Professor Albert Bandura ('Disengaging morality from robotic war', February 2017) offers crucial and provocative insights into the mechanisms of moral disengagement, most notably the psychology of euphemistic language, advantageous comparison, and displacement and diffusion of responsibility. However, he assumes a narrow and illegitimate application of lethal force by American Reaper and Predator drones. There are drone crews in other countries who operate in recognised areas of armed conflict under international humanitarian law, using the same conventional rules of engagement as piloted aircraft, and for whom the high-definition video images involved increase rather than decrease their mental and emotional immersion in events.
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