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

[Paul Mackin]

On 9/26/2012 11:57 AM, bandwraith at aol.com wrote:
> 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).

Homeland season 1 skillfully shows the incomputability of war. 
Eighty-two children are killed in the drone strike, but it is the loss 
of just a special one of these that turns Sgt Brody into a would-be 
terrorist. And it is, again,  the love of a single person, his 16 year 
old daughter, that may (we don't know yet) turn him back.

P

>
>
>
> -----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 
>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
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