Individual Short Film Essay

By: NITHIPORN Chone

(Student ID: 12420044)

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

Violence and TerrorismEA

Professor COONEY Kevin J

Fall 2023

Word Count (Essay only): - 286 words

Submission date: Tuesday 13 February 2024
Final decision in Eye in the sky

Current situation

The initial plan of the mission is to capture the high value Al-Shabaab target in low

hostile territory with the help of Nairobi militant and a drone providing eagle eye peripheral

vision. Mission later was changed to striking the target with AGM-114 Hellfire missile after they

learned that the target was arming two suicide bombers inside the hostile territory. The decision

is delayed due to concern about the collateral damage that could harm passersby.

Ethical Dilemma

The dilemma here is that is it justifiable to do some collateral damage in this case the life

of the little girl to eliminate multiple high-profile targets and potentially saved more lives.

The final decision

As far as I’m able to understand the legality of this operation is kind of already

authorized, even though it is a bit unclear to me. My final decision would be to eliminate the

target immediately. To justify my decision, I understand that the concern of collateral damage

could lead to worsening international relations. I believed that framing the operation as killing

one innocent child to save more innocents is the call. We have seen this being done countless

time in history such as the uses of nuclear weapon against the Japanese in WW2, forcing them to

surrender or in the other example the bombing of Gaza by the Palestine. With background in

military, I believe that protecting your own and your country’s interest should be the priority.

Opportunity such as shown in the film might never occur again or in the future might even have

more collateral damage. As this is a military operation the actor should be more realistic and

pessimistic about the situation.