Now that the first decade has passed since the horrific attacks of September 11 that led our government to invade and occupy 2 Middle Eastern countries, it appears that the end may finally be in sight for these "wars."
At least, that is the "official" reality. Troops are being withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan, and supposedly combat operations in both places are drawing to a close in the foreseeable future.
But, as we all know, this "official" truth is not the whole truth, because the CIA's drone program, which is classified and so cannot even be mentioned by President Obama or his Administration, continues. This is not only a holdover from the previous administration's War on Terror, it is a tactic that has been wholeheartedly embraced by the this Administration and made its own, with drone attacks actually being ramped by a factor of five since Obama took office.
It's not just the numbers that have been increased, either. The breadth of those targets has been steadily increasing since the Bush Administration.
And the strikes aren't just against al-Qaida's leadership. In 2008, the Bush administration broadened the campaign to include lower-ranking foot soldiers. They also started targeting groups that Pakistan saw as threats. The Obama administration did the same thing.
And why not? This ability to drop Hellfire missiles on the locations of "suspected" U.S. enemies (well, someone's enemies) by remote-control, is a lot less politically costly than putting American troops in harm's way.
According to former U.S. officials, the Obama administration made a decision to step up the drone campaign. The technology has gotten better — drones can now hover for days at a time.
Meanwhile, the military personnel who control the drones by pushing buttons in front of computer screens in Nevada can head home after work to have dinner with their families. That's a pretty sweet deal for us.
Of course...there is a high price paid by the communities where these attacks occur.
Not so long ago there was a powerful diary on the Recommended list that featured graphic images of the bodies of children who had been maimed and killed by our forces in Iraq. I am wondering where that same empathy is for the children on the Pakistan border.
This is a topic that is rarely discussed around here, either on the Front Page or in diaries. I would like to use a story told by a human rights attorney in an editorial yesterday to start a discussion about the drone attacks, and whether we as Democrats support their use.
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