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U.S. Government Does Not Assassinate People (Joe)

That would be, rumor has it, illegal.  The government does, however, engage in this (see also here).  But, you know, a secret C.I.A. Predator drone program in which C.I.A. operatives in Virginia are remotely terminating people who rank highly on our "they're terrorists, kill 'em" list (or else on Pakistan's "people we want the U.S. to kill" list, but they're probably bad people, too) is definitely totally probably maybe not at all the same thing as an illegal political assassination.  Did I mention that this is all classified as covert and not subject to public scrutiny?  And that under the Obama administration the use of drone warfare has increased dramatically?

Fun times we live in, eh?

EDIT: I have no opinion on the wisdom or legality of this program.  But I would invite others to comment.

EDIT II: I also have no opinion as to the existence of this alleged program.  People are also invited to comment on that.

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4 responses to “U.S. Government Does Not Assassinate People (Joe)”

  1. Ruchira

    Now Joe, didn’t you just recently tell us that “the more things change ..” etc? So I am sure you are not surprised. Yes, predator drone attacks have gone up under Obama. I think the reason for that is such targeted unmanned killing lets the administration pretend that the war is not being expanded in its scope. Also, there is likely to be far less public outcry over remote controlled killing missions where US soldiers are not dying.
    We know, we know. You don’t have to tell us what you believe about the legality or the existence of such programs. Just show up here from time to time to assure us of your own existence.

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  2. Sujatha

    Yesterday’s Fresh Air on NPR had a horrifying account of how Baithullah Mahsud was killed (assassinated?) using a drone. Welcome to bizarro-world, where even pacifically-inclined candidates change into hawks the moment they have taken the oath of office to defend the US Constitution:
    “Ms. MAYER: Well, I mean it’s obviously disturbing for the people on the ground. But if they are our enemies, this is the kind of disturbing we want to do. I mean what’s – one of the great ripple effects of the drone program is that it’s so unnerves the terrorists that they basically stay in their houses all day. They only come out at night. They communicate with each other very – with great worry. They don’t want to use cell phones for fear that the National Security Administration will pick them up.
    It makes them turn on each other because they keep thinking that there are spies in their midst who are basically informing on them and that’s how the drones figure out who to target. So all of that is if you want to try to disrupt terrorists in their nests, these are all great effects of the drone program.
    But the problem is, of course, that the drones take out a number of innocent people or just make mistakes sometimes and you wind up killing, you know, the wrong people. And that actually happened even on Obama’s first missile strike, which was during his third day in office. “

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  3. kochuthresiamma p j

    went through the links. we live in terrible times indeed!
    violence offocialised, international territorial boundaries poohpoohed, death living next door among unsuspecting peace loving citizens.
    we live in confusing times too. cant quite decide where right and wrong lie.
    am seriously considering vanishing into the wilderness with that book of verse and cup of wine – -before we all go up in eternal flames

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  4. Dean C. Rowan

    Boys and their toys. The two links need to be read together. In the first Mayer piece to which Joe links, the abstract, there’s this:

    Peter W. Singer, the author of “Wired for War,” a recent book about the robotics revolution in modern combat, argues that the drone program is worryingly “seductive,” because it creates the perception that war can be “costless.”

    But in the second, the interview with Mayer, this:

    Peter Singer, who wrote a book on robotic warfare, said that cubicle warriors experience the same stress as regular warriors in a real war. Detached killing still takes a tremendous emotional toll inside our borders.

    If, as Mayer also states, “It doesn’t take as much talent or experience or training to pilot a drone as it does to pilot a real plane. The skills are much like what you need to do well in a video game,” then this looks much like the legacy of the famous Milgram experiments. There the “costs” were emotional, too.
    Gee, President Obama, isn’t hope an emotion? Did you run on a worthless platform?

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