Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Revenge: A Dish Best Not Served

The headline reads “US drone strike kills 21 suspected militants in Pakistan.” Given how little I trust my government, and especially reports issued by the military, my attention focused on the word “suspected” in that headline. You don’t have to be an actual militant to be killed by American forces, nothing has to be proven or factual. You merely have to be a “suspected militant” and missiles will rain down on you.

Two missiles hit a house and killed everyone in it. At first it was thought only five were killed, but “officials said the toll had gone up to 21 after more bodies were found from the rubble of the house.” So we fired missiles at a house without even knowing how many people were in it, or who they were.

After discovering 16 additional bodies, we report 16 “additional militants killed” even though none have been identified. They are dead and we killed them, so they are by definition “militants” because we only kill “militants.”

I regret American lives lost in this filthy war. I truly do, and I weep for their wives and children. But you know what? Those 21 had wives and children, too. Maybe, in fact they were wives and children. Death and destruction: and for what purpose?

Update: New York Times reports today
In a mere 48 hours, American forces determined who shot down the helicopter and killed 30 of our troops, tracked down the precise location of the shooter, planned a raid on that individual, launched an airstrike with F-16 fighters and killed the person responsible.

It took almost ten years to get the guy who killed 3000 in New York City, but in a mere 48 hours we can identify, locate in the trackless wilderness of Afghanistan, and kill a guy responsible for the death of 30 soldiers in an active war. I'll bet we have beachfront property in Florida for sale, too.

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