Personalizing
the drone debate has given some degree of protection to President Obama who has
often endured racist attacks and a level of ugly bitter personal criticism
(much of it phony and/or based silly conspiracy theories) that the office of
the presidency has not seen before.
Personalizing
the drone debate has given him immunization to valid criticism that a targeted
extra-judicial killing program that is not part of warfare but more like
executions, that gives the government broad authority to kill not only foreign enemy
combatants but American citizens, that often result in collateral damage – the death
of innocent people who happen to be nearby, has the huge potential for abuse.
And
that’s really what it’s all about – the precedent of Obama’s drone policy.
It
has been disappointing to see liberals, actually maybe it’s better to call them
Democrats, back down on criticizing Obama over the drone program
But
consider this….What if a Republican wins the White House in 2016? What if he increases the drone program both
number of drones and countries they are used in? What if he further softens rules of engagement
making collateral deaths even more frequent?
And what if he greatly increases the use of drones to the USA? Can a police state be far off?
Also
expect drone technology to spread just like nuclear technology and chemical
weapons leading to small drone wars between nations in other parts of the world
such as Africa and the Middle East. We
are starting to see this already.
If
you are willing to give Obama a pass then it’s just hypocrisy to blame the next
possibly Republican administration.
And
back to collateral damage – it’s been estimated in Pakistan for 22 Al Qaeda
targets killed there have been 800 innocent civilians (including at least 186
children) Can you live with that? http://www.policymic.com/articles/20992/predator-drone-strikes-36-civilians-are-murdered-for-every-terrorist-killed-by-a-drone
I can’t.
I think it’s shameful and I think President
Obama is shameful.
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