US Government Releases Drone Strike Data For Non-combatants
In The News
Recently, I read an article on The Intercept and learned that the United States Government released data on the number of non-combatants killed by drones over the past 7 years.
Hypocrisy or Patriotism?
First of all, that this type of brutality, war mongering, and imperialism occurs, often in the name of protecting freedom when in reality it has more to do with protecting U.S. interests in supplying weapons, subsidizing cheap oil, and securing the opium trade, sickens me!
What's even worse is that the Obama administration releases the data after running on both 'transparency' and 'ending foreign wars / occupations.' And then, a bigger slap in the face is releasing the information on a Friday that precedes a holiday weekend that celebrates the same nation who is doing these atrocities' founding by declaring independence from a different imperial state.
Killing Innocents Is Not Justified ... Or Is It?
Is killing innocent people ever justified? With all of mankind's technology and knowledge, as well as the US's supposed moral authority, is it truly? Especially when one considers other constitutional means that exist to 'take out terrorists' such as issuing Letters of Marque and Reprisal. Regardless of whether or not you actually believe that the war is just, are innocents only collateral damage or casualties in a war?
What would you do?
If an occupying force were in the United States and killing innocent civilians to go after perpetrators of on-going war crimes, would US citizens become more radicalized, especially when their homeland is being invaded and families are being brutally maimed and murdered?
Trust in Authority
Not only that, how do you trust the data of the organization that is performing the action when they can define what the word non-combatant means. Is their definition the same as the generally accepted one by the majority of the population? Remember how the NSA re-defined collecting data to mean accessing or querying the already stored information in a database?
All these actions make me question the validity of this report. You can read the report in its entirety and the original site here. Alternatively, you can read the report from my website by click on this link.
Thoughts?
What are other actions of which you don't approve that are conducted by governments around the world?
My favourite quote of your post is: "how do you trust the data of the organization that is performing the action"
What an obvious, but important question. Why DO we ever trust any data we receive this way?
The answer is we shouldn't. We should question everything and demand independent organizations to collect the data as well.
War is hell. People die. It is terrible, but in every war in history there is collateral damage where innocents are killed. Anytime an explosive is used there are chances unlucky innocents will be near it.
What would you do? "If an occupying force were in the United States and killing innocent civilians to go after perpetrators of on-going war crimes, would US citizens become more radicalized, especially when their homeland is being invaded and families are being brutally maimed and murdered?"
A: I believe I would do what most people would do in every country: respond with guerilla warfare. John Ross has excellent work on this idea in his book "Unintended Consequences." Of course, each nation tends to bring their own world-view to "guerilla warfare" ...which is a huge problem in the uncivilized, theocratic areas of the world.
The problem is complex, but I strongly believe we should postpone involvement in the middle east until we have individually-targeted "leading force technology." At that point in time, it would be a good idea to kill the mullahs of Iran, and supplant their government with a free state. See: http://www.vice.com/read/busy-gallows-of-iran-513-v16n1 --Theocracy/totalitarianism spreads by means of its disseminators who are considered "most legitimate."
I favor the rapid development and deployment of K. Eric Drexler's "leading force technology" for precisely this reason. This would allow the west to reduce "collateral damage" to zero. However, if it's not deployed by voluntaryists, it will likely doom humankind, so let's try to prioritize that. See: http://e-drexler.com/d/06/00/EOC/EOC_Chapter_11.html#section04of05