ABSTRACT
Building upon the previous chapter's discussion of jus ad bellum issues, this chapter examines whether or how the use of armed drones satisfies the requirements for justice in the conduct of war (jus in bello). The possibility to be considered is that drone technology, as well as unjustly increasing the frequency of war, will also unjustly increase war's harmfulness to its human victims. The analysis focuses on Pakistan where the US Government has used drones most extensively, albeit in an undeclared and unacknowledged campaign, notwithstanding that this very secrecy is a critical factor perpetuating uncertainties regarding the ethical soundness of drone strikes. It is widely reported that individuals in Pakistan are targeted by CIA drone operators in cooperation with the Pakistani Government,1 although the US Government will not confirm such reports.2 However, it is a poorly kept secret when anonymous US intelligence officials are regularly and routinely quoted in the media. Moreover, only the United States has both the capability and the motivation to deploy Predators and Reapers in that part of the world. The CIA has reportedly been operating drones out of at least one Pakistani airbase 200 miles south-west of Quetta in Baluchistan, with Pakistani military support and with Pakistani informants and intelligence officers helping to select targets.3 One unofficial tally indicates that the Agency carried out one drone strike in Pakistan in 2004 and another in 2005, three strikes in 2006, and five in 2007. The drone programme then escalated sharply: from 35 strikes in 2008 (mostly in the second half of the year), to 54 in 2009, to 117 in 2010. The following year saw 64 drone strikes, and in 2012 there were 46.4
