What is worse? Locking somebody up for years, without trial, while you try to find proof he is a terrorist? Or killing somebody whose name you don’t even know because his pattern of behaviour suggests to you that he is a terrorist? The first strategy, internment without trial at the Guantánamo Bay prison camp, was a signature policy of the George W. Bush administration. The use of drone strikes to kill suspected terrorists has become a trademark of the Obama administration. Yet while Guantánamo attracted worldwide condemnation, the use of drones is much less discussed.
以下兩種做法哪種更糟？是把一個恐怖主義嫌犯不經審訊羈押數年、同時尋找他是恐怖分子的證據更糟？還是因為一個人的行為模式像恐怖分子、就將這個連名字都不知道的人殺害更糟？第一種做法是小布什(George W. Bush)政府的標志性政策，該政府曾在關塔那摩灣戰俘營(Guantánamo Bay)關押了許多未經審訊的嫌疑犯。而使用無人機殺害恐怖主義嫌犯，已成為奧巴馬(Obama)政府的標志性政策。然而，關塔那摩招致了全世界的譴責，無人機的使用卻鮮有人提及。