America Can Wage Remote Warfare, But Can They Do So Successfully?
Remote war is easy to wage, hard to win, and carries hidden moral hazards.
by James Holmes
Here's What You Need to Remember: Remote warfare substitutes technology for military manpower, carrying the Desert Storm philosophy to its utmost.
Over at MIT Technology Review, U.S. Marine Corps infantry veteran and Jarhead author Anthony Swofford declares that that warmaking by remote control constitutes a bad way to make war.
Seconded.
War is a deeply human undertaking. Trying to take human beings out of it is fraught with unintended consequences. I had a similar inkling about the future after Desert Storm, where Swofford and I both deployed. In March 1991, to herald the armistice, a Navy Times headline blared out that the “ghost of Vietnam” had faded in the desert as U.S. expeditionary forces displayed “unrivaled military might.” That was a bold claim. It was also a plaintive way to announce a victory. Why situate a freshly won triumph in the context of a past defeat?
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/america-can-wage-remote-warfare-can-they-do-so-successfully-195878
