The Washington Post has an interesting piece on the CIA’s drone program in Pakistan (2/21/11), pointing out that the drones are killing plenty of Pakistanis, but not the “high-value” ones:
CIA drone attacks in Pakistan killed at least 581 militants last year, according to independent estimates. The number of those militants noteworthy enough to appear on a U.S. list of most-wanted terrorists: two.
Despite a major escalation in the number of unmanned Predator strikes being carried out under the Obama administration, data from government and independent sources indicate that the number of high-ranking militants being killed as a result has either slipped or barely increased.
The piece seems to present a pretty clear story– until they allow anonymous U.S. officials to weigh in to defend their assassination program. Hence we hear from “U.S. officials familiar with drone operations”:
“This effort has evolved because our intelligence has improved greatly over the years, and we’re able to identify not just senior terrorists, but also al-Qaeda foot soldiers who are planning attacks on our homeland and our troops in Afghanistan,” said a U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the classified program.
“We would be remiss if we didn’t go after people who have American blood on their hands,” the official said. “To use a military analogy, if you’re only going after the generals, you’re likely to be run over by tanks.”
An unnamed former government official is also quoted comparing the drone assassinations to the HBO series The Sopranos and to a game of chess. Readers are told that drone advocates “say that empirical evidence suggests that the ramped-up targeting of lesser-known militants has helped to keep the United States safe.” Sounds like the sort of thing Bush administration officials liked to say all the time about anything they were doing.
Here’s a novel idea: How about we fix things instead of destroying things and in such a manner that we reduce and even eliminate terrorist motives?
i.e. http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/TLSF/theme_a/mod02/www.worldgame.org/wwwproject/index.shtml
It’ll be less costly in all ways.
How about we fix things instead of destroying things and in such a manner that we reduce and even eliminate terrorist motives?
That would only happen if the objective of the War on Terror was to eliminate terror. Like just about all wars, it is about liining pockets, controling markets and keep people at home and abroad in a constant state of fear and dependence. It is working exactly as intended.
Really tired of hearing how scared we should all be of terrorist elsewhere….when nobody is courageous enough to discuss nor write about the rapidly-growing unchallenged domestic terrorism right here in US called Organized Stalking & Electronic Harassment…. Only Washington Post’s reporter Dana Priest and ACLU have barely covered this new government-funded crime against innocent US citizens (largely minorities, single women, activists & whistleblowers) are being illegally targeted, harassed, tortured using same illegal and deadly assaults used by FBI/CIA in their historical Cointelpro Intelligence programs which were suppose to have stopped back in the 70’s (so not true!)……this is all happening as a courtesy of the Patriot Act and the massively built Fusion Centers all over US with NO oversight and blank checks to keep funding these so-called intelligence programs that are suppose to be keeping us safer since the 9/11 attack. Instead, thousands of innocent US citizens are currently being victimized by Organized Stalking & Electronic Harassment and their local police, local FBI, media, civil rights orgs, human rights orgs and elected officials are all afraid to help these innocent victimized US citizens due to the crime’s connection to FBI, CIA and Cointelpro……hush hush
ALL pls google Cointelpro THEN google Organized Stalking, Gang Stalking & Electronic Harassment. Their cries for help are in thousands of blogs all over the internet…..even Oprah has set us several blogs especially for these victims….everybody knows about this but all are afraid to publicly acknowledge. And then consider that this could possibly STILL be actually happening in America in 2011 and nobody will help these poor victims. Write your senator and congressperson and know that Washington Post has by far been the only media unafraid to report on this though barely…..See Twitter’s hashtag #topsecretamerica AND @washingtonpost reporter Dana Priests reports
“. . . who are planning attacks on our homeland. . .”
Could someone tell military and anonymous government sources that the word “homeland” has never gone over well and frankly- no one uses it unless sarcastically- and it is creepy. You know- if I do have a “Homeland” it would be the 128 Boston Metro area where my family has lived for 150 years. That would be my “homeland”. I certainly don’t consider the 300 plus million people mega nation of America to be a “Homeland”.
