MooPig 'Stuff No One Wants to Hear About' Department :: "Drones"

It's 2014, and what do we have? Drones... Yay?!
Retrieved articles by Pat Darnell  |  Jan 5, 2014  |  Bryan TX

[Picture LINK] ... victims of drone strikes were hopeful for the implementation of their fundamental right to life ...

" ... One of the few certainties about wars is that prime ministers and presidents will always send young men to fight and die in them. (Paul Daley. 18 December 2013. LINK) ... Then those same leaders will just as certainly insist that the human, social, financial and political cost has been worth it ... "

MooPig Waging War Editorial Department has a viewpoint on the question: is war in Afghanistan worth the price? When 21st Century politicians in USA and its allies looked at their war chests, they discovered a multitude of weapons research and development work had been done. But none of these new age weapons had been tested in war. So, like Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice, sort of a four brained monster, looked around the globe for a suitable testing ground.


[Picture LINK]


Someone talked the Saudis into funding an attack on the USA, and thus is born the magnanimous Pearl Harbor of the 21st Century, "9/11." This gave the four brained monster its go ahead for a war in the sparsely populated deserts of the Middle East. Good call, because we could now test all our high tech weaponry. What a hey day for Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice, and our million man military.

"We were just looking for someone's ass to kick," said our politicians at the time.

The World Can't Wait! Stop the Crimes of Your Government: " She worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes on Covert Drone War  | Heather Linebaugh | December 29, 2013  |  EXCERPT  | " ... Few of the politicians who so brazenly proclaim the benefits of drones have a real clue how it actually works (and doesn't) Whenever I read comments by politicians defending the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Predator and Reaper program – aka drones – I wish I could ask them a few questions. I'd start with: "How many women and children have you seen incinerated by a Hellfire missile?" ..."

Many, many, many people "see the United States as the oppressor, as the perpetrator, the violator of Pakistan sovereignty, so it is very difficult, extremely difficult for the people on the ground in the tribal areas to defend or support something that is killing members of militant groups" and accidentally killing innocent people in the process. (VOA News. March 15, 2013. LINK)

" ... EXCERPT  |  ... U.S. officials rarely discuss the use of drones against terrorists, though they say privately civilian casualties are minimal.

Imtiaz Gul says his researchers found the collateral damage is significant.

"Largely the pattern that emerged, in most of the cases, regardless of whether there was also a legitimate target present or not, a lot of innocent people, women and children also lost their lives," he said. (ibid. VOA News.)..."

'via Blog this'

Some more questions come to mind as we meander through drone articles. How does a drone analyst become a Drone Flying Ace? Does the controller analyst get her kudos from not killing any one, thus an Ace; or does she become an Ace for killing the most?

For instance it's all about a body count:

" ... 26 Dec 2013: Drone fired two missiles at a home in a northwestern tribal region of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, Pakistani ..."

"...31 Dec 2013: Strikes this year 2013 are estimated to have killed up to 271 people, down from 2012 figure of between 505 and 532..."

"...Heather Linebaugh | December 29, 2013. "...I knew the names of some of the young soldiers I saw bleed to death on the side of a road. I watched dozens of military-aged males die in Afghanistan, in empty fields, along riversides, and some right outside the compound where their family was waiting for them to return home from the mosque...."

" ...20 Dec 2013: Clive Stafford Smith: Response: Drones are killing civilians in Pakistan and Yemen, while Britain refuses to admit its co-operation with illegal US attacks... "

"...Reuters in Sana'a and Spencer Ackerman, Thursday 12 December 2013 | ... Hammond's snapshot of what he calls the "precision" RPA is presented in the same week as the latest drone atrocity, with at least 15 Yemeni people slaughtered in what turned out to be a convoy of wedding guests, not al-Qaida terrorists...."

" ...Clive Stafford Smith. Friday 20 December 2013 ... And neither the US nor the UK will say how many civilians they think they are killing, although we at Reprieve represent more than 150 civilian victims and families of those killed in drone strikes ..."

Slaughter of civilians while trolling for terrorists, that is what we are in store for this year and next. And it is no joke, there are FAA studies to make drones available in USA skies by 2015. The drone program is being expanded and is being tested in "Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia who will host the research sites, the agency said. They were chosen from among 24 states bidding to host the program. (Associated Press in Las Vegas. Monday 30 December 2013. LINK)"

As a matter of fact, the USA is drone crazy: "...Drones have been mainly used by the military but governments, businesses, farmers and others are making plans to join the market. Many universities are starting or expanding drone programs (ibid. AP in LV.)... The FAA projects that some 7,500 commercial drones could be aloft within five years of being given widespread access to American airspace..."

CONCLUSION
Drones are here to stay. We inherit them from our 21st Century military. Commercial use in American airspace is only a year away. Will the effectiveness of drones always be determined by body counts? And, what's to keep American homeowners from shooting drones down?

