The CIA’s drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas, something which has become an enormous issue over the past year and a half, have been an enormous source of controversy, both legal and practical.
The US, for its part, maintains that the drone strikes have caused no more than 30 civilian casualties, while killing over 500 militants. The claims seem common among US officials, in keeping with the narrative of precision drone strikes.
But they are tough to swallow for children killed and maimed in the almost constant bombardment. And for villagers the claims that friends and relatives are “suspected militants” are tough to reconcile with reality, as are the claims of US precision.
They also don’t jibe with figures from Pakistan’s own intelligence agencies, which estimate that the US actually killed 700 civilians in 2009 alone, while killing only a handful of confirmed militants. The number of civilians wounded in all these attacks is unknown, but significant.
It is unsurprising, then, that the strikes continue to inflame anti-US sentiment across Pakistan, and US claims that the victims are almost universally “militants” is likely only making matters worse, in the face of enormous evidence to the contrary.
All this is absolutely too complicated for the military brass to understand. Why not make a Power Point with ups and downs and in color? Or they could do their own with colored pencils the way our children do in kindergarten.
There must be some way to make it clear and simple, even for a McChyrstal.
I don't get it. its almost like they don't even want us over there killing them.
Not really. Pakistan has been begging us for their own drones and are very much in favor of us helping them. The Taliban threaten to re-enter the Swat Valley. As for Pakistani intelligence, ISI, one has to be very careful what to believe. They are the most two faced crew in the world.
"Flournoy stressed that attitudes within Pakistan towards the extremists have changed radically in the past year. Once major cities were targeted by the Pakistani Taliban, she said, "the threat came home to the Pakistani people and it galvanized their political will.”
Questioned about a Human Rights Watch report that documented up to 300 extrajudicial killings by Pakistani security forces during and after the operation in the Swat Valley, Flournoy said the United States was "engaging our counterparts in Pakistan on these allegations."
http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/29/u-s-o…
love them drones makes nice dust out of the rag heads
"I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes. The moral effect should be so good that the loss of life should be reduced to a minimum. It is not necessary to use only the most deadly gasses: gasses can be used which cause great inconvenience and would spread a lively terror and yet would leave no serious permanent effects on most of those affected."
Winston Churuchill.
Note: to point is "to spread a lively terror".
Note: to point is "to spread a lively terror".
That is still a means to some end. I am curious what that end is.
Churchill's specific reference in this quotation (there are others and he was a fan of poison gas in many different contexts) was gassing Kurdish villages, which the British did indeed do.
The purpose was to assure no opposition of whatever kind to the British domination of Mesopotamia, that is, to inspire" a lively terror" of the British and their capability indiscriminately to kill or do harm to any group who opposed them or their policies in ANY way.
The idea that the US uses drones, or is developing sub-orbital space craft, to kill individual "terrorists" anywhere on the planet, is naive.
That is just the pretext.
The real purpose is inspire terror, engender a feeling of helplessness and insecurity, and of powerlessness vis-a-vis the US.
In the end it is a form of very expensive psychological warfare.
More deeply it is connected, along with many other phenomena, with the desire to insure a feeling of awe and divinity, both in the terrorist and in the terrified.
The US and its Judaeo-Christian lunatics want to be feared, reverenced, worshiped–and thus "loved"–in the mode of their Old Testament tribal "God".
That is what these psychopaths consider "power"–the power not just to kill but, much more important, to terrify the living into general submission and "love."
Seem far-fetched? Compare the supposed theological work of, just for one example, Rudolf Otto, where absolute divinity is absolute power is absolute terror is absolute submission is absolute love.
There is not much difference between parties–both Bushes, Clinton, and now Obama– are just different flavors of the same demand for "awe" and submission.
Compare also the US soldier at Abu Gharaib quoted as saying to the Iraqi on his knees praying for mercy to his God–"I am your God."
Compare also the US soldier at Abu Gharaib quoted as saying to the Iraqi on his knees praying for mercy to his God–"I am your God."
There seems to be quite a lot of undue concern, confusion, and counter-information (ie. spin) about what caused this latest (10th, 20th, 30th, or soon 100th) unprecedented, and “totally unpredictable” shock and disaster in ( ____ fill in the blank _____).
