41 men targeted but 1,147 people killed: US drone strikes

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/24/-sp-us-drone-strikes-kill-1147

'They hate us for our freedoms.'

Yeah right...

When you're living in constant fear of being droned, it's no surprise you'll loathe America and its allies. How is it we're surprised by militant groups when these strikes are creating them?

Reply 1

anosmianAcrimony

20

Original post by Untitled.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/24/-sp-us-drone-strikes-kill-1147

'They hate us for our freedoms.'

Yeah right...

When you're living in constant fear of being droned, it's no surprise you'll loathe America and its allies. How is it we're surprised by militant groups when these strikes are creating them?

I couldn't have put it better myself, and I've tried.

Reply 2

ChaoticButterfly

20

Yep. It's disgusting. I just try not to think about ti now and keep my mouth shut. I'm sick to death of being labeled or people getting angry with me for being a 'Talaban/ISIS sympathizer' whenever I bring it up.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 3

Untitled.

OP

6

Original post by ChaoticButterfly

Yep. It's disgusting. I just try not to think about ti now and keep my mouth shut. I'm sick to death of being labeled or people getting angry with me for being a 'Talaban/ISIS sympathizer' whenever I bring it up.

Have a read of : http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/10/drones-dream-yemeni-teenager-mohammed-tuaiman-death-cia-strike

The so called war on terror has dehumanised those people living in Yemen / Pakistan to the extent that killing 30 civilians is justified if an alleged terrorist is among them. They'll just be considered collateral damage and the media will report it as a victory for the west.

The short-sightedness of these strikes means the problem will never stop. America claim to want to eradicate terrorism from these countries and in trying to do so, they kill dozens of innocent people. Their relatives decide to fight back so they also become designated as terrorists and the cycle never stops.

Reply 4

Skip_Snip

3

Maybe terrorists should start to think about consequences to their actions then.

Reply 5

Caucasian Rights

US is spreading Democracy and not just the Middle East but Europe with their role in the the Ukraine coup that put in a load of radical anti-Russian's.

Reply 6

the bear

20

Drones are the least damaging option in the war on terror. Unfortunately the cowardly targets use children etc as shields. I am delighted that my tax money is going towards the termination of the bad guys.

Reply 7

username1221160

19

A little bit of collateral damage is an acceptable price to pay (as long as the collateral are not Westerners) for the stable, prosperous Middle East that the West has created after 14 years of military intervention.

Reply 8

jakeel1

12

Original post by Quantex

A little bit of collateral damage is an acceptable price to pay (as long as the collateral are not Westerners) for the stable, prosperous Middle East that the West has created after 14 years of military intervention.

Lol we've done such a **** job we might as well have just colonised them and introduced our own system.

Reply 9

felamaslen

15

It's the way Islamists fight. They hide amongst civilians. They target civilians. Anyone who is willing to fight for ISIS, the Taliban etc. is nothing but a target in my opinion. I do not care what their stated reasons for doing so are, and we do not defeat Islamism by "understanding" Islamists. Their goals are clear, and they will be prevented from accomplishing them. Any unfortunate civilians who die in this process - and of course we should do our best to prevent their tragic deaths - are the responsibility of the jihad, which wants them to be killed for the purposes of propaganda.

Reply 10

mojojojo101

17

Original post by Skip_Snip

Maybe terrorists should start to think about consequences to their actions then.

Yeh. They should really think about it or we will bomb their neighbours. Bet they are well scared.

Original post by felamaslen

It's the way Islamists fight. They hide amongst civilians. They target civilians. Anyone who is willing to fight for ISIS, the Taliban etc. is nothing but a target in my opinion. I do not care what their stated reasons for doing so are, and we do not defeat Islamism by "understanding" Islamists. Their goals are clear, and they will be prevented from accomplishing them. Any unfortunate civilians who die in this process - and of course we should do our best to prevent their tragic deaths - are the responsibility of the jihad, which wants them to be killed for the purposes of propaganda.

Its the way all guerillas fight. The US has been fighting guerilla forces for over a hundred years and they still haven't learnt that bombing the ****.out.of where they live doesn't work...

Reply 11

felamaslen

15

Original post by mojojojo101

Its the way all guerillas fight. The US has been fighting guerilla forces for over a hundred years and they still haven't learnt that bombing the ****.out.of where they live doesn't work...

That's not what precision targeted drone strikes are. This is nothing like the Vietnam war, which did involve crimes. (Bombing of civilians, scorched earth, agent orange etc.), or WWII (let's not even get into that).

Reply 12

mojojojo101

17

Original post by felamaslen

That's not what precision targeted drone strikes are. This is nothing like the Vietnam war, which did involve crimes. (Bombing of civilians, scorched earth, agent orange etc.), or WWII (let's not even get into that).

The problem being that precise is a relative term...

Its not quite like Vietnam but its the same attitude, that treats an opposing guerilla force as you would an organised, professional army. To be fair though military commanders have been that mistake, for, well, ever.

Reply 13

flamingoking

5

I think this video sums up my views on how stupid the American drone strikes are

https://m.youtube.com/?hl=en-GB&gl=GB#/watch?v=K4NRJoCNHIs

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 14

SBKA

2

I think the rise of militant groups is due to many factors. To ignore the foreign policy aspect of it is stupid, but I think that it is even more naive to deny any religious element at all. So often the people who do highlight a religious factor are shouted down as 'Islamophobes'. An example of this is when western leaders constantly came out after the Charlie Hebdo massacre and claimed the attack has nothing to do with Islam, despite the attackers themselves chanting Islamist slogans during the assault.

Reply 15

al_94

14

The terrorist USA are part of the global mafia bombing weddings and even funerals.

Reply 16

MatureStudent36

5

Original post by al_94

The terrorist USA are part of the global mafia bombing weddings and even funerals.

And meanwhile our Muslim brethren in between abusing children, equally abusing animals ons some cases and treating women like dirt have had resounding succeses in promoting equality, democracy and economic growth.

Reply 17

al_94

14

Original post by MatureStudent36

And meanwhile our Muslim brethren in between abusing children, equally abusing animals ons some cases and treating women like dirt have had resounding succeses in promoting equality, democracy and economic growth.

So you accept the modern western civilization is at war with Islam?

Reply 18

DorianGrayism

19

The article doesn't bother to find out how many of the 1800 are actually innocent.

It seems a bit strange that the Taliban targets would be hanging around civilians all the time. My suspicion is that a lot of them are soldiers as well.

Anyway, it is a war. Unless you are a pacifist then I am not sure what the point is. There will always be collateral damage and drones tend to be accurate.