To the Editor:

Re “The Case for Drones” (Sunday Review, Feb. 21):

Gen. Michael V. Hayden writes that the bottom line about drone warfare is that “it works.” However, in reaching this conclusion he fails to reckon with the very real concerns raised by a global targeted killing program carried out according to secret rules and with no real accountability. Nor does he deal with the long-term security risks and consequences this poses to the United States and to the global system.

If one nation claims for itself the power to eliminate people considered a threat wherever they are, others will feel free to take similar actions. General Hayden admits a few strike errors, but does not address the repeated, well-documented reports of numerous civilian casualties. In essence, he says trust us, we are fixing the teething problems that such programs always have, while he ignores the real problems of having such a program in the first place.

CHRISTOF HEYNS

Pretoria, South Africa

The writer is the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and a law professor at the University of Pretoria.

To the Editor:

I have lived the reality of drone warfare. In 2012, drones attacked the wedding celebration in Yemen of my eldest son. I survived; two of my relatives did not. My brother-in-law Salem was an imam. Days before his death he preached against Al Qaeda’s hateful ideology, as he had many times before. My nephew Waleed was the village policeman, keeping our townspeople safe.