'Signature Strikes' and Obama's Empty Rhetoric on Drones

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/signature-strikes-and-obamas-empty-rhetoric-drones



On March 17, 2011, four Hellfire missiles, fired from a U.S. drone, slammed into a bus depot in the town of Datta Khel in Pakistan's Waziristan border region. An estimated 42 peoplewere killed. It was just another day in America's so-called war on terror. To most Americans the strike was likely only a one-line blip on the evening news, if they even heard about it at all.

But what really happened that day? Who were those 42 people who were killed, and what were they doing? And what effect did the strike have? Did it make us safer? These are the questions raised, and answered, in a must-watch new video just released by Robert Greenwald's Brave New Foundation.

The attack was what has come to be called a "signature strike." This is when the CIA or the military makes the decision to fire based not on who the targets are but on whether they are exhibiting suspicious patterns of behavior thought to be "signatures" of terrorists (as seen on video from the drone). Given that the CIA is killing people it's never identified based on their behavior, one would assume a certain rigor has gone into defining the criteria for the kinds of behavior that get one killed.

So what's a signature behavior? "The definition is a male between the ages of 20 and 40," former ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter told the Daily Beast's Tara McKelvey. "My feeling is one man's combatant is another man's -- well, a chump who went to a meeting." The New York Times quoted a senior State Department official as saying that when the CIA sees "three guys doing jumping jacks," the agency thinks it is a terrorist training camp.

[cantbeserious]

1. Thank You For Sharing - Obama's Drones, Creating New Terrorists Daily

eom

[TheKentuckian]

2. This is the stuff of war crimes. What is the defense of this practice? A direct defense.

[zeemike]

3. They don't have to defend it

The American people have signed off on it...our allies have too and the poor countries can do nothing about it...

[warrant46]

5. The Hague from Wiki

The International Criminal Court (commonly referred to as the ICC or ICCt is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression

Currently, 122 states are states parties to the Statute of the Court,

The law of treaties obliges these states to refrain from “acts which would defeat the object and purpose” of the treaty until they declare they do not intend to become a party to the treaty.Three of these states—Israel, Sudan and the United States—have informed the UN Secretary General that they no longer intend to become states parties and, as such, have no legal obligations arising from their former representatives' signature of the Statute.

[MichaelKelley]

4. There is no way getting out of it...

I agree that if a CIA sees that "three guys doing jumping jacks," the agency thinks it is a terrorist training camp. The blame should be also on the Pakistani politicians, who are not willing to take stand against terrorism, the world is fighting with this and they are supporting. If they would take the honest stand against terrorism, then I do not think USA will do this to them.

[WillyT]

6. K & R !!!

[RC]

7. Here is the root of the problem:

"...when the CIA sees "three guys doing jumping jacks," the agency thinks it is a terrorist training camp.

Why is the CIA conducting wars in the first place? Is not that supposed to be the what the military does, under control of the Commander in Chief? With the exception of bu$h the greater, does the president even have any control over the CIA?
And again, what are we even accomplishing in the Middle East in the first place? Really? We are not at war with any of the countries we are blowing up. All we are accomplishing is creating more terrorist than we are murdering with our drones, in the name of fighting terrorism. A self-perpetuating, for profit, endless cycle of murder and mayhem, with the surviving friends and relatives of the men, women and children murdered, becoming terrorist themselves, the moment we murder them at some later date.

"...when the CIA sees "three guys doing jumping jacks," the agency thinks it is a terrorist training camp." Sarcasm? No the bald truth.

[pocoloco]

8. Not much hope left when a Nobel Peace Prize winner is commanding the Drones.

[RC]

10. Yeah, that sure does not help any.

Tell me again, what did he do to get that award?

[think]

13. +1 /nt

[theaocp]

9. ...and how do the families and friends

of those who lost their lives feel about us? My guess is not too friendly. But we're the good guys, right? Right?

[idwiyo]

11. K&R State sponsored terrorism, pure and simple.

[think]

12. "when the CIA sees "three guys doing jumping jacks,"

The New York Times quoted a senior State Department official as saying that when the CIA sees "three guys doing jumping jacks," the agency thinks it is a terrorist training camp.

These drone strikes are stain on America. Innocent people are being killed without just cause. It is reprehensible and should be put to an end.

[bvar22]

14. When one country drops BOMBS on another country with which they are NOT in a Declared WAR,

and kills civilians,
THAT is a Premeditated Act of Aggressive WAR and a WAR CRIME.

Can you imagine if any other country in the World did THAT to the USA,
no matter WHAT the reason?

[woo me with science]

15. +10000

[xchrom]

16. indeed. nt