US retires Predator drones after 15 years that changed the ‘war on terror’ | World news | The Guardian

The idea that  the US might Build a pipeline through Arlington or use a drone strike in Central Park brings home to the colonial nature of these devices.

The retirement of the antiquated Predator drone MQ-1, which is to be withdrawn from service in July and replaced by the more capable MQ-9 Reaper, is giving military analysts an opportunity to review the mixed history of a weapon that has long been associated with low-cost war, a sense of disembodiment from conflict, and for inflicting a high number of civilian casualties.

Source: US retires Predator drones after 15 years that changed the ‘war on terror’ | World news | The Guardian

Drones killing innocent Pakistanis, U.N. official says – CNN.com

Farmers are on their way to tend their crops when a missile slams into their midst, thrusting shrapnel in all directions.

A CIA drone, flying so high that the farmers can’t see it, has killed most of them. None of them were militants.

It’s a common scenario, a United Nations human rights researcher said Friday in a statement on drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal region of North Waziristan.

via Drones killing innocent Pakistanis, U.N. official says – CNN.com.