The UN conference on drone strikes opened today in New York with calls from UN experts to see more transparency around the use of drones for extraterritorial executions by nations, and condemnations by several nations of the unlawful use of the attacks en masse by the United States.
The Obama Administration was quick to dismiss any complaints, insisting the killings of several thousand people worldwide without any legal oversight by CIA drones was “legal and just.”
Pakistan reported to the UN that at least 400 civilians were confirmed killed in the US strikes in their country, and hundreds of others are classified as “probable non-combatants.” Yemen confirmed scores of deaths as well.
The White House has dismissed the reports of civilian deaths too, insisting that civilians are killed in all wars and that they are the only ones who are capable of accurately counting how many civilians they really killed, a number which they are keeping a secret.
Yes, civilians are killed in all wars. That's why Washington always says 9/11 wasn't that big of a deal, and shouldn't be used as a pretext for any action whatsoever. Because civilians are killed in all wars, so we shouldn't worry about it.
Or is it just Washington's murders we shouldn't worry about? Because now that I think about it, I feel like Washington gets very exact and exaggerated when it come to civilians killed by official enemies. I seem to recall the number 1,429 civilians being spouted a lot by Washington about the Ghouta attack. This was the second highest estimate in the world, the highest being from the "rebels" themselves.
This is so confusing now, because I thought civilian death numbers were supposed to be a secret, and weren't a big deal because civilians are killed in all wars. My head is spinning and I don't know what to think. I am shocked to be getting these contradictory messages from the US government!
"Transparency"? Obama did mention the word in a speech sometime ago, but I think he ate it.
Using drones is wrong on so many levels. It is clearly not legal and surely not just – at least to rational people.
As I've noted previously, If China decided to drone an American citizen in Seattle because the Chinese government believed the American was planning or supporting an organization the Chinese had classified as a terrorist organization the American government, rightly so, would come unglued in their outrage.
Well, so the number they'll admit to themselves ought-not-to-have-have-been mutilated, by secret definition, is also secret, while everyone else has to scramble on the ground doing murder investigations with only USG-trivializing as USG-input. It could seem that it's been remarkably effective to 'create our own reality!' Or perhaps the USG is selectively exercising it's right-to-remain-silent?
One could similarly rape a convict and call it 'just.' People even love to joke about that; though it's nice that their reality was created for them. Luckily, only ~30+% of those would be called innocent and those only when DNA evidence applied (in school, that'd be a failed test/course)… how much more so when 'due process' = a GWoT-Sucker's say-so?
A GWoT-Sucker will read 'just' as an adjective form of 'justice.' Coincidentally, a thesaurus would give another other meaning as equivalent to 'merely,' 'only,' or whatever else you wish to use to trivialize the noun(form) it modifies. A third meaning is ~'recently,' as in "I just scored a cookie from the neighbor's jar." 'Spect all those meanings are at play psychologically –certainly the latter two would fit well into a satire of the situation. 'Legal and just' probably 'just' means 'we dunnit and we do it.' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvJiYrRcfQo
Well, so the number they'll admit to themselves ought-not-to-have-have-been mutilated, by secret definition, is also secret, while everyone else has to scramble on the ground doing murder investigations with only USG-trivializing as USG-input. It could seem that it's been remarkably effective to 'create our own reality!' Or perhaps the USG is selectively exercising it's right-to-remain-silent?
War? What war?
Did the US declare war against Pakistan?
War? What war?
Did the US declare war against Pakistan?