Morality of drone warfare questioned after attack on Iranian general

The tweet early Jan. 3 from Bishop Richard F. Stika of Knoxville, Tennessee, asked for prayers.

It wasn't an unusual request from a church leader. Still, its significance stems from its context and its timing: a few hours after the overnight killing of Iran's top military leader, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad.

"Welcome to the new year!" Stika wrote. "Congress and the President are playing with the emotions of the people of this nation. A divisive election year. North Korea is watching all this and now the assassination of the number 2 man in Iran. Prayers for the world during this time of unrest."

Stika told Catholic News Service Jan. 6 that his tweet reflected a deep concern for uncertainty in today's world, especially as tensions rise between the U.S. and Iran.

"It just seems it could spark something and that it could be very difficult to control the aftermath," he said.

"I think about all of the individuals I have known who have been harshly affect by being in wars. The PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), lost limbs, trauma," the bishop continued. "It concerns me it could be a dangerous thing. The uncertainty of this could blossom into something that could become horrific."

Stika is not alone.

Catholics working to shape public policy in favor of peace, collaboration and nonviolent alternatives to war expressed concerns that the drone strike likely will fuel an escalating tit-for-tat series of responses that would engulf the Middle East in war.

They instead called for a new round of diplomacy to resolve the differences between the two nations and protect innocent civilians, particularly religious minorities.

Among those calling for a diplomatic solution were the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, who Jan. 3 called on the U.S. government to "reject violence and militarism."

"Our position would still be that international cooperation is the only way to be in the world. Violence begets violence," said Jean Stokan, coordinator of nonviolence and immigration of the Sisters of Mercy's Institute Justice Team.

"The problem with these strikes is that drone strikes are expanding war, not limiting war," said Maryann Cusimano Love, associate professor of international relations at The Catholic University of America.

Drone attacks also can "lead to a very short-term mind frame, that you can try to target a particular person without taking those long-term considerations about how this is going to build a positive, sustainable peace and protect the most vulnerable people," she said.

Johnny Zokovitch, executive director of Pax Christi USA, said drone attacks offer "no accountability, no sense of responsibility" in violation of church teaching on war and peace. He said the killing of Soleimani as approved by President Donald Trump "further contributes to the cycle of revenge and innocent men, women and children will suffer."

Under the Catholic Church's long-standing just war teaching, Love explained, an act of war "has to be the right intention, made by public authority, a positive intention to build a positive peace, that the harms from the action won't outweigh the harms that come from the action and there must be protections for civilians."

"All of that is called into question under drone warfare," she said.