Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFrom Drones to Nerve Gas A tour through the dark side of history.
https://www.adbusters.org/blogs/drones-vs-nerve-gas.htmlADBUSTERS
From Drones to Nerve Gas
A tour through the dark side of history.
13 September 2013
There is no doubt in anyones mind that the nerve-gas attacks in Syria are an evil equal to Nazi gas chambers. But when the rebels are lining up their captives, shirtless and trembling on the ground, and shooting them in the head, its really hard to divide the wheat from the chaff, the good guys from the bad guys. America alone demonstrates an unnatural confidence. We are the good guys. We are exceptional. We have the moral high ground. We can do no wrong.
. . . but what about what is being done in our name behind closed doors at the CIA headquarters, at the Pentagon, NSA and the White House?
White House officials meet every week on Terror Tuesdays to go through rosters of candidates for kill lists. President Obama peruses the faces of young Somali, Pakistani and Yemeni males as if he were looking at baseball cards. Then, based on the stats, he decides if this guy or that guy should be put into the kill pile, or not. If the person is a military-aged male, living in a certain region, and has been at one time or another in contact with someone believed to be a terrorist . . . then Obama pre-emptively believes that person to be a threat to America, and sends out a sniper-drone or assassination squad to kill them.
These are called signature strikes. As Jeremy Scahill suggests, this is a form of pre-crime, like in the sci-fi film Minority Report. These kill lists are drafted, and the assassinations are carried out, in total secret ... and without oversight from the courts, Congress or judicial branch.
And though drone strikes have these high-value suspects as their targets, they often err and take down civilians with them (even innocent children are dubbed collateral damage). Just years ago the ratio of soldier to civilian deaths in a Middle-East war zone was 9:1. Today, it has inverted ... thanks to drones.
Who has the moral high-ground? Are kill-lists and drone strikes more or less immoral than what Assad is doing in Syria?
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 595 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (5)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
From Drones to Nerve Gas A tour through the dark side of history. (Original Post)
G_j
Sep 2013
OP
KoKo
(84,711 posts)1. When you are dead you are dead...If you died an innocent bystander in a civil war
or your country was invaded ...then you are dead...no matter how you died.
But, WHY you died would be important to those who survive you..Your family and friends not the method of it.. in the whole scheme of things.
Raging about Assad using chemical weapons when the USA has used them seems to be just a Strawman distraction for the real reasons of WHY... Why are innocents dead?
Just saying.
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)2. K&R for more visibility. nt