“In spite of the fact that the United States faces no enemy anywhere in the world capable of opposing it on a battlefield, the Defense budget for 2011 will go up 7.1 percent from current levels. A lot of the new spending will be on drones, America’s latest contribution to western civilization, capable of surveilling large areas on the ground and delivering death from the skies. It is a peculiarly American vision of warfare, with a ‘pilot’ sitting at a desk half a world away and pressing a button that can kill a target far below. … Washington’s embrace of drones as the weapon of choice for international assassination is one major reason why the United States has become the evil empire.” (03/11/10)