U.S. drones targeting rescuers and mourners

[Alkaloid]

The fact that the average American has their panties in a twist and thinks that 1000 brown people can die to save one American and that's fine doesn't change the fact that indiscriminately blowing up people, some of whom are terrorists, will turn some of the friends and relatives of those people into terrorists. COIN can be done, it needs to be done with deftness and precision, not by whacking everything that looks vaguely shifty, everything around it and everyone that comes to have a look at the wreckage.

[Aaron MkII]

You just fail to realise that while in the 80's and 90's the US could afford to be restrictive about killing terrorists if civilian casualities were possible, post 9/11 that just isn't the case anymore. There simply is no way that the US is not going to preemptively kill these threats if the alternative is risking new attacks on american soil. So unfortunately what Col Tibbets said is just the way it is. And it won't get better anytime soon, either. Regardless if you or I don't like it, it's what reality looks like and to the average american the average american is worth a hundred times more than random brown person in farawaystan.

How many "terrorists" are created everytime an innocent is killed?

Its not that the US can't do this in an intelligent manner, they have allies who fought this shit for decades, they just don't want to because this is easier.

[TimothyC]

Whatever else is true, it seems highly likely that Barack Obama is the first Nobel Peace laureate who, after receiving his award, presided over the deliberate targeting of rescuers and funeral mourners of his victims.

*sigh*

Somebody should really make him give that back.

No one made Arafat give his back. The Peace Prize is a joke.

[Julhelm]

How many "terrorists" are created everytime an innocent is killed?

Its not that the US can't do this in an intelligent manner, they have allies who fought this shit for decades, they just don't want to because this is easier.

You just don't get it. Brown people don't matter when we're talking us domestic politics. All your righteous outrage doesn't amount to shit because progressives are a fucking parenthesis in US politics. And, barring some incredible upheaval of an event, nothing except US domestic politics is going to make much of a fucking difference for the foreseeable future.

[Aaron MkII]

True enough

[Stark]

He's not American, either, so his 'outrage' wouldn't count anyway. It doesn't make it less amusingly bankrupt.

Can't have a war on terror without terrorists. If the supply dropped too low, we would have to make our own. Otherwise how would the posturing cowards feel better about their inability to create positive change in the world?

[Julhelm]

He's not American, either, so his 'outrage' wouldn't count anyway. It doesn't make it less amusingly bankrupt.

Can't have a war on terror without terrorists. If the supply dropped too low, we would have to make our own. Otherwise how would the posturing cowards feel better about their inability to create positive change in the world?

Is it really morally bankrupt to acknowledge the fact that your personal opinion has less than zero chance of affecting anything? Hell, even my own country's domestic policy is being, for all intents and purposes, dictated by american corporate interests. So whatever my personal opinion is or who I vote for will not change anything. The only thing that can ever change the world is the average american suddenly realising there are other countries out there except america and good luck with that.

[Stark]

Sorry I'm not talking about you; as far as I can tell you're not really saying anything. If the Americans want to ensure a constant supply of jihadis, then big success. If they want to murder civilians, big success. If they want to give 'hilarious' idiots like Shep a boner, big success.

The only laugh is the justifications (and apparent belief these processes will never be used domestically).

[JointStrikeFighter]

You just fail to realise that while in the 80's and 90's the US could afford to be restrictive about killing terrorists if civilian casualities were possible, post 9/11 that just isn't the case anymore.

What makes 9/11 so freaking special that suddenly the laws of war do not apply anymore to any military action taken over a decade after 9/11?

It's pretty clear he meant the effect of 9/11 on the American national psyche and not any legal argument.

[Thanas]

If 9/11 changed the nationaly psyche that much then Americans are giant cowards. Which I kinda doubt, hence me calling the argument BS.

[JointStrikeFighter]

I don't doubt it.

Remember their national psyche is built on NEVER LOST A WAR RAR, getting a bloody nose = omg the shocks

[Julhelm]

If 9/11 changed the nationaly psyche that much then Americans are giant cowards. Which I kinda doubt, hence me calling the argument BS.

Just look at how they acted after Pearl Harbor and inprisoned an entire minority who had done nothing. Americans pride themselves on being untouchable and invincible and that's why they can't handle events like 9/11 rationally. Remember that report posted earlier here that conclusively showed a majority of liberals and progressives supported this drone campaign? Look no further.