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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmerica's Drone Sickness...
http://www.salon.com/2012/04/19/americas_drone_sickness/There are many evils in the world, but extinguishing peoples lives with targeted, extra-judicial killings, when you dont even know their names, based on patterns of behavior judged from thousands of miles away, definitely ranks high on the list. Although the Obama White House has not approved of this request from CIA Director David Petraeus, these so-called signature strikes that allow the agency to hit targets based solely on intelligence indicating patterns of suspicious behavior are already robustly used in Pakistan having been started by George Bush in 2008 and aggressively escalated by Barack Obama. There is much to say on this new report, but in order for me to focus on three discrete points, permit me to highly recommend two superb articles that highlight other vital aspects of this policy: (1) this article from my Salon colleague Jefferson Morley this morning on why this form of drone-targeting is pure American Terrorism, and (2) this essay from Chris Floyd about a recently published Rolling Stone article by Michael Hastings on Obamas love of drones and secret wars and how the militarys slang for drone victims bug splat reflects the sociopathic mindset that drive them.
Petraeus and the signature of U.S. terror
The CIA pressures Obama to step up indiscriminate attacks in Yemen
By Jefferson Morley
http://www.salon.com/2012/04/19/petraeus_and_the_signature_of_u_s_terror/
...
It seems Petraeus and his allies in the current inter-agency debate do not want to be constrained by a list. They calculate if the U.S. slaughters a particular crowd of people at an al-Qaida funeral, they are sure to kill men plotting to attack the United States. The logic, if not the morality, is persuasive: If you kill the certainly innocent, you will also get some of the presumably guilty.
This is also the logic of terrorism, which is one reason why the defenders of signature strikes prefer that their names not be published in the Washington Post.
The Way of the Drone: Emblem for an Empire of Cowards
Written by Chris Floyd
http://chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/2235-the-way-of-the-drone-emblem-for-an-empire-of-cowards.html
And the fact is, no one does care. As Hastings notes, this hideous program of murder and terror has been fully embraced by the political elite and by society at large. And our rulers are now bringing it back home with a vengeance, putting more and more Americans under the unsleeping eye of government drones watching their every move, looking for the "signature" of "suspicious" behaviour. Hastings notes:
In the end, it appears, the administration has little reason to worry about any backlash from its decision to kill an American citizen one who had not even been charged with a crime. A recent poll shows that most Democrats overwhelmingly support the drone program, and Congress passed a law in February that calls for the Federal Aviation Administration to "accelerate the integration of unmanned aerial systems" in the skies over America. Drones, which are already used to fight wildfires out West and keep an eye on the Mexican border, may soon be used to spy on U.S. citizens at home: Police in Miami and Houston have reportedly tested them for domestic use, and their counterparts in New York are also eager to deploy them.
History affords few if any examples of a free people -- in such a powerful country, under no existential threat, undergoing no invasion, no armed insurrection, no natural disaster or epidemic or societal collapse -- giving up their own freedoms so meekly, so mutely. Most Americans like to boast of their love of freedom, their rock-ribbed independence and their fiercely-held moral principles: yet they are happy to see the government claim -- and use -- the power to murder innocent people whenever it pleases while imposing an ever-spreading police state regimen on their lives and liberties. Sheep doped with Rohypnol would put up a stronger fight than these doughty patriots.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)Mentioning "drones" isn't going to do it. The sensible liberals all know better than to question the wisdom of our sociopathic overlords. As long as someone bleats "freedom" while the missiles are flying, the good Americans are quite all right with it. Later, when historians are sifting through what used to be the American empire, they'll come across some of these objections and wonder just how it was that so many people were oblivious/accepting.
We will surely not be judged kindly.
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)our terrorist actions.
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)saras
(6,670 posts)sad sally
(2,627 posts)are active terrorists (or family members, or neighbors, or someone who passed them on the street, or happened to be in the neighborhood where the terrorist was), and that it "has not caused a huge number of civilian casualties," we can believe him, or maybe not (imo).
In other words, a small to moderate number of innocent civilians who are killed by drone attacks are okay. Here's what seems to be an okay number of civilians murdered by drone strikes: Since Obama took office in 2009, between 282 and 535 civilians have been credibly reported as killed, including more than 60 children, writes Chris Woods of the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism. A three-month investigation including eyewitness reports has found evidence that at least 50 civilians were killed in follow-up strikes when they had gone to help victims. More than 20 civilians have also been attacked in deliberate strikes on funerals and mourners.
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)sad sally
(2,627 posts)determined to be a terrorist or by accident) is okay. From a February poll:
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Obama has also relied on armed drones far more than Bush did, and he has expanded their use beyond Americas defined war zones. The Post-ABC News poll found that 83 percent of Americans approve of Obamas drone policy, which administration officials refuse to discuss, citing security concerns.
The president only recently acknowledged the existence of the drone program, which some human rights advocates say operates without a clear legal framework and in violation of the U.S. prohibition against assassination.
But fully 77 percent of liberal Democrats endorse the use of drones, meaning that Obama is unlikely to suffer any political consequences as a result of his policy in this election year.
Support for drone strikes against suspected terrorists stays high, dropping only somewhat when respondents are asked specifically about targeting American citizens living overseas, as was the case with Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni American killed in September in a drone strike in northern Yemen.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/poll-finds-broad-support-for-obamas-counterterrorism-policies/2012/02/07/gIQAFrSEyQ_story.html
trof
(54,270 posts)Killing used to be hard.
Now it's easy.
And nobody has to know 'whodunnit'.
Is this a great country, or what?
trof
(54,270 posts)Maybe you're to young to know the old standard ballad "You'd be so easy to love".
You'd be so easy to kill
So easy to annihilate, all others above
So worth the searching for
So swell to keep your home burning for
And we would be so grand at the game
Carefree together that it does seem a shame
That you can't see your future with me
'cause you'd be, oh, so easy to kill
You'd be so easy to kill
Easy to annihilate, all others above
So worth the yearning for
So swell to keep your home burning for
We'd be so grand at the game
So carefree together that it does seem a shame
That you can't see your future with me
'cause you'd be, oh, so easy to kil
Easy to kill
Easy to kill