Is Barack Obama a Tory? Or another fascist prick who murders people trying to rescue drone victims.

[bandwraith at aol.com]

Alas, you still seem to be missing the most important statistic here: 
number of drone pilots killed = 0. Yes, yes, I hear your groans ( but I 
cannot feel your pain) and complaints that this is all inhumane, &, 
etc. But I do agree: we must look "beyond the zero"... into the 
paradoxical realm, the land of the repressed, from which at some time, 
in some way, perhaps unrecognizeable- disguised in symbols and 
culturally approved garb- those terrifying impulses and urges, like 
murdering dad and running off with mom, will begin their inevitable 
slouch...

If there is no socially acceptable way of killing off "Sonny," then I 
guess we'll just have to deal with him, won't we? Maybe college or 
drone pilot school or kazoo kamp, or whatever.

Maybe I'll go with a Samsung... convenient and cheap(er).



-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
To: P-list List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wed, Sep 26, 2012 11:11 am
Subject: Re: Is Barack Obama a Tory? Or another fascist prick who 
murders people trying to rescue drone victims.


Mr. president with his kids in quaker school is quite the weasel when 
it comes
to explaining his actions too. "“I want to make sure people understand 
actually
drones have not caused a huge number of civilian casualties,” President 
Obama
said in an hour long interview hosted by Google. “For the most part, 
they’ve
been very precise, precision strikes against against al-Qaeda and their
affiliates.”

This language is fully equal to anything G Bush ever used in being both
meaningless and deceptive. What is "a huge number"? What does" for the 
most
part" mean. If 51 % of drone strikes hit the target  they are, for the 
most
part, precise. What does it mean that they are "against al 
Qaeda"?Because saying
a strike was against Al-Qaeda is not the same as saying those hit were 
members
of Al-Qaeda. And where do these lists come from? From the same place 
that gave
us the list of Guantanamo prisoners.  Does the statement that they were 
against
that mean ol omnipresent Al Kida mean that they are intended to scare 
Al Kida
and his nasty buddies? what is an affiliate? What the fuck  is a tight 
leash? Do
we really believe that the 20 somethings sitting at their computers in 
Colorado
check in with the president before they start blasting?
Then it was exposed that it was all complete pig shit, that anyone 
killed was
automatically counted as an enemy or affiliate unless they posthumously
convinced the US military that they weren't.

An independent research site Pakistan Body Count run by Dr. 
Zeeshan-ul-hassan a
Fulbright scholar keeping track of all the drone attacks claims that 
2179
civilians were among the dead, out of which 12.4% were children and 
women .[104]
A report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, released 4 February 
2012,
stated that from under the Obama administration (2008–2011) drone 
strikes killed
between 282 and 535 civilians, including 60 children.[105]The New 
America
foundation estimates drone deaths at 3,177 from 2004-2012. If the 
Stanford study
is right and 98 % are not known militants that seems like a pretty big 
number of
unjustified killings. If only half are non-combatants that is still a 
huge
number of murders in direct violation of the Geneva accords, apparently 
still
quaint under Obama. In the end it is only xenophobic prejudice and lies 
that
makes any distinction between these murdered civilians and and those 
killed in
the 9-11 massacre.


On Sep 26, 2012, at 9:23 AM, David Morris wrote:

> Ender's Game.
>
> On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 8:13 AM,  <bandwraith at aol.com> wrote:
>>
>> Ah, yea, but this completely misses the convenience angle. Drones are
>> sooooo convenient. It's really just a matter of definition- adjusting
>> the "rules of war," just a bit, to allow for the advantages of this 
new
>> technology. Rationalization is important. These "assaults from above"
>> are analogous to, if you will, certain other "lavatorial assaults," 
but
>> with the added convenience of not having to find yourself displayed 
on
>> You Tube, which can be a huge inconvenience, even if it seemed like 
fun
>> at the time.
>>
>> 
http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/09/24/4284593/2-marines-to-be-court-martialed.html
>>
>> The Public Sphere- seems to be getting more Reimannian all the time.
>>
>> Not sent from my i(phone, pad, other convenient device).
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
>> To: P-list List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> Sent: Tue, Sep 25, 2012 10:48 pm
>> Subject: Re: Is Barack Obama a Tory? Or another fascist prick who
>> murders people trying to rescue drone victims.
>>
>>
>> Glenn Greenwald discusses a Stanford University study on drone
>> killings.
>> 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/25/study-obama-drone-deaths
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>