FAIR has a new Action Alert on 60 Minutes‘ May 10 broadcast extolling the virtues of unmanned drones, with no perspectives at all from critics of the weapons–who might have pointed out that they kill 50 innocent civilians for every Al-Qaeda leader they assassinate.
Please copy your letters to 60 Minutes to the comments thread here.
This is what Cervantes (a proud soldier who lost his arm in battle) had Don Quixote say about the invention of guns:
>”Happy the blest ages that knew not the dread fury of those devilish engines of artillery, whose inventor I am persuaded is in hell receiving the reward of his diabolical invention, by which he made it easy for a base and cowardly arm to take the life of a gallant gentleman; and that, when he knows not how or whence, in the height of the ardour and enthusiasm that fire and animate brave hearts, there should come some random bullet, discharged perhaps by one who fled in terror at the flash when he fired off his accursed machine, which in an instant puts an end to the projects and cuts off the life of one who deserved to live for ages to come. And thus when I reflect on this, I am almost tempted to say that in my heart I repent of having adopted this profession of knight-errant in so detestable an age as we live in now; for though no peril can make me fear, still it gives me some uneasiness to think that powder and lead may rob me of the opportunity of making myself famous and renowned throughout the known earth by the might of my arm and the edge of my sword. But Heaven’s will be done; if I succeed in my attempt I shall be all the more honoured, as I have faced greater dangers than the knights-errant of yore exposed themselves to.”
Wonder how he would have felt about drones?
To 60 Minutes:
Regarding your report last Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009, on unmanned aerial vehicles, I hope you will give equal time to the Pakistanis’ and Afghanis’ view of the situation. They claim the drone attacks have killed 687 civilians, have wounded many more, and have destroyed many homes. They claim that the massive loss of innocent lives from drone attacks is in fact fueling the insurgency.
You might compare Lara Logan’s report for 60 Minutes with Christiane Amanpour’s Generation Islam. Amanpour interviewed a Pakistani-American, Azhar Hussein, who had returned to Pakistan to promote a more secular type of educational curriculum for the madrasahs, including math and science and a more tolerant form of Islam. He said he had been talking with one madrasah leader who told him that his program had been very successful, and the Taliban were having trouble finding recruits to fight the Americans, until a drone attack killed some people from the region. Then hundreds of people showed up to fight with the Taliban.
You might also consider the views of Andrew Exum a former Army captain who is calling for a moratorium on drone attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Exum served on active duty in the US Army from 2000 until 2004, including two years leading a platoon of Army Rangers inside Iraq and Afghanistan. He recently returned from two months in Afghanistan, where he served as part of the advisory team of the commander of US troops there, General Stanley McChrystal (from an interview on Democracy Now).
Please give the American people the whole story.
Sincerely, Sharon Fritsch