Glenn Greenwald shows how the drone strikes in Yemen are leading ordinary people with no previous ax to grind into the hands of violent militants. The usual neocon response is to note that Muslims are going to hate America whether the federal government bombs them or not, etc. Many libertarians respond by noting that Islamic extremism is in the neocons’ imagination, that Islam is a religion of peace, etc. My own view is that just as libertarians were able to oppose the Cold War without wishing away the wickedness of communism, so too can they oppose the absurdities and wickedness of the “war on terror” without pretending there is no problem of Islamic violence.

But when drones are employed in the clumsiest ways, killing far, far more innocents than bad guys, it is ridiculous not to expect this to have consequences.