Noah Feldman, Columnist

Reality Check: Drones Aren't Magic

To argue against drone strikes, stop pretending they are distinct from other bombings.

April 24, 2015 at 4:53 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

A bomber by any other name....
Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images

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Every weapons system, from the bow and arrow to the intercontinental ballistic missile, sometimes kills the wrong people. So why has the revelation that a U.S. drone strike accidentally killed two al-Qaeda hostages -- a U.S. citizen and an Italian aid worker -- created such a storm of drone “rethinking”?

Part of the answer is that liberal critics of drone strikes, who’ve questioned their legality, are using the opportunity to repeat and reframe their criticisms. I’ve joined in some of that criticism in the past and stand by it.