'm going to cut and paste the rest into the comments in the next day, in case anyone wants to follow that discussion or join in.  Thanks to Mark Shulman and Dan Goldfisher for taking time to respond, and I'll move their comments from FB here in the next day.)

Mark Kersten, Guest-Blogging

I am delighted to announce that Mark Kersten will be guest-blogging at Opinio Juris for the next two weeks.  Mark is the founder of the superb blog Justice in Conflict, which I've recommended before.  Here is his bio: Mark Kersten is a PhD student in International Relations at the London School of Economics and author of the blog Justice in Conflict....

News About Drones

There has been a flurry of news reports on drones in the last few days; let me crib from Lawfare’s collection of links:  “The U.S. is building secret drone bases in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Read Tim Mak’s report in the Politico here, the Washington Post’s coverage by Craig Whitlock and Greg Miller here, and the Telegraph’s Mike Pflanz’ story here.”  We can add the WSJ story, too, and video accompanying the story (the WSJ links require subscription).

Oral Argument in U.S.S. Nicholas Piracy Case

[Kevin Walsh is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Richmond School of Law] The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit heard arguments this week in the second of two pirate prosecutions in federal court in Norfolk, Virginia. The first appeal, which the court heard in the spring, has been held up on a procedural issue and...