Military Review English Edition November-December 2015 | Page 81

DRONES, HONOR, AND WAR

home, and the highways and casinos of Las Vegas. Yet,
of a sudden energetic, Egan reminisces: “I miss the fear.
like many contemporary films about the post-9/11 wars, You are up in the sky; something can happen. There’s risk.”
the movie is a study of alienation and anger.
He craves the adrenaline rush and the danger, and he feels
Within the first five minutes of the film, the audinone of this while controlling a drone: “I feel like a coward
ence sees that drones can monitor, and on occasion kill, every day, taking pot shots from half the world away in an
civilians. On repeated occasions, in fact, the drone crew air conditioned cubicle. Worst thing that could happen
is ordered to deploy weapons that will kill both known
to me is carpel tunnel, or spilling coffee on my lap. Most
targets and noncombatants. Even children playing
dangerous thing I do is drive home on the freeway.”
in near by areas. Even people attending burials. Even
whole families, in the middle of the night, while they
Conclusion
sleep. This is shocking to witness, because in American
The use of weaponized drones has elicited nationwar movies, American soldiers are rarely seen killing
al and international criticism. There is concern about
unarmed civilians.25 In Good Kill, the viewer observes
the morality of drone-mediated killings, and critics
civilians being killed, but the victims do not see the
denounce as excessive the collateral damage associated
threat coming, and the perpetrator is immune from
with the use of drones. Some pundits claim that the
attack. The asymmetric relation between the victim
Obama administration is in fact abusing its power. There
and victimizer is highlighted.
is a fear of surveillance and of creating and allowing a
Egan is, clearly, increasingly tormented by his role. It is
technology that can watch and kill remotely, both abroad
not so much the killing that disturbs him as it is the method
and, eventually, in the United States itself. The Amerof killing. Talking to the teenage cashier of a liquor store,
ican Civil Liberties Union, for instance, has litigated
he says, “I blew away six Taliban, in Pakistan, just today.
numerous lawsuits on the American use of drones, and
Now I’m going home to a barbecue.”26 He internalizes his
it lobbies for increasing the accountability and transparanger and withdraws from his wife, who remarks that he
ency of the drone program. The specter of technology
always seems “miles away.” In a heated discussion with her, overpowering the human can be terrifying, and it precipEgan reflects on this: “I am a pilot, and I’m not flying. I
itates questions about morality, war, and killing.
don’t know what it is that I am doing, but it’s not flying.”
Is drone warfare intrinsically morally apprehensiWhile flying is deemed honorable, operating a drone is
ble? No, because it minimizes risk for the attacker and
imagined as cowardly. In
the city of replicas that only
mirror the originals, Egan
is imagined as fake pilot
“flying” only in name.
Egan is not a pacifist,
and it is not war in general,
nor the post 9/11 wars,
that he opposes. In fact, he
desperately misses flying
and repeatedly begs for the
chance to return to a war
zone. In a dream sequence,
images of fighter planes are
romanticized much as they
are in the film Top Gun.27
Flying is conceived as
(Photo by Mohammad Hussain, Associated Press)
American citizens hold a banner during a peace march organized by the party of Pakistan's cricket star
exciting, fun, and dangerturned politician Imran Khan (not pictured) in Tank, Pakistan, 7 October 2012. The Pakistani military
ous. Exhilarated with his
blocked a convoy carrying thousands of Pakistanis and a small contingent of U.S. anti-war activists from
memories of flying, and all
entering a lawless tribal region along the border with Afghanistan to protest U.S. drone strikes.
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