So true. It's hard to justify the United States calling themselves the "police of the world" when their actions are so hypocritical sometimes.
If a Drone Strike Hit an American Wedding We'd Ground Our Fleet
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Re: If a Drone Strike Hit an American Wedding We'd Ground Our Fleet
#92It continues to baffle me why the fact they're drones matter in the slightest. They're not autonomous, they're flown by pilots who just happen to not be sitting in the aircraft they're flying. Manned aircraft have killed huge groups of innocent civilians more than once, but apparently that's fine because the pilot was sitting in the aircraft.
Right. Dead is dead. And hitting a wedding was a consequence of an ongoing policy carried over from the previous administration.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/dec/16/afghanistan-tal...
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/06/afghanistan-wed...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/world/asia/24pstan.html?_r...
Re: If a Drone Strike Hit an American Wedding We'd Ground Our Fleet
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a really good point, and I think that it come in the name "drone." These aircraft are NOT "drones." They do not perform menial labor and they are not "thoughtless." They do not perform automated attacks. These are units of force projection that the U.S. military uses as part of a psychological warfare campaign against citizens that it deems to be a threat (or, in other words, pretty much the entire planet).
It is so annoying when the hyperbole grows to the point of ridiculousness. You can argue about force projection all you want but the US is not trying to engage in some warfare campaign against the entire planet.
I don't know that I agree 100%.
We deploy drones in places where there are perceived terrorist threats. As you can see in collateral murder, all you have to do to be perceived as a threat is to be alive. This tells me that the U.S. government is overly paranoid.
Next, we are or will soon be deploying drones right here in the U.S. That tells me that the government perceives its own citizens as a threat or as a possible threat. This is backed up by the fact that they 'accidentally' collect U.S. citizen electronic communications.
The U.S. government makes far too many "accidents" for them to all be truly accidental.
Re: If a Drone Strike Hit an American Wedding We'd Ground Our Fleet
#94The way America is conducting the war on terror is both self-defeating and morally repugnant.
Not a whole lot of choice - you want the US to just let the targets run around? Send a strike team in each time? Drop a real bomb or cruise missile (even more civilian casualties - those weapons are larger)?
What would your answer be if the "targets", instead of mysterious and scary terrorists in foreign lands, were regular boring murderers living in the US?
Re: If a Drone Strike Hit an American Wedding We'd Ground Our Fleet
#95Now go and explain the difference between this incident and a terror attack without using the fact the the former has been carried out by a state while the later has been carried out by civilians.
Re: If a Drone Strike Hit an American Wedding We'd Ground Our Fleet
#96The way America is conducting the war on terror is both self-defeating and morally repugnant.
Not a whole lot of choice - you want the US to just let the targets run around? Send a strike team in each time? Drop a real bomb or cruise missile (even more civilian casualties - those weapons are larger)?
You know what? Yes. I do. Arrest them, try them, when they reach US soil and pose a risk to the security of the US. Until then, they aren't your problem.
Re: If a Drone Strike Hit an American Wedding We'd Ground Our Fleet
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
Neither the pilot of a fighter/bomber or a drone gets to decide on the targets. They're given orders from above based on the intel provided to the commanders. So the issue isn't itchy trigger finger of the pilot, but itchy trigger finger of the commanders. The commanders have demonstrated over the last decade a willingness to send drones into situations they would not send fighters/bombers. There are few instances of…
The US used to send aircraft straight over the USSR!
Much of that spy aircraft predating the widespread use of satellites, and certainly predating modern drone-style aircraft. The options available were different, so of course the option selected was different.
Re: If a Drone Strike Hit an American Wedding We'd Ground Our Fleet
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
It matters because it changes the fundamental nature of combat. If a pilot is in the plane you're risking an American life, not to mention a very expensive piece of equipment with numerous safety features etc. Now take away the risk to American life and lower the cost of the attack significantly, and viola, you've got a much itchier trigger finger now. If you've played MW3, which would you rather do, use the drone to…
> you've got a much itchier trigger finger now I doubt that. It would seem that a pilot sitting in a cockpit would be a lot more trigger-happy. Both pilots can make two types of mistake: don't recognize an enemy for what he is, or do the same thing with a civilian. If plane pilot mistakes an enemy for something else and said enemy succeeds in his efforts, the pilot will lose his place and may be his life. The drone p…
This isn't about the pilot, it's about the decision making process within the higher command structure.
Remember the downed F-117 pilot in Serbia? The repercussions of Somalia? Drones carry no such risks. The risk of political and public fall out is minuscule compared to traditional operations. Public outrage over "collateral damage" is negligible, because frankly, there is no public outrage about civilian deaths. Especially if "suspected Al-Qaeda operatives" were among the killed.
Re: If a Drone Strike Hit an American Wedding We'd Ground Our Fleet
#99It is articles like this that asks the reader to pierce media bias, and take a honest look at a conflict.
If an Qaeda militant had gone to US city and bombed a wedding where they suspected harbored US officer, how would that play out? 22 injured, 17 killed by Qaeda militants in boston. Terrorists mistakenly targeted a wedding, trying to go after 5 US officer.
If there were no propaganda in media, surely this would play out identical as this drone strike. No world leaders expressing their condemnation of the attacks, condolences, and solidarity. Military strikes kills huge groups of innocent civilians all the times in wars, so nothing to write about.
Re: If a Drone Strike Hit an American Wedding We'd Ground Our Fleet
#100The way America is conducting the war on terror is both self-defeating and morally repugnant.
It's very easy to not agree with the way the US government handles these sort of things, but you have to give them the benefit of the doubt that they are not doing this for shits and giggles. It might seem nationalistic to some but it reminds me of a quote from "A Few Good Men" - Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I h…
Eh, saves lives inside, disregards lives outside.
I know it's a complicated matter, but that reasoning can't be used to justify atrocities such as this one.