when Juan Cole (my favorite Middle East expert) made similar criticisms of Obama's policies in SALON, he was accused of giving ammunition to Sean Hannity and other right-wing creeps. What crap!
On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 8:57 AM, Bill Lear <[email protected]> wrote: > It's good to see that in his first week in office Obama has not let > his liberal credentials get in the way of good old-fashioned > blood-spilling, sanctioning two CIA remote-control Predator drone > missile attacks in Pakistan that killed at least 22 people, most of > them women and children. > > Let's remind ourselves how this all works: based on information > supplied by paid informants who often have their own motives for > filching on friends and neighbors, the CIA sends Predator drones to > gather "intelligence" --- in unvarnished English "information of > dubious quality" --- that is then used to target "insurgents", > "extremists", or "terrorists". The bombs or missiles ("smart" or > otherwise) are then loosed and the pieces (of human beings) fall where > they may --- a crisp example of "judicious projection of military > power" in Obama's words --- with the predictable effect of increasing > hatred for the United States and corresponding support for groups who > profess the same. Never mind that we are almost always conducting > such bombing within the borders of a sovereign nation against their > wishes, a crime against laws both domestic and foreign, illustrating > with clarity that our government has never bothered to follow the > dictates of our own Constitution (Article VI, Section 2) when imperial > prerogative is in question. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
