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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"Trayvon Martin looks like he's up to no good ..."Thank God Zimmerman didn't have drones/ Will Bunch
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
If you're "probably up to no good," President Obama wants to kill you
Posted by Will Bunch
Quote from NYT investigative article:: "Secret Kill List Tests Obamas Principles" - NYTimes.com
Mr. Obama embraced a disputed method for counting civilian casualties that did little to box him in. It in effect counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent.
Counterterrorism officials insist this approach is one of simple logic: people in an area of known terrorist activity, or found with a top Qaeda operative, are probably up to no good. Al Qaeda is an insular, paranoid organization innocent neighbors dont hitchhike rides in the back of trucks headed for the border with guns and bombs, said one official, who requested anonymity to speak about what is still a classified program.
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This may be the ultimate example of something we've seen a lot in the last three and a half years, which we'll call, "If President Bush did this, liberals would be outraged." For what little it's worth, I'm fairly outraged. I do certainly approve of the raid and killing of Osama bin Laden and believe there was a time when al-Qaeda was stronger and more of a threat that these kind of attacks could be justified with solid intelligence.
But today the harm that's caused by raining death from machines in the sky down onto far too many civilians -- including someone's son, brother, or father who wasn't "up to no good" at all -- vastly outweighs any good. Righteous anger over the killing of civilians creates new terrorists faster than the killing of any old ones. As for the morally indefensible position that any male killed in such an attack is "probably up to no good," isn't the Obama administration saying the EXACT same thing that George Zimmerman said about Trayvon Martin?
Ponder that for a moment.
One more revolting thing is the news that a political adviser, David Axelrod, sat in on some of these meetings at which it was decided who would live and die.
If Karl Rove had done that (which he did, by the way). liberals would have been outraged.
UPDATE: Actually, the similarity with Zimmerman is even greater than I first thought. What he said to the Sanford police dispatcher was that Trayvon Martin "looks like he's up to no good." Thank God Zimmerman didn't have drones, huh?
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/If-youre-probably-up-to-no-good-then-President-Obama-wants-to-kill-you.html
Bluerthanblue
(13,669 posts)no need to drag the two situations together.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)innocent or dead.
grok
(550 posts)Its would match more if the drone followed a suspected terrorist, the suspected terrorist shot a glancing shot at the drone with a pea shooter, and only THEN the drone dropped a bomb on the suspected terrorist.
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)JVS
(61,935 posts)dionysus
(26,467 posts)Life Long Dem
(8,582 posts)I suspect your up to no good (not the OP). Do they have a problem with me saying I suspect you of trying to bash Obama over this and drones?
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)Theres too many ways to degrade this author's analogy for the pile of moronic bullshit that it is. I don't think I could fit them all in one post. You should be ashamed of yourself for thinking theres any intellectual value to this utter nonsense.