The AP article in the Iowa City Press-Citizen on Saturday, March 30th, “Drones Fall in Cross Hairs Amid Privacy Concerns,” addresses the issues surrounding domestic use of drones. It contrasts domestic drones with “the killing machines whose missiles incinerate terrorists abroad.”  This remark, presented as a matter of fact, is, as a matter of fact, false and misleading. Our weaponized drone strikes in Pakistan, a country with whom we are not at war, have killed at least 3000 people. Only 2% of those “incinerated” have been identified as leaders of terrorism. Hundreds of children and hundreds of other innocent civilians have been killed.

Our use of weaponized drones is illegal, immoral and counter-productive. It creates much more enmity to the US than it extinguishes. Now,  it becomes an even more poignant issue for Iowans. The introduction of a Reaper drone-control unit is underway in Des Moines, as part of the Iowa Air National Guard. The unit will pilot armed Reapers and pull the trigger on suspects thousands of miles away. This, according to Gil Landolt, president of Veterans for Peace in Des Moines, puts Iowa at risk of becoming a Killing Field rather than a Field of Dreams.

The thought of Iowa as a battlefield is sobering. Yes, the thought of Iowa being a target of armed drones from other countries is no longer fantasy. More importantly,  in my opinion, is the moral hazard of allowing, without protest, the introduction of killing by drones into our state.