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Pentagon Plans Escalated Drone Killings |
By Stephen
Lendman |
| Drones are instruments of state terror. Washington’s official narrative
is pure rubbish - claiming terrorists alone are targeted, civilians aren’t
killed, and drone warfare makes America safer. Fact: Attacks are indiscriminate extrajudicial executions - in flagrant violation of core international law. Fact: Few so-called “high value” targets are eliminated. Fact: Large numbers of civilian men, women and children are murdered in cold blood. International law protecting them in combat theaters is ignored. Fact: Bodies of innocent victims are blasted into unrecognizable pieces or burned beyond recognition. Fact: Family members, bystanders and rescuers are killed or maimed by what’s called “double tapping” - striking the targeted area two or more times. Fact: Drone warfare facilitates anti-American recruitment. It elevates the US to greater pariah state status. It’s state-sanctioned murder - undermining respect for rule of law principles. Pentagon officials aren’t satisfied. They plan expanding drone attacks by 50% in the next four years - from around 60 daily to 90, an agenda for escalated mass slaughter and destruction, as well as greater aerial spying over wider areas. It’s part of America’s war on humanity worldwide - endless conflicts for unchallenged global dominance, ravaging, destroying and pillaging one country after another. Drone warfare alone kills thousands of victims. Washington suppresses casualty figures to keep its Murder, Inc. campaign secret. By 1919, Pentagon planners intend having the air force fly 60 daily flights, the army 16, Special Operations Command four, and private military contractors 10 or more. An earlier report said only 84 of 2,379 drone attack victims in Pakistan since 2004 were Al Qaeda members. Only 295 were members of an armed group. John Kerry claiming “(t)he only people we fire at are confirmed terror targets at the highest level” is one of his many Big Lies. Indiscriminately slaughtering civilians is longstanding US policy since the beginning of the republic. Only weapons, targets and tactics change over time. National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden turned truth on its head claiming targeted drone strikes assure “near-certainty” of no civilians killed. She ludicrously called exceptions “rare instances.” Drone warfare under Obama exceeds all his predecessors combined. Cold-blooded murder is official administration policy. Noncombatants suffer most - innocent men, women and children in harm’s way. Drones hover 24-hours a day over targeted areas - striking homes, vehicles and public spaces without warning. Residents are terrorized, constantly fearful, knowing deadly strikes can happen any time, with no way to protect themselves. Britain’s Reprieve human rights group estimates 28 noncombatants killed to eliminate one so-called terrorist. There’s nothing precise about indiscriminate slaughter. US drone warfare kills thousands extrajudicially. No due process. No judicial fairness, just cold-blooded murder in countries threatening no others - part of America’s war OF terror on humanity. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. |
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