Despite the standard media ‘stories’ about what caused it, and how “everyone in charge of the government and corporations/banks” (which is really the same) is “working to insure that this will never happen again, and we can ‘move forward’ in our wonderful country’s economic growth and jobs for all”, the real CAUSE of these multiple and continuing "symptomatic" and constantly repeating disasters is already known, but is not now, nor ever, being shared with the American public citizens — 80% of whom Pew Research polls prove are rightly frustrated, distrustful, angstful, and getting angrier by the year, regardless of which of the TWO ‘Vichy’ parties are supposedly in control, and regardless of which of the deceitful MSM sources are supposedly ‘working hard’ to get to the bottom of this latest disaster in (____ fill in the blank ____), and whose pretty TV anchor-men promise to, “bring you up-dates on this big story”.
The answer and CAUSE to these continuing and increasing ‘big stories’, “unpredictable disasters”, and symptomatic problems for all Americans is never going to be revealed by looking at the “symptom issues” of the all these problems with our country, our environment, our economy, our wars, our world, our future, and our democracy.
The real CAUSE is already known — and it is that they are ALL CAUSED by the very same thing; the underlying, unmentioned, and unreported cancer of EMPIRE hiding beneath the surface of ‘our’ country, our politics, BOTH our ‘Vichy’ parties, our media, our economics, our wars, our society, our environment, our social injustice, our world, and our future —- a future which will continue to get bleaker, more brutal, and more of a real existential threat until we focus on the real single, seminal, and only CAUSE of undiagnosed Global corporate/financial/militarist EMPIRE, which has infected and is continuing to metastasize unseen through our former democratic Republic.
Yes, Dr. Franklin was right when he said, “Madam, we have our (democratic) Republic”, and then added, “Now if we can keep it” — from becoming an EMPIRE like the far more visible and easily understood British political/corporate/financial/militarist Empire from which our first and promising ‘new world’ democracy had just recognized, confronted, and escaped in the First American Revolution.
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
Let’s stop wasting time reporting and endlessly talking about all the ‘symptoms’ of an unmentioned empire, and start focusing like a laser on the single ‘cause’ — Empire itself — as our forefathers did.
But it clearly has the opposite effect than making the populace feel helpless. When you get increased militancy, its seems pretty obvious they dont feel helpless.
Now, Pakistan in chaos due to our destablization would serve as a great backdrop to a false flag event that sells the fake conspiracy that Al Qaida got a hold of a loose nuke in Pakistan, smuggled it into the US, and set it off.
Another possibility is destabilizing Pakistan, while simultaneously forcing the Pakistani military to fight their own people, could further delagitimize their government in the eyes of their own people, and force increased reliance on US largess to stay in power. We would get a more mangeable client state.
Those seem logical to me. Your suggestion seems to contridict the reality of a growing oppostition and militancy to our airstrikes, which our miliary must be keenly aware of, and yet we continue.
No question the US is trying to destabilize Pakistan and is using supposed local terrorist threats as an excuse.
But in regard to using drones–thus in effect "state" terror–the question is: why this means? Especially since it seldom works, if ever. On one level it seems very Churchillian.
Is the US spending billions for spacecraft capable of one hour strikes anywhere on the planet for individual terrorists?
Scarcely.
Consider the use of the atomic bombs on Japan. Was that terror–yes, but it was not directed against the Japanese, who were already trying to surrender. They were a convenient example. It was directed at the Soviet Union and the rest of the world.
That also backfired.
While you dont flat out state it, if you mean the same way the Abombs where for Russia's benefit (which I agree with), that we are really sending a message to other muslim countries I guess I can see that. But I would think Iraq and Afghanistan had already sent that message loud and clear. But I can at least see the logic in that position.
I tend to think there is more to it than that. Clearly there is a domestic consumption aspect where they can release PR stories of blowing up this badguy or that badguy. I just get a sense there is more to it than fear mongering, war profiteering, and domestic PR.
Oh and I think as to "why these means?" I think the number one reason has to do with the legality of having official US forces there since there has been no declaration of war. Remember, other than the accidental revelation that JSOCS was involved, it has been primarily been a CIA operation so that officially we can deny deny deny.
Maybe that doesnt matter now, but I think it was certainly an issue when the predator strikes started.
How stupid do we think our military is? Do we think they dont realize that launching missiles into civilian populations will infuriate the locals? I dont think they are that stupid. I think they know exactly what they are doing.
So maybe the real question is, why are they trying to destabilize Pakistan?