Are U.S drone targeted killings within the confines of the law?

Abstract

Equally discomforting is the PlayStation mentality that surrounds drone killings. Young military personnel raised on a diet of video games now kill real people remotely using joysticks. Far removed from the human consequences of their actions, how will this generation of fighters value the right to life? How will commanders and policy makers keep themselves immune from the deceptively antiseptic nature of drone killings? Will killing be a more attractive option than capture? Will the standards of intelligence gathering justify a killing slip? Will the number of acceptable collateral civilian deaths increase?