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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsObama Is Flying Blind on Drones
By Albert R. Hunt Apr 14, 2013 11:00 AM ET
As a candidate in 2008, Barack Obama was unsparing in his criticism of President George W. Bushs anti-terrorism policies. He condemned torture and the infamous detention center at Guantanamo Bay, the lack of transparency and congressional oversight, the dubious legal framework and the blowback that was spawning more terrorists and diminishing U.S. standing in the world.
Bushs policies compromised our most precious values, Obama said then. We cannot win a war unless we maintain the high ground and keep the people on our side.
Similar critiques are being heard today, except they are directed at the Obama administration and its extensive use of drones, the armed, unmanned aircraft that have killed much of the al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan.
There is anxiety over the issue in the Obama camp. The president has yet to fulfill his pledge in the Feb. 12 State of the Union speech to provide a rationale and justification for these targeted killings. Congressional challenges and criticisms -- even belatedly from some Democrats -- are mounting. The use of drones has increased sevenfold under Obama and has caused the deaths of thousands of suspected terrorists and at least hundreds of civilians in Pakistan and Yemen.
The adoption of this policy was inevitable given the Democrats 2008 campaign pledge: no torture or rendition, and a tougher approach than Bushs in going after al-Qaeda.
MORE...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-14/obama-is-flying-blind-on-drones.html
Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)We do not forget!
We do not forgive!
We are not here for your entertainment!
WE ARE ANONYMOUS!
any questions?
TheDebbieDee
(11,119 posts)If anything, all other first world countries are trying to duplicate our success and drone technology.
Also, AQ operatives intentionally/knowingly put innocent civilians in danger by hiding/living amongst them.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Everything, and I mean everything, since 9/11.
Tell me the story about 9/11 again.
green for victory
(591 posts)It goes something like this :
Directed by a beardy-guy from a cave in Afghanistan, nineteen hard-drinking, coke-snorting, devout Muslims enjoy lap dances before their mission to meet Allah
Using nothing more than craft knifes, they overpower cabin crew, passengers and pilots on four planes
And hangover or not, they manage to give the worlds most sophisticated air defense system the slip
Unphased by leaving their How to Fly a Passenger Jet guide in the car at the airport, they master the controls in no-time and score direct hits on two towers, causing THREE to collapse completely
Our masterminds even manage to overpower the odd law of physics or two
and the world watches in awe as steel-framed buildings fall symmetrically through their own mass at free-fall speed, for the first time in history.
Despite all their dastardly cunning, they stupidly give their identity away by using explosion-proof passports, which survive the fireball undamaged and fall to the ground
only to be discovered by the incredible crime-fighting sleuths at the FBI.
Meanwhile down in Washington
Hani Hanjour, having previously flunked 2-man Cessna flying school, gets carried away with all the success of the day and suddenly finds incredible abilities behind the controls of a Boeing
Instead of flying straight down into the large roof area of the Pentagon, he decides to show off a little
Executing an incredible 270 degree downward spiral, he levels off to hit the low facade of the worlds most heavily defended building
all without a single shot being fired
. or ruining the nicely mowed lawn
and all at a speed just too fast to capture on video
Further south in Florida
President Bush, our brave Commander-in-Chief continues to read My Pet Goat to a class full of primary school children
shrugging off the obvious possibility that his life could be in imminent danger
In New York
Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein blesses his own foresight in insuring the buildings against terrorist attack only six weeks previously
While back in Washington, "the dick" Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz shake their heads in disbelief at their own luck in getting the New Pearl Harbor catalyzing event they so desired to pursue their agenda of world domination
newfie11
(8,159 posts)About says it all.