LIKE THOSE 69 SCHOOL CHILDREN KILLED DURING BUSH'S FIRST TERM THAT I WROTE ABOUT IN ANOTHER POST HERE.
69 SCHOOL KIDS, GONE IN A FLASH, DEATH BY DRONE.
.
A DRONE DOESN'T RECOGNIZE INNOCENT FROM GUILTY, TARGET FROM PEACEFUL PEOPLE NEARBY....THEY JUST KILL EVERYONE NEAR THE TARGET.
RON PAUL WARNED YEARS AGO WHEN BUSH RAMPED UP AMERICA'S DRONE ATTACKS THAT WE WOULD MAKE ENEMIES OF PAST FRIENDS. HE WARNED THAT IT WASN'T DEMOCRACY THAT INFURIATED PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST, IT WAS THE INDISCRIMINATE KILLINGS, BY BOMBS, DRONES, AND INVASIONS.
HE WAS RIGHT.
ONE YOUNG MAN DESCRIBES WHAT IT'S LIKE TO FACE A DRONE ATTACK:
<<Late last year, I was with an American colleague from an international media outlet on a tour of Abyan. Suddenly, locals started to become paranoid. They were moving erratically and frantically pointing toward the sky. Based on their past experience with drone strikes, they told us that the thing hovering above us -- out of sight and making a strange humming noise -- was an American drone. My heart sank. I was helpless. It was the first time that I had earnestly feared for my life, or for an American friend's life in Yemen. I was standing there at the mercy of a drone.
I also couldn't help but think that the operator of this drone just might be my American friend with whom I had the warmest and deepest friendship in America. My mind was racing and my heart was torn. I was torn between the great country I know and love and the drone above my head that could not differentiate between me and some AL QAEDA militant. I was one of the most divisive and difficult feelings I have ever encountered. That feeling, multiplied by the highest number mathematicians have, gripped me when my village was droned just days ago. It was the worst feeling I have ever had. I was devastated for days because I knew that the bombing in my village by the United States would empower militants. Even worse, I know it will make people like Al-Radmi look like a hero, while I look like someone who has betrayed his country by supporting America.>>
THAT WAS WRITTEN BY A YOUNG YEMENI MAN WHO LOVES AMERICA, WHO STILL LOVES AMERICA, BUT WHO SAW FIRST-HAND THE HORRORS OF DRONE WARFARE.
<<The remote mountain village of Wessab is nine hours' drive from Yemen's capital.
Farea al-Muslimi was raised there on a farm, where his family lived off fruit, vegetables, and livestock. He would have 19 siblings but for the fact that seven died as a result of inadequate medical care.
A final State Department scholarship funded his college education at the American University of Beirut, where he recently graduated with a degree in public policy. He now works as a democracy activist and a freelance journalist, often helping Western journalists to report in his country. That work has afforded him the opportunity to interview people in the three regions where the Obama Administration has focused its quasi-secret targeted-killing operation in Yemen.
The insights gleaned from his reporting are themselves valuable.
"I have met with dozens of civilians who were injured during drone strikes and other air attacks," al-Muslimi states. "I have met with relatives of people who were killed as well as numerous eyewitnesses. They have told me how these air strikes have changed their lives for the worst." On one occasion, he met a man who described how "he stood helplessly as his 4-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter died in his arms on the way to the hospital." The man's house was targeted by mistake. He reported on another strike that killed 40 civilians and spoke to a 12-year-old boy who cried while describing being afraid of the drones buzzing overhead every night.
In al-Muslimi's estimation, "the killing of innocent civilians by U.S. missiles in Yemen is helping to destabilize my country and create an environment from which al-Qaeda (AQAP) benefits." They use innocents killed by drone strikes as a recruiting tool and rely on the impression drones create that America is at war with all Yemenis. One little boy, whose father was killed in a drone strike, carries a picture of a plane in his pocket and says he wants revenge against his father's killer, "America."
Drone strikes "are the face of America to many Yemenis," he reports. "If America is providing economic, social and humanitarian assistance to Yemen, the vast majority of the Yemeni people know nothing about it.
Everyone in Yemen, however, knows about America and its drones."
In some places, hatred of the drone strikes is so strong that al-Muslimi feels it is dangerous to even acknowledge having visited the U.S., never mind having American friends and acquaintances.>>
SO, WOULD BUSH SAY, "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"?
DOES OBAMA EVEN CONSIDER THIS WHEN HE ORDERS DRONES TO ANOTHER NATION, AND ANOTHER, AND ANOTHER...?
WE HAVE DRONES FLYING OVER OUR HEADS NOW, AMERICA.
DRONES HAVE BEEN USED ON THE MEXICAN BORDER SINCE 2005, ALONG THE CANADIAN BORDER SINCE 2008!
YOU MAY NEVER IMAGINE HOW MANY DRONES ARE UP THERE ABOVE OUR HEADS... AND YOU MAY NEVER KNOW WHAT HIT YOU, OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE, WHEN THE "ACCIDENTS" START HAPPENING HERE.
THEY WILL HAPPEN HERE, COUNT ON IT!
THE ONE THAT CRASHED IN TEXAS IN 2010, ANOTHER, A MILITARY DRONE, IN NEVADA NOT LONG AGO ... "ACCIDENTS" WAITING TO HAPPEN.
THERE WILL BE OTHERS...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n86nfMpCpmA
IN SEATTLE
ARMED WITH NON-LETHAL WEAPONS...TASERS, TEAR GAS, ETC? http://youtu.be/57FY7tZk1JA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57FY7tZk1JA
(VIDEO WON'T LOAD HERE, SORRY, SEE IT ON YOUTUBE)
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