&gt; Motive is the big reason. It&#x27;s not like America is killing people for (...) some petty economic gain.<p>Is that so? And what do you base that idea on? [ed: I see a more charitable reading of your statement is possible - I do not believe it is for <i>petty</i> economic gain no. More like deciding the future of the world economy and access to&#x2F;control over natural resources.]<p>&gt; (...) drones only work when you have total air supremacy. Any halfway decent airforce can protect against the huge drones America fires missiles from.<p>Very important point. Committing war crimes with drones in Yemen is like shooting fish in a barrel. Except of course for all the dead kids.<p>It&#x27;s perhaps more interesting what kind of precedent this sets for inevitable proxy wars across the Middle East and Africa -- when cruise missiles, drones etc fired by Chinese&#x2F;Russian contractors kill US&#x2F;NATO contractors.