IF NOT DRONES, WHAT?

There are those who seem to be opposed to our use of drones.  One reason is because of collateral deaths and injuries that occur in some/many cases.  It is said that our use of drones turn people against us.  But if we used fighter bombers or helicopter gunships would we really have fewer collateral deaths and injuries?  And what if one or more of the fighter bombers or helicopter gunships was shot down.  Is it more moral if some of our troops die?

So would "boots on the ground" be any better?  Sometimes a troop goes berserk and just kills people or the wrong people are killed.  And then there are the children who are left behind who because of their mixed heritage are not accepted by the local communities.  The mothers perhaps become religious outcasts.  Would any of  these really make us any friends.

Or should we do nothing and let those who wish us ill just plan their attacks against us.  Would the local communities stop the attacks against us planned by terrorists ?  Would these people in foreign lands housing terrorists like us any better?

As to the domestic use of attack drones, I would hate to see their use outlawed.  Take the recent case of Christopher Dorner, the fired policeman in California who ended up killing three people and, in the man hunt, shot two policeman, killing one of them .*    Dorner refused to surrender, vowed to take down as many policeman as he could and eventually died in a fire, but took his own life first.  Wouldn't it have been better to have taken him out with a drone, rather than risking the lives of so many police?

* http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/16/dorner-manhunt_n_2701064.html