Afghanistan: U.S. drone kills 30 farm workers sitting around a campfire after pine nut harvest

I think the ship sailed a while ago on “Give us six more months, we’ll get it right this time”

4 Likes

God, where do you start with America’s war crimes. This one hasn’t even made the news threshold.

2 Likes

How many new enemies did we make with this one atrocity?

2 Likes

Serious question: Do drone strikes in Afghanistan in the present day ever directly, measurably benefit the USA, or are we just wasting money, murdering innocent people and making more enemies of the survivors? Regardless of the moral reprehensibility of these actions, are they actively making things better or worse for us, the murderers? I’m trying to find out if there’s anybody actively in favor of this for reasons besides racism or the desire to continually sell more drones/bombs. I’m never going to say that any “successful” drone strikes that happen justify the killing of innocent people, but I want to know if this is a serious belief held by a significant number of people, or if the whole thing is just on autopilot at this point.

3 Likes

Oh, but drones are a perfect weapon of war. Where you don’t have enemies, it’ll make you some.

5 Likes

Even the intentional ones don’t get punished by the US public/administration/government.
See: Cavalese cable car disaster or My Lai Massacre. Sometimes those responsible even get medals instead of punishment: Iran Air Flight 655

No surprise the USA is vehemently against the International Criminal Court.

I wonder if that’s what J. McCain meant when he wrote:

We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world.

2 Likes

Incidents like 9/11 happen as a response. The US public likes to proclaim “Never forget” and similar pathos while frothing at the mouth in jingoistic fervor. I don’t think they remember all the lessons 9/11 taught especially the one about the “why”.

1 Like

I think that the Military-Industrial Complex has more pull with the Government than the electorate. :grimacing:

4 Likes

Someone at that campfire was within six degrees of separation from a terrorist.

3 Likes

The US electorate doesn’t really care. Some do. Otherwise it’s “thank you for your service”.

3 Likes

This is a good entrance to bring up the recent appearance that Condi Rice had on Colbert earlier this week where Colbert lobbed the softest of softballs. She goes on about Afghanistan but Iraq doesn’t get brought up at all.

At around the 4 minute mark, she gets into justifying why the US should stay there, presumably indefinitely. She uses Korean as an example, how the US has been on the peninsula “keeping the peace” for the last 60 years. As though that’s some kind of good model that has actually made the world safer. She goes on about other stuff too, all of it BS justifications for the mess her boss, Georgie Jr and friends, created earlier this century.

I don’t watch much tv, but somehow I caught this interview and was just floored at the stuff coming out that woman’s mouth. She was wrong back in the Skippy administration, and she’s wrong now.

PS. The interview is on YT, but I’m not gonna link to it because it disgusts me so, and I lost two levels of respect for Colbert for his giving her a platform to continue to spew that neo-conservative, nonsense.

4 Likes

Yes? At the bare minimum, the military personnel involved should lose major rank and the person who provided bad Intel should maybe be employed elsewhere.

2 Likes

Everybody talks about the apparent sterility of this kind of fighting, but the drone operators still get PTSD. Their bodies know it’s as wrong as can be.

3 Likes

Dammit! There goes my long term pesto making plans!

1 Like

The pine nuts had nefarious purposes!

1 Like

Well that and your freedom.

1 Like

Was that a throwback reference to W?

4 Likes

Hmm. Is it really better to have a human in the yes loop if they’re an excited/bored younger person with a dehumanizing video game-like interface?

1 Like

Yes it was.

1 Like

Money: the great healer.

2 Likes