Sunday, August 19, 2012

Will you vote in favor of murdering innocent civilians?


In the upcoming election, will you vote in favor of murdering innocent civilians?  The choice is yours.  There are names and parties on the ballot that proudly support the policy of murdering innocent civilians.  There are choices on the ballot that oppose this policy and would end it.

And to be perfectly clear, a vote for Obama and the Democrats is a vote saying you think its just absolutely wonderful that we are killing innocent civilians.  A vote for Romney and the Republicans is also a vote for murdering innocent civilians.  The votes you can cast that would oppose this policy would be for people like Jill Stein of the Greens, Gary Johnson of the Libertarians, and Rocky Anderson and his new Justice Party.

Cover-Up of Civilian Drone Deaths Revealed by New Evidence by Gareth Porter via Truthdig

The detailed data from the two unrelated sources covering a total 24 drone strikes from 2008 through 2011 show that civilian casualties accounted for 74 percent of the death toll...

This isn't terribly surprising, unless you get your news from CNN, as this same story also tells us that Obama's drone warriors have been deliberately targeting mourners at funerals and rescue workers trying to save people after the missile explosions.

Just stop for a second, and think about how you would have felt if Al-Qaida had planned the 9-11 attacks such that there were follow-up attacks on Ground Zero in the days after the collapse of the buildings with the explicit goal of trying to kill the people who were digging through the rubble looking for survivors. How would you feel about that? That's exactly the planning and policy of Obama and his drone warriors.

The data on 13 drone strikes targeting funerals and rescue efforts reported by the BIJ in February similarly contradict the NAF tally of deaths. The NAF recorded a total of 90 to 176 dead in 12 strikes which the BIJ was able to confirm as targeting rescuers or mourners; 77 to 153 of the dead were listed as "militants," whereas only 13 to 24 were listed as "civilians." But eyewitnesses and other sources considered reliable in the localities reported that between 80 and 107 civilians had been killed in these attacks on rescuers or mourners. That suggests that the higher estimates for "militants" usually included the civilians killed in those strikes.

Mr. Porter is focusing a bit on the difference between what some people claim as the number of 'civilians' and 'militants' who are killed during a drone strike, and what reporters who actually talk to people on the ground find out. But to me, the big shock of this piece is that we've launched at least 13 drone strikes that have DELIBERATELY TARGETTED MOURNERS AND RESCUE WORKERS.

Is that the America that's a shining beacon on the hill? Is that the American that people like George Washington froze at Valley Forge to create? Is that the sort of America you believe in?

If it is, then go proudly vote for Romney or Obama, and you'll get more and more and more of the same. If this is not the sort of American you believe in, then vote for somebody else.

As a footnote, let the record show that in 2008 some 97% of American voters expressed approval for murdering civilians in this fashion.  Less than 3% of American voters voted for the candidates that would oppose and end this policy in 2008.

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2 comments:

Fowl Ideas said...

Human life is cheap in America. Why is anyone surprised when that value system is displayed overseas?

Anonymous said...

Firstly, I am an advocate for third party presence in our Legislature believing it the only way to break the stranglehold of both corporate monies on our elected officials and the deadlock of our two all too similar major parties. As such I registered Green to show that support.

I rise to speak to the deafening silence one hears(?)from the Green Party. I am not ignorant of the attempts to silence any competition by the Tweedledee and Tweedledum parties currently enjoying a monopoly in our political theater. But , if my premise that third party presence is so important to stop the creeping (galloping?) fascism that overtakes our system is correct, then Greens must try much, much harder to reach our voters.