Kill Chain: The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins by Andrew Cockburn. Andrew is a British journalist and the Washington DC editor of Harper’s Magazine and has written extensively about US military issues.
This book reveals the evolution of drone and air technology warfare. The US military strategy has certainly shifted to developing assassination machines since World War II. In addition, Andrew writes admirably about the US defense industry’s long desire to fight wars after Vietnam with advanced air technology.
The opening chapter documents human error by pilots of a MQ-1 Predator flown during Operation Noble Justice that mistakenly killed several Afghan civilians. Accordingly, Afghanistan President Hamid Kaarzai protested to President Bush.
Indeed, upon review by US military, payments to families of the dead included $5,000. Andrew is revealing this event was simply apart of a long history of hardware and human flaws regarding drone and airborne attacks. From the QH-50C drone to today’s modern Predator, drone technology continues failing to yield results from very lofty ambitions. The long and disappointing development of the Predator is very interesting. Andrew reveals much as political forces, not military or intelligence pushed this drone technology.
In addition, the 2010 leak of a drone footage in Baghdad that killed two Reuters journalists in 2007 were the result of remote pilots mistakenly viewing footage and acting upon false information. Audio statements included the idea that the Reuters journalists were carrying long rifles. Upon review, the two were in fact, carrying digital cameras.