Using Drones instead of foot Soldiers

I'll keep this one short. Since my opponent has no sources to back up his claims I won't give him the benefit of listing mine either. 1) My opponent focuses on the American lives saved, but admits higher casualties. Why does he suppose an American life is more important than any other race's life? Of course they might become insurgents, but so could anyone else, so by my opponent's logic we should kill the entire planet to wipe out insurgency. Further, my opponent fails to relize that one can conceal the entrance to an underground lair, thus thwarting the visual sensors of the drones. My opponent will never win the war on terror by this plan - if civilians become more bombed, more people hate United States, more people join Al Qaeda, simple as that! And you won't even be able to kill Al Qaeda because Al Qaeda knows where to hide, so really you'll just be doing free recruitment for Al Qaeda at a higher cost than it would to get rid of them, as foot soldiers have a proven history of doing. 2) When a terrorist does a suicide bombing, that is not cowardice, that is the ultimate bravery (or so it is percieved) because one has the courage to take up Jihad against the most powerful nation on Earth. If you do not show bravery in your fight, people in Iraq, Afghanistan etc will become angry at you, quit the army that NATO has created in these places and join the Taliban movement. Also, just to remind my opponent, the four years after the States killed al-Zarqawi were the deadliest for troops from that country, and all the martyr videos said the deaths were retribution for al-Zarqawi's death. Finally, my opponent thinks that by conquering all Al Qaeda territory he will conquer Al Qaeda. Not at all. Al Qaeda is a worldwide network, operating in many countries - from Australia to the United States to Uganda (though luckily not my native New Zealand). Osama himself has stated he is not to be found there, but "amongst the Muslim masses." 3) Every war is preventable. Take this one in Iraq. Solution - don't invade Iraq (who were clearly not more of a security threat than, say, Israel). Or the one in Afghanistan. Solution - stop the weapons trade with Israel (Al Qaeda has stated that if this happens, they will bring their leaders to the negotiating table). I challenge my opponent to cite a single inevitable war. If we could stop the Cold War from heating, we can stop any war. But this wasn't even my point! The United States, regardless of whether they are the strongest nation in the world or not, has no more right to start wars than any other country. This is guaranteed by international treaties that the United States has ratified. Future governments may begin to start wars at a whim if no human risk is involved. I'm sure my opponent can think where this is leading, three superpowers or so conquer Earth and the book "1984" by George Orwell plays out exactly. 4) OK, so we hold the pilots to account, or more accurately, those who failed to give them training in how to recognize the difference between a civilian and a soldier (which is impossible using a drone, meaning any use of a drone should result in prosecution). What difference does it make? It's still illegal. Hiroshima and Nagasaki was before the Geneva convention, which was written after World War 2 to prevent things like Hiroshima or NAZI war crimes from happening again. Like most laws it's not retrospective, so the bomber pilots have immunity. My opponent looks only to saving the lives of Americans whose job it is to put their life on the line for their country. What about innocents in far away lands who only wish to live in peace? Like I said, at least 207 of these people died in an attempt to kill just one Taliban leader using drones. More civilians died in just this one campaign than US soldiers died in all US campaigns over that whole year. If my opponent thinks he knows better than the CIA on piloting drones, I suggest he tries to tell that to them, not me. Drones are prone to failing and crashing, as well as misidentifying targets, not hitting underground targets, recruiting terrorists, proving United States cowardice, breaking the law and promoting a 1984-style world. If drones were people I think the whole world would unanimously call for their death sentence. Actually I should start a chant: "Death to the Drones! Con! Con! Con!"