Pakistani family and American drones
As you read this at your computer, millions of people are at their computers, posting on facebook pictures of their cat sleeping on a couch, dog staring at the camera, child playing with a toy, drunk friend wearing a Halloween costume. Millions of people are watching a video on youtube or a porn site on their computer. Millions more at their computers are buying a book, sweater, ipod, or plane ticket online.
At the same time, a few young guys are sitting down, with their coffee in air-conditioned buildings on bland military bases, at their computers with video screens above, about to kill people on the other side of the world. They will find people on the screens and, with the approval of guys a little older drinking their coffee, push a button to launch a missile that will blow up everything they see on the screen.
Last year, two young men who happened to be muslim set off bombs in Boston that killed three people who happened to be Americans. The same day, a guy who happened to be American in one of the air-conditoned office buildings described above pushed a button that killed five people in Pakistan who happened to be muslim. The bombing in Boston happened one day. The drone attacks are nearly every day. The two men who happened to be muslim were considered terrorists. What do we consider the young guys that kill people from their computer or the nation that trained and pays them?
In the US, many are outraged at killings by firearms or are outraged by abortion (they are rarely the same folk), or feel violated by government surveillance of their emails or phones, or consider expanding health care opportunity the worst thing since slavery or feel shutting down the goverment over it was lunacy. What if another sovereign nation was daily killing our citizens? Congressmen line up for photos of themselves with WWII Honor Flight veterans at the WWII Memorial while only five congressmen (sad to see none were Republican) have the courage to listen to children who came here from Pakistan to ask why the US killed their mother.
Sure, many more have been killed by bombings by our Air Force's conventional bombers in Germany, Japan, Vietnam, Serbia, Iraq. Though sometimes the stated goal is military targets, the purpose of bombing, whether by a bomb a terrorist left in a car or strapped to his or her body or a by a nation's air force bombers or missile equipped drones is to intimidate the opponent, to convince him to give up. The only difference is the bombers, some are are individuals, some are nations. Bombing usually has the opposite affect, building up the resolve of those being bombed to resist.
Sometimes it works: Japan gave up in WWII essentially because their nation was being laid waste by conventional and nuclear bombing. Serbia gave up because their whole infrastructure was being destroyed. Germany gave up only when Russian, American, and British armies had conquered the country, not because of bombing. Iraq is still being fought over by small scale bombers. Vietnam, after being bombed with more tons of bombs than Germany and Japan received in WWII, never gave up, though the country was destroyed. The targets of the drones seem similar to the Vietnamese, never destined to be conquered by bombing.
At the same time, a few young guys are sitting down, with their coffee in air-conditioned buildings on bland military bases, at their computers with video screens above, about to kill people on the other side of the world. They will find people on the screens and, with the approval of guys a little older drinking their coffee, push a button to launch a missile that will blow up everything they see on the screen.
Last year, two young men who happened to be muslim set off bombs in Boston that killed three people who happened to be Americans. The same day, a guy who happened to be American in one of the air-conditoned office buildings described above pushed a button that killed five people in Pakistan who happened to be muslim. The bombing in Boston happened one day. The drone attacks are nearly every day. The two men who happened to be muslim were considered terrorists. What do we consider the young guys that kill people from their computer or the nation that trained and pays them?
In the US, many are outraged at killings by firearms or are outraged by abortion (they are rarely the same folk), or feel violated by government surveillance of their emails or phones, or consider expanding health care opportunity the worst thing since slavery or feel shutting down the goverment over it was lunacy. What if another sovereign nation was daily killing our citizens? Congressmen line up for photos of themselves with WWII Honor Flight veterans at the WWII Memorial while only five congressmen (sad to see none were Republican) have the courage to listen to children who came here from Pakistan to ask why the US killed their mother.
Sure, many more have been killed by bombings by our Air Force's conventional bombers in Germany, Japan, Vietnam, Serbia, Iraq. Though sometimes the stated goal is military targets, the purpose of bombing, whether by a bomb a terrorist left in a car or strapped to his or her body or a by a nation's air force bombers or missile equipped drones is to intimidate the opponent, to convince him to give up. The only difference is the bombers, some are are individuals, some are nations. Bombing usually has the opposite affect, building up the resolve of those being bombed to resist.
Sometimes it works: Japan gave up in WWII essentially because their nation was being laid waste by conventional and nuclear bombing. Serbia gave up because their whole infrastructure was being destroyed. Germany gave up only when Russian, American, and British armies had conquered the country, not because of bombing. Iraq is still being fought over by small scale bombers. Vietnam, after being bombed with more tons of bombs than Germany and Japan received in WWII, never gave up, though the country was destroyed. The targets of the drones seem similar to the Vietnamese, never destined to be conquered by bombing.
Comments
Post a Comment