Movie Review - EYE IN THE SKY

EYE IN THE SKY is a film is about government and military personnel facing the legal and ethical dilemmas presented by drone warfare.  Although it is a work of fiction is provides an interesting picture of the technology employed against terrorists.  It also illustrates the psychology of the modern military and bureaucratic paralysis.  A drone strike is almost aborted because a young girl may be killed.  This is a stark contrast to 70 years ago when thousands of young girls were destroyed in such places as Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.  No one in a position of authority wants to make a decision even though saving the life of this young girl could result in significantly more damage if the suicide bombers are allowed to proceed.  

The bureaucratic paralysis brings to mind Alexander I. Solzhenitsyn’s statement on the decline In courage, “A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, in each government, in each political party, and, of course, in the United Nations. Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elites, causing an impression of a loss of courage by the entire society. There are many courageous individuals, but they have no determining influence on public life.” 

Weakness and indecision invite attack.  We live in a dangerous world.  Is spite of Loretta Lynch's belief that love is the answer, people respond to other stimuli.  An example took place in 1985 when four attaches from the Soviet Embassy were kidnapped in Beirut by Muslim extremists.  The Islamic Liberation Organization sent a list of demands to the Soviets and threatened to kill the hostages.  Two days after the kidnapping, the body of one of the four was found, shot in the head.  Less than four weeks later the remaining hostages were released.   The KGB kidnapped a man  who was a close relative of one of the hostages takers.   They then castrated him and sent the severed organs to the extremist official.