The debate about the US’s penchant for murdering people in foreign countries has become tiresome. At this point, with no meaningful declaration’s of war, a “war” against a tactic, the assumption the US can kill anyone anywhere, who cares? The US is just the biggest bully on the block, declaring “we can violate international law and sovereignty, and kill tons of civilians during our assassination attempts, because we’re too strong for you to do anything about it.”
Oh, and so many “leaders” of “al-Qaeda” have been killed over the years that I always put quotation marks around both words in my head.
America is very good at assassinating people.
So’s Israel.
I notice that neither of them are succesful at solving the actual problem they’re supposedly trying to address.
Maybe the US should stop copying tactics and strategies that don’t work.
Celsius 233
I can’t really add anything to your excellent summation of our present government except a string of 4 and 5 letter expletives.
My strident hope is; we actually begin to look for solutions.
And besides, a trail of dead bodies extending to the horizon isn’t an attractive legacy.
John B.
And the eternal loop blowback that will follow these policies will be hell on earth…
Mad Hemingway
America’s problems in the Middle East and the world all begin and end with Israel.
It was a sad day and the beginning of the end for the US when it took Israel and used it to establish a Middle East outpost.
That’s when America’s decline began.
anonymous
Well, our fate is tied to Israel’s (for reasons that are never explained beyond “Israel is our closest and most important ally in the region”, whatever the hell that means), so we might as well copy their strategies so that everybody is on the same page. It may seem like the tail is wagging the dog, but there must be a good Orwellian reason for it. Not much else makes sense about the last 10 years in this country, unless you start dressing in Reynold’s Wrap.
Mad Hemingway
If there was a Jesus, he was probably Palestinian.
That could explain why Israel wants to eliminate them so much and wipe them from memory. This map ( http://sabbah.biz/mt/wp-content/palestine_olmert_plan_maps.jpg ) shows how effective Israel has been at stealing land.
I have Shlomo Sand’s book “The Invention of the Jewish People” on my reading list.
David Farrell
Baby, you misspelled successful.
Cujo359
What I find tiring about the assassination “debate” is the same thing that I find tiring about debates about torture – that there is need for a debate at all. These things shouldn’t be official U.S. policy unless we’re at war. Even then, I see no use for torture.
Formerly T-Bear
Assassination, torture, terror are the final products of a bankrupt power, one no longer able or capable of civilized discourse, a power in the decline from power, in an attempt to forestall not only the decline but the perception of decline, power at its most dangerous moment.
Fear is the ally, the common denominator of assassination, torture, and terror and does the dirty work; spreading as a disease, a cancer among the innocent as well as the victim; insidiously undermining public trust; aborting both reason and rational thought; subverting the full spectrum of public discourse into narrow channels bound by self-imposed agreement; blocking the ability to hear, or be heard; usurping choice; ultimately killing the independent mind of the subject. Fear is the great sovereign, majestic, authoritarian and absolute ruler.
Unless an antidote is found, the probability of outcome is dire. Knowledge holds the key to the antidote, the assault on knowledge is directed at removing the key from being used to gain the antidote, substituting belief for fact, myths for knowledge, and ideology for time tested experience. Trust no one with the easy answer, glib proverb, or unexamined “gift”. Excellence is not easily counterfeited and stands as a useful guide and standard; that which is without excellence – discard, little utility can be had.
b.
“Maybe the US should stop copying tactics and strategies that don’t work.”
Define “working”. The maximization of National Security Racket profit – the most efficient conversion of public money into private wealth – depends on filling the money bags with tax revenue, while not filling too many body bags with relatives of the tax-paying masses. You can trust “Bygones” Obama to service the system along the known path of least resistance – call it the action principle of opportunistic politics.
Formerly T-Bear
Addendum: From El País Friday 19 February 2010
Headline: 4 Mysterious Disappearances/Assassinations in Iran
Masud Ali Mohammadí (Physicist of Theoretical Particle Physics-Teaching) was assassinated by a motorcycle bomb at his home on 14 January 2010. (suspected Israeli/US attack)
Shahram Amirí (Physicist studying Nuclear Medicine) disappeared on a pilgrimage to Mecca in 2009 (suspected CIA involvement).
Ali Reza Asgari (Vice-minister of Defense) disappeared in Istanbul in 2007. Would have high level knowledge of any secret programs.
Ardeshir Hoseinpur (Physicist, authority on Electromagnetism) died under strange circumstances in 2007.
(The name spelling is from El País). Apparently being knowledgeable in Physics in Iran is hazardous to the health.