> drones justify terrorism because it's the only available
    > response to fighters from the "other side".

We had similar terrorist attacks before we had drones, read what the likes of Bin Laden said about why 9/11 happened. It's because the infidels are on their homeland, not because they're using some specific technology to attack them.

More generally people resort to terrorism in the face of an overwhelming enemy. The west could relatively easily win the wars they're fighting now in the middle-east with their WWI armies if they were willing to care less about civilian casualties, that's how lopsided the odds are.

    > Thinking we can wage wars without risk to ourselves or our
    > "soldiers" is preposterous.

Drones as a technology would happen regardless of whether or not the armies developing them were concerned about their own soldiers. They're simply the logical next step in technology, e.g. fighter jet development has stalled to some extent not because the technology has reached its limits, but because if you pull more G's than you do now the pilots might die.