Tracking drones by app

I can imagine ways that Pentagon advisors appealed to President Obama to use drones. These would be clean killings. They would be swift. They would be difficult for critics to verify. Pakistan’s political leadership would be grateful for this surgical removal of troublemakers who live outside the law.

The problem is that the killings themselves are outside the law. At least, that’s how I see them. Mr. Obama is a constitutional scholar who sees it differently.

So these drone killings continue. Now Apple has approved an app, a news feed that tracks every U.S. drone strike. It provides a map and a brief message telling where the drone was dropped, how many people were killed and where they were (in a tent, sleeping beside a car, in two huts, etc.).

No longer are these clean and swift killings a secret. There’s a public record. To download the app, go to metadata+.