“That would only happen if the objective of the War on Terror was to eliminate terror. Like just about all wars, it is about liining pockets, controling markets and keep people at home and abroad in a constant state of fear and dependence. It is working exactly as intended.”
That is the bottom line now isn’t it?
It’s also a very convenient excuse to keep chipping away at our inalienable rights.
Anytime a group gets as much funding as they can spend, with no oversight, they become a ‘THREAT TO THE HOMELAND’; and not just the one that they claim as their own, but any they set their envious eyes upon.
All of us “serve a master” as Bob Dillon sang. “You gotta serve someone.” But the CIA is just serving it’s self as far as I can see…or maybe the dark force.
There is no oversight, no one controls their spending on whatever sidetrack they decide to run, for whatever trumped up reason. They don’t even have to show proof to a judge…they say your bad, and guilty, they do not need to prove it to anyone.
This is “democracy” with “rights” and “freedom?”
I have no idea how effective our drone effort has been. Neither do you. The information is scant. Top secret, and I just wonder about most of the information quoted seems to be coming from Al Jazeera.I do know Dems seem to favor drones, as it leaves less of a fingerprint,and of course no boots on the ground . But again that may be disingenuous as I cant gauge the effectiveness.
One thing to remember Tim and Mike….(and I will quote Osama B. here)”It does not matter in the end what the great Satin does.Whether they grovel at Allah’s feet or stand in defiance. They must all be killed in the name of Allah”. Does not leave a lot of room for discussion about the MOTIVES of terrorism does it?
Michael’s Osama quote is a fake……as usual.
Thank you Helen!
….and I thought it was the military doing drone strikes….
as far as the Homeland is concerned it sends shivvers up my spine – it comes directly out of Hitler’s “Fatherland’ except that now mom is getting the honors.
Well, of course it’s fake and made up, Helen B. A couple of weeks ago Our Very Own Troll actually said that he’d spoken to an imam (a very famous and radical imam) who’d confirmed his (Our Very Own Troll’s, or OVOT’s, for short) worst suspicions about something or other–I think it was the perfidy of all Muslims. Talk about grandiose! Wow! OVOT’s the champ, eh? I’m proud, Ms. B, that we have only one full-time (and non-union!) troll who out-classes all the others on any other site I’ve been to, who labors away for free, in a truly capitalist, free-market kinda way.
hey mike e. remember me going off on you? well, it’s cool to see more level headed opposition arguments. also, I recently heard on NPR that studies have found that captured suicide bombers (i don’t remember if they also mentioned the non-suicide type terrorists) report no difference in faith practices (i.e. metrics like church attendence) than other muslims. I suspect that economics plays a far more powerful role than religion.
Also, after reading the article on sophisticated astroturf comments, I wonder why someone who seems to disagree w/ FAIR so much would bother coming here. I hope that’s just the conspiracy/X-files fan in me. :) I for one like arguing, and if I had more free time would probably go to fox.com to ruffle some feathers.
Actually, I agree that “It does not matter in the end what the great Satin does.”
Although I gotta admit that that great Satin is a helluva guy!!
Helen and Tim you must be aware that Osama B has made endless comments just like the one proffered(from an interview given during the Clinton year one to a Saudi crew)HIs words groveled and defiance- averting a long pause were spoken by the interviewer as OB shook his head in agreement.So you are playing games again. Semantics.HIs views are well known.But maybe you know something we dont know.PLease explain to us all how OB wants peace with us if only we would listen to common sense.Yeah find me that quote.10 to one pre 911 you two knuckle heads were singing his praise.You know, before he became a freedom fighter(sic).
Carter I was hired by Tea party operatives to destroy FAIR bloggers.IM payed from a secret fund taken from RNC Coffers.OK Im just riffing here :)Really I found Fair to be exactly opposite what I believed it would be(against both sides of press misinformation.)Press not doing its job is one of my pet peeves.Yet I found this to be a liberal choir.All singing the same song.LIke some religious group.I through in the other side of the coin an a firestorm erupted.Hopefully I give food for thought that the one way of seeing things is not the only.