Critics say: "...The growing drone industry has critics among conservatives and liberals. Giving drones greater access to US skies moves the nation closer to “a surveillance society in which our every move is monitored, tracked, recorded and scrutinized by the authorities”, the American Civil Liberties Union declared in a report last December (ibid. AP in LV.)..."

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Editor's note: MooPig Waging War Editorial Department does not possess any classified material and has honored its non-disclosure agreement since the time of its discharge. So don't send any drones to our house, please! Especially the ones shaped like owls ... YIKES!

[Picture LINK]

_____________________Reference
http://www.worldcantwait.net/
http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/features/covert-drone-war/8450-i-worked-on-the-us-drone-program-the-public-should-know-what-really-goes-on
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/18/in-defence-of-drones-keep-civilians-troops-safe
http://www.theguardian.com/world/drones
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/dec/18/drones-protect-british-troops-afghanistan-philip-hammond-video
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/jul/11/drone-aircraft-carrier-video
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/jun/20/fbi-drones-spy-us-senators-video
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/may/24/barack-obama-drone-strikes-save-lives-video
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/sep/25/boeing-f-16-drone-us-air-force-video
http://www.theguardian.com/world/postcolonial/2013/dec/19/australian-troops-leave-afghanistan-was-it-worth-it
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/26/us-drone-strike-kills-three-militants
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/30/states-host-drone-operational-tests-faa
http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/uk_must_not_hide_drone_war_involvement/
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=259174
http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=22757
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/26/oklahoma-drone-next-generation-faa
http://www.voanews.com/content/resaercher-most-civilian-drone-deaths-from-faulty-information/1622442.html
http://web.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/human-rights-institute/CountingDroneDeathsPresserFINAL.pdf
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/31/civilian-drone-deaths-pakistan-report_n_4180293.html

MooPig Activism :: The Real Costs of Profiteering

Consequences are Deep; the Perpetrators are Shallow
Retrieved by Pat Darnell at Matthew Bach/faceBook  |  Mar 21, 2013  |  Bryan TX

When this war dragged on past Dubya Bush's speech when he said the US has prevailed in the Battle of Iraq; his speech given from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, it awoke a beast in me. I did not know that I would have such hatred for a president as I did on that day. Now years later, in the wake of our Iraqi occupation, I think Dubya was standing on the stern of the carrier. He must have been preaching to the seagulls on the fan tail.

Whatever he was doing, turned out to be a lot of barking at the wind. Dubya Bush is a lunatic, and living proof that privilege allows men to go free even when they are mass murderers.

A dying Iraq veteran pays his last respects to the men and women who killed him.

Dangerous Minds | Dying vet’s ‘fuck you’ letter to George Bush & Dick Cheney needs to be read by every American:

To: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
From: Tomas Young

EXCERPT  |  " I write this letter on behalf of us all—the human detritus your war has left behind, those who will spend their lives in unending pain and grief. I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. "

'via Blog this'

[READ entire Article HERE]

When we find these "Internet" derivations of fact, we are as wary as anybody that it is possibly the work of imagination. But we find this letter expressing many Americans' heart felt opinions of what has happened.

If the letter is a knock-off, well, even so, it should still be regarded as a declaration of independence from the misogyny, hegemony, dilettantism, dreck, and confusion brought on by privileged progeny of rich, bombastic, war profiteers:

at Letter EXCERPT | " ... I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole. ... "

Oooorah!

________________________Reference
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/dying_vets_fuck_you_letter_to_george_bush_dick_cheney_needs_to_be_read
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Mission_Accomplished_speech
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2989459.stm
http://sentence.yourdictionary.com/detritus
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_crucifixion_of_tomas_young_20130310/
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/05/mission-accomplished-speech/37226/
http://www.kansascity.com/2013/03/20/4132153/wounded-kansas-city-iraq-veteran.html
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/tomas-young-dying-iraq-war-veteran-writes-last-letter-to-bush-and-cheney-20130320
http://www.kansascity.com/2013/03/20/4132153/wounded-kansas-city-iraq-veteran.html

Judgment Day -- What kind of Judgment?

War in Libya
by Pat Darnell

[LINK]  |  EXCERPT   |   " ... Under the War Powers Act, the President has 60 days to get authorization from Congress for any military involvement, and if he fails to get that authorization, he must end the involvement within 30 days.

The 60-day authorization period expired on Friday [May 20, 2011].

On Friday, President Obama belatedly and haughtily sent a letter to Congress seeking authorization. That letter said: "It has always been my view that it is better to take military action, even in limited actions such as this, with congressional engagement, consultation and support. Congressional action in support of the mission would underline the U.S. commitment to this remarkable international effort."

Note the phrase “it is better.” Obama acts as though getting approval from Congress is a mere option, not the law or the Constitution that he is obliged to follow. (Matthew Rothschild, May 21, 2011, http://www.progressive.org/wx052111.html , In Libya War, Obama Shows Disdain for War Powers Act)..."