Try the political quiz
@ISIDEWITHQuestionsForeign policyStarted 13yrs agoActive 2 days ago

Should the military fly drones over foreign countries to gain intelligence and kill suspected terrorists?

Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles deployed by U.S. defense and intelligence agencies to collect data and strike suspected enemy targets. The first known U.S. strike was the 2002 killing of al-Qaeda operative Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi in Yemen. Between 2022 and 2020 the U.S. killed between 9,000 and 18,000 enemy combatants and 900-2200 civilians with drone strikes. Opponents of drone strikes have long contended strikes that kill civilians essentially serve as a recruiting poster for terrorist groups. In 2010, a man named Faisal Shahzad tried and failed to bomb Times Square in New York City. Later, Shahzad cited US drone strikes as his motivation for the failed bombing. Proponents of drone strikes argue that they can kill high value w=enemy targets without putting soldiers into combat.

+
Expand
+ Settings x  New Mexico

Toggle voterbase

Statistics are shown for this demographic

Answer Overview

Response rates from 2.1k New Mexico voters.

64%
Yes
36%
No
53%
Yes
24%
No
9%
Yes, but only with permission from the country in question
9%
No, only to gather intelligence, not to kill suspected terrorists
2%
Yes, the U.S. needs to use all means necessary to combat terrorism
4%
No, the military has no right to do so without a Congressional declaration of war

Historical Support

Trend of support over time for each answer from 2.1k New Mexico voters.

Loading data...

Loading chart... 

Historical Importance

Trend of how important this issue is for 2.1k New Mexico voters.

Loading data...

Loading chart... 

Other Popular Answers

Unique answers from New Mexico voters whose views went beyond the provided options.

 @8JCJLWV from Texas  answered…6yrs6Y

Yes but ideally with permission from the country in question.

 @9HB5MKV from North Carolina  answered…3yrs3Y

Absolutely to gather intelligence. Assassinations should be reserved solely for confirmed terrorists with proof that they have or will attack our nation or an ally

 @5923DDKfrom Colorado  answered…6yrs6Y

We are killing innocents. We are destroying hospitals by mistake. Sometimes I think about the panic our citizenry would fly into if other nations started using killer drones on us. We would be outraged. And yet here we are, doing this very thing to them.

 @9GK257P from North Carolina  answered…3yrs3Y

Absolutely to gather intelligence. Assassination should be reserved for undeniably confirmed terrorists

 @9F4MSCF from Arizona  answered…3yrs3Y

No, this is a violation of these country’s sovereignty as well as a violation of international law.

 @9GN5KWP from North Carolina  answered…3yrs3Y

Absolutely to gather intelligence, but assassinations should be permitted only for confirmed, not simply suspected, terrorists

 @BCTS26Q from Georgia  answered…1mo1MO

No, this is an invasion of other countries, and the military has no right to do so.

 @BBRDTVP from South Carolina  answered…3mos3MO

We should be able to gather intelligence but should not conduct military action without host country permission or if there's undeniable evidence of an imminent and direct threat to the US or it's citizens.

Latest News

Stay up-to-date on the most recent “Drones” news articles, updated frequently.

Popular Conversations

Join in on the most popular conversations.

 @ISIDEWITH submitted…2yrs2Y

Trump's Deportation Storm: America Braces for Mass Exodus of Immigrants

For months, immigration advocates have been planning for the possibility of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Now, their worst fears have arrived.Immigrants’ rights groups have spent the last year preparing for a second Trump term and an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system, analyzing Trump’s proposals, drafting legal briefs, coordinating messaging and organizing aid for immigrants and asylum seekers. They responded to Trump’s victory with alarm and vowed to put up a fight, setting the stage for four more years of contentious court battles with his administration.Some are already preparing to push current leadership at the Department of Homeland Security to take steps to stymie the incoming Trump team, particularly on immigrant detention and the use of AI in enforcement.“We should expect to see the devastation of immigrant communities all over the country. We should expect to see family separation,” said Kica Matos, the president of the National Immigration Law Center. “It is entirely possible that he will try to use the military to carry out deportations, so that means that Americans all over the country will see the military engaging in enforcement against civilian populations, which is horrifying.”Trump, after winning a historic victory on a platform of turbo-charged immigration enforcement, has said he will conduct mass deportations at a scale never before seen. Immigrant advocates have warned this would be expensive and inhumane, separating families and wrecking communities. The president-elect has also vowed to build huge detention camps, hire thousands more border agents, funnel military spending toward border security and invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expel suspected members of drug cartels and criminal gangs without court hearings.He has also said he would end “catch-and-release” — allowing migrants to remain free, often with monitoring, while they await immigration court hearings — and restore a policy from his first term requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are processed. And he has dodged questions about whether he would try to bring back family separation.

▲  4333 replies