Tim what makes you believe that the imam i had a conversation with is any way an indication of being graniose?His fame?Please …..i have no respect for him.I have more for you or anyone I meet on the street.He is a nut in my estimation.
In a strange twist Obama was across the street from my house during his election run.Shaking hands.I was cutting the lawns.Not to be rude but I did not walk across the street to meet him.Why would I?We were in disagreement ,and I did not support him.I told my niece to go say hello as he may be your next president.She did, and he was very nice.See Tim we all put our pants on the same.No royalty here.
You know what, Helen? About two years ago I was watching a White Sox game at a joint here in Chicago, and who walks in but Mr. Barack H. Obama! He sat down next to me and ordered a gin and tonic. He was reaching for some money, but he forgot that he hadn’t carried any dough since he began running for President. “I’ll get that,” I said, and he looked a bit startled and said, Well, alright.” Well alright indeed. Two hours later, we were at Gibson’s steakhouse, and none the worse for wear, I can tell you. He’s a funny guy! I told him at one point, “you know, those Republicans, they’re assholes . . . don’t turn your back on ’em.” He just chuckled, and whispered, “You know, the only difference between us and them is that they put their trousers on one leg at a time, and we slip those suckers on in one fell swoop, jump up, and are ready for action!” He pounded his fist on the table for emphasis, and then the steaks arrived. We ate like kings, and I won a hundred bucks off him when the Sox lost. (“Never bet on baseball, dude,” I told him.) His “people” picked up the tab, (I was given the hundred by a Secret Service agent, one of several who hovered discreetly in the background) and we convinced the owner of Gibson’s to hand over an old bat that was left there by Moose Skowron, the old Yankees slugger. Barack (he insisted I call him that) signed it–“To TimN–never bet on baseball. Ha!” I was quite drunk when the SS guys dropped me off at home at about five a.m. The next day, I thought it was all a dream, but the hundred was on the nightstand (he signed that too–“Your first tax break! –B.O.), and the bat was on the kitchen floor. I found a copy of the Gibson’s bill in my pocket. On it, the future President wrote, “be sure to write this off on your taxes, and remember this: Our great Socialist plot that we discussed last night must never be mentioned! If word gets out, I may have to kill you . . . okay?” Ain’t that grand?
Taliban and al Qaeda are religiously opposed to females of any age acting as operatives, and boys under thirteen are not yet “men.” Even so, the overwhelming majority of the corpses resulting from drone strikes are from these groups. That’s a fairly strong indicator of how effective drone strikes are in the service of the ostensible goals of military action in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, etc, etc….
Ya know Tim your sarcasm may not get through to others but, i read it.Thing is is I see it as something different.Almost as a reverse in our roles.You- the socialist look UP to people who have achieved fame ,power and notoriety.Me being the dirty capitalist does not.I come from a political family.Have met tons of politicians.Some are fine people.Some are scum.I once spent an evening with a man(congressman)who once was one of the most powerful men in this country.My 10 year old nephew was in tow.The Congressman came drunk and asked me where he could find woman in this town.He then proceeded to tell me how he and his fellow “leaders”used to bang whores.All this while a kids play was going on.Thank God my nephew heard little as he sat on the other side of me.Later I told my little guy he was ten times the person mr Congressman was.
During the summer we do a charity for pediatric aids with all the top folks in hollywood. Hundreds of celebs. Some seem great. Some…….um well we have all seen the award shows. Soon hopefully I will get to meet Gov Christie.A man i do respect and admire.If it happens Im sure i will mention it.
Back to topic…..or maybe that is the topic. Lets not so look up to people so much who in effect put on their pants like you and I .Obama is no savior. Bush …just a man.In putting them on the unreachable pedestal as you are ,you ALLOW the belief that when they carry out things like drone strikes that they are beyond our reproach …if reproach is needed. Maybe that is why it is so vitally important to know the man in the election cycle when he still is a man and not some GOD to so many.Obama of course is the man with the sanitized history(read Obama deconstructed)Now back to article comments…
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There is gangstalking and all the stuff they posted about. Our family and friends are victims of this and we get bullied by police and firemen and clerks in city hall and neighbors and all kinds of people.