UC Irvine

How is language tactically used to legitimize violence? How are political and religious discourses also essential components of warfare? This article initiates a study of the use of language by examining the intertwined, discursive, and imperceptible narratives surrounding the United States’ covert drone war. Drawing on internal United States government documents and speeches, as well as a unique dataset of Islamic terrorist propaganda, the paper argues first, that the Western rhetoric of targeted killing is a language of technological precision. This language has the intended effect of rendering those killed by drones invisible. Second, the paper demonstrates through a rigorous qualitative analysis of fifty-four radical Islamic terrorist propaganda e-magazines, that this narrative framework has failed. Terrorist organizations have drawn upon, re-framed, and directly undermined the United States’ framing of the drone program in much of their writing. What this demonstrates is that these terrorist organizations have capitalized on the “strain” of drone strikes, and used them as robust sites of radicalization. Considering the ongoing use of armed drones by the United States government, this is an important finding and cause for reconsidering the role drones play in violent conflicts.