According to this article in The Telegraph, 168 children have died in Pakistan since the United States initiated drone strikes under the Bush Administration. In one 2006 strike alone, nearly 70 children were killed. Under the Obama Administration, these strikes have increased dramatically. To my mind, it seems fitting to return to this issue in light of what happened in Connecticut yesterday, to imagine the heartbreak and anguish of Pakistani mothers and fathers. As humans, we are all in this together. If you said prayers or shed tears yesterday, please don't forget to save some for these children as well, innocent children killed by the United States of America, which means you and me. Consider ways to influence our government to stop this indiscriminate killing. Consider ways to work together to stop these mass shootings at home.
Everybody in, nobody out...
IBL:mm
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thank you for making the expansiveness need clear. love you.
ReplyDeleteLove to you, Jamie...
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more. Drone and "war on terror", "war on drugs" killings of innocents were the first things that came to mind when I saw this outpouring. It's so blatantly hypocritical. Throughout the history of nationally sanctioned murder the dehumanization of adversaries is the norm. Boot camp for soldiers is all about dehumanization as well. I'm such an uncompromising pacifist. No murder is one of the few bright-line rules I can abide by.
ReplyDeleteOh we do think alike, Mr. Daniel...
ReplyDeleteIt upsets me when NPR acts like just another media outlet. I guarantee you wouldn't get this from democracynow.org: After 15 MINUTES of nearly meaningless talking heads going on about the school shooting it segues to a 30 sec spot on 10 children dead in Afghanistan. While gathering firewood, there was an explosion. It was either a placed-long-ago land-mine, or a recently placed IED. No one really knows. BUT: "The Taliban are known to operate in the area." So we're left with: Dead children in the US: Unconscionable Evil. Dead children in Afghanistan: Taliban - aka Unconscionable Evil. What? Like the fight for gun control here is like the fight against the Taliban? Are we simply re-directing our frustration at our own failures toward the Taliban and unending "War on Terror"? Is the "War on Terror" as intractable and inevitable as gun deaths in the US? Who sells guns and land-mines and high-explosives? Who promotes the Taliban by supporting Israel's discrimination against Palestinians? By juxtaposing and reducing the story to a sound byte NPR is also assigning a lesser value to Afghanistan life.
ReplyDeleteWhew. Sorry, that was a rant.
No apologies needed!
ReplyDeleteTelling it like it is:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/12/the-guilty-conscience-of-a-drone-pilot-who-killed-a-child/266453/
Yeah, that's a kick in the pants that Atlantic article...
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