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Right-Wing Mad Militarist and his Mindless Murdering Drones
by Laura Flanders
A US drone firing missiles into a village in northern Pakistan
killed at least 19 people over the weekend. The targets were militants,
said the US military. The victims included six dead children, said a
local tribal elder.
"Suspected US drone kills Suspected Taliban Commander." That's becoming the stuff of very suspect news stories. The reporting is so weak there's almost nothing confirmed except that the killer operator is far away in front of a computer screen.
by Laura Flanders
A US drone firing missiles into a village in northern Pakistan
killed at least 19 people over the weekend. The targets were militants,
said the US military. The victims included six dead children, said a
local tribal elder."Suspected US drone kills Suspected Taliban Commander." That's becoming the stuff of very suspect news stories. The reporting is so weak there's almost nothing confirmed except that the killer operator is far away in front of a computer screen.
Suspected killing of suspected people covered by unsuspicious media? It would be sci-fi if it weren't so here-now, and it's only going to get more so.
The Democratic administration just made a big deal of cutting the cumbersome F-22 fighter jet. "We don't need it any more," said the President. What he didn’t say is that the defense department is seeking $3.5 billion for unmanned aerial vehicles a.k.a. "drones." Funding is expected to increase to $55 billion by 2020. The air force is currently training more drone operators than fighter and bomber pilots.
Drones have been around since the US-led NATO war on the former Yugoslavia. Since '06, drones have launched hundred of missiles along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border killing as many as 700 civilians according to Pakistani officials.
Forbes magazine's “king of the armed drone makers” is a little known company called General Atomics whose founder James Neal Blue came up with the drone as a way of defeating Soviet-backed Sandinistas by blowing up oil pipelines in Nicaragua. He’s a fervent anti-communist and quite possibly the next Erik Prince -- only his mercenaries aren't Blackwater's flesh and blood killers, but conveniently bloodless machines.
General Atomics is small by defense industry standards, but it has a lot of friends in Washington. Between 2000 and 2005, GA was the top corporate sponsor of privately funded congressional travel. So perhaps it's no surprise, there’s little resistance to more drones in the US arsenal.
Drones are not cheap -- between $10 million and $12 million apiece per GA "Reaper." Their success rate is widely disputed. They kill civilians and even General David Petraeus admits, they make people hate us. But cynical political calculus is on General Atomics' side.
President Obama has a problem. Every American military commander wants more troops, but resistance among foot soldiers is growing and maybe, someday - someday - the president's anti-war base will make itself heard.
How to heed the commanders and quiet the critics simultaneously? Welcome to the super drone bonanza. The pilotless drone is the military's version of cash for very clunky policy.
from Laura's column, The F Word August 25, 2009
The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com.
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written by ELP, September 25, 2009
Drones, while useful aren't an answer for everything. Fine for a permissive air environment but vs. an enemy that can jam out networks, they will have their limits.
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written by 50calHal, September 25, 2009
Well what one thing is 'the answer to everything'? The drones kill some of the worst people on earth, people who would die for the chance to kill YOU. Yes these guys have families and 'civilian' friends that sometimes get in the crossfire. But the US doesn't TRY to kill those other people.. These guys try to kill civilians, they kidnap and torture innocent people without a second thought. And remember please, every time a drone takes these guys out, it means our boys don't have to go knock on the door to do it.. It saves American and allied lives. Does this mean anything to you? Or should we get our guys killed when there is a better way to do this necessary work. Think about that.
[Well, 50Cal (if that is an acceptable abbreviation of your name) you represent a point of view that seems to preclude the facts spelled out in the article. So, were to go from here? I've written for eight years Canadian military involvement in either Iraq or Afghanistan would be a stupid mistake for everyone but the arms dealers and the undertakers; as it has turned out to be. What is necessary about "work" over there 50? Why did 133 of my fellow Canadian citizens die for a vaguely defined "mission" in Afghanistan. Dead before their time for what? To bring democracy to Afghanistan? To make the women free there? To revenge 9/11? To make sure terrorists don't have a place to hatch their evil plots? Please, don't insult the memory of the slain by repeating such rubbish over their graves. We've been taken in by operators of the worst sort, and it is they, not the unfortunate villager a half world away, that threaten our mutual security. - ed.]
[Well, 50Cal (if that is an acceptable abbreviation of your name) you represent a point of view that seems to preclude the facts spelled out in the article. So, were to go from here? I've written for eight years Canadian military involvement in either Iraq or Afghanistan would be a stupid mistake for everyone but the arms dealers and the undertakers; as it has turned out to be. What is necessary about "work" over there 50? Why did 133 of my fellow Canadian citizens die for a vaguely defined "mission" in Afghanistan. Dead before their time for what? To bring democracy to Afghanistan? To make the women free there? To revenge 9/11? To make sure terrorists don't have a place to hatch their evil plots? Please, don't insult the memory of the slain by repeating such rubbish over their graves. We've been taken in by operators of the worst sort, and it is they, not the unfortunate villager a half world away, that threaten our mutual security. - ed.]
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