I actually heard Hannity summarize the drone issue yesterday.
Leaving the Benghazi hysteria aside, he said it exactly the way I see it. The
President is a hypocrite. Obama has the all the moral authority of Captain
Renault in Casablanca “I'm shocked, shocked to find that [fill in the blank] is
going on”. What defensible position does the President occupy on torture as
cruel and inhuman when he then goes ten steps further and orders the killing of
suspected terrorists without trial or due process rights? I acknowledge that these rights are not Universal
and the idea that America ought to stand or something is sort of quaint, but
this is completely unprincipled, lacking of safeguards and oversight in any way.
The Republicans – suspiciously motivated as they may be—have
every right to criticize, every right to call the President’s policy on drones hypocritical.
Notwithstanding the utter absurdity of their handwringing over the death of
four Americans in Benghazi, with neither mention or consequence to the death of
4,000 in a needless war Iraq, it looks like Republicans, furious over the hypocrisy
of the moment, may be the only ones that call the drone policy out for any real
and extended criticism. Liberals would have gone crazy if this was Bush. It
really shows at the moral center how sometimes people on both sides of the
spectrum let their politics get in the way of their ethics.
Even though some of the detainees clearly ought to be
released, I tend to give the President a bit of a pass on Guantanamo. The torture
inflicted on the real, real bad guys might make fair trials in civilian courts
nearly impossible, and Congress has largely prevented the movement of these people
to the US. Moreover, a guy’s right against self-incrimination sort of goes out
the window when he’s on the downhill side of a water board. That was a result
of Bush/ Cheney’s lawless stupidity.
This one, though, is completely on the President.
As matter of National Security I side with those who
question how making millions of Pakistanis & Yemenis, the parents, aunts,
uncles, and cousins of these children America’s enemy. Some have called
yesterday a proud day for America, as these complicated issues, and they are
that, were aired in a small “d” democratic fashion in the halls of Congress by
our elected representatives during Brennan’s confirmation hearing. Give me a
minute to muffle the snickers. Assuming yesterday was the last we’ll hear about
this—only Ron Widen (D-OR) raised any pointed questions—there was nothing to be
proud of in what was heard yesterday. This policy is the definition of out of
control. I acknowledge the conflict that some feel because of the sincerity and
probity they ascribe the President. In matters of War and Peace this president has
been a model of restraint and cautiousness. That said this is as much about America
as it is about the President. We can choose to be a country of laws, or we can
allow ourselves to be ruled by monarchs. Allowing the Commander in Chief to ignore
basic Constitutional principles brings us steps closer to the latter, while
preserving powers for future Presidents that will be disastrous for America and
the World.
There have been over 400 drone strikes in the Obama
presidency, about one a day. 173 children have been killed. The faces of many of these children are available
on Google images. Like every other American many of the events over these last
ten, fiteen, years have shocked and saddened me. I will never, ever forget the day I spent in
New York on 9-11, and the horrific images and events in the days that followed.
But when I look in the eyes of some of these kids, I cannot be proud or certain
about what we do in response. Is this is the price for our freedom?
List of Children Killed by Drone Strikes in
Pakistan and Yemen
PAKISTAN
Name | Age | Gender
Noor Aziz | 8 | male
Abdul Wasit | 17 | male
Noor Syed | 8 | male
Wajid Noor | 9 | male
Syed Wali Shah | 7 | male
Ayeesha | 3 | female
Qari Alamzeb | 14| male
Shoaib | 8 | male
Hayatullah KhaMohammad | 16 | male
Tariq Aziz | 16 | male
Sanaullah Jan | 17 | male
Maezol Khan | 8 | female
Nasir Khan | male
Naeem Khan | male
Naeemullah | male
Mohammad Tahir | 16 | male
Azizul Wahab | 15 | male
Fazal Wahab | 16 | male
Ziauddin | 16 | male
Mohammad Yunus | 16 | male
Fazal Hakim | 19 | male
Ilyas | 13 | male
Sohail | 7 | male
Asadullah | 9 | male
khalilullah | 9 | male
Noor Mohammad | 8 | male
Khalid | 12 | male
Saifullah | 9 | male
Mashooq Jan | 15 | male
Nawab | 17 | male
Sultanat Khan | 16 | male
Ziaur Rahman | 13 | male
Noor Mohammad | 15 | male
Mohammad Yaas Khan | 16 | male
Qari Alamzeb | 14 | male
Ziaur Rahman | 17 | male
Abdullah | 18 | male
Ikramullah Zada | 17 | male
Inayatur Rehman | 16 | male
Shahbuddin | 15 | male
Yahya Khan | 16 |male
Rahatullah |17 | male
Mohammad Salim | 11 | male
Shahjehan | 15 | male
Gul Sher Khan | 15 | male
Bakht Muneer | 14 | male
Numair | 14 | male
Mashooq Khan | 16 | male
Ihsanullah | 16 | male
Luqman | 12 | male
Jannatullah | 13 | male
Ismail | 12 | male
Taseel Khan | 18 | male
Zaheeruddin | 16 | male
Qari Ishaq | 19 | male
Jamshed Khan | 14 | male
Alam Nabi | 11 | male
Qari Abdul Karim | 19 | male
Rahmatullah | 14 | male
Abdus Samad | 17 | male
Siraj | 16 | male
Saeedullah | 17 | male
Abdul Waris | 16 | male
Darvesh | 13 | male
Ameer Said | 15 | male
Shaukat | 14 | male
Inayatur Rahman | 17 | male
Salman | 12 | male
Fazal Wahab | 18 | male
Baacha Rahman | 13 | male
Wali-ur-Rahman | 17 | male
Iftikhar | 17 | male
Inayatullah | 15 | male
Mashooq Khan | 16 | male
Ihsanullah | 16 | male
Luqman | 12 | male
Jannatullah | 13 | male
Ismail | 12 | male
Abdul Waris | 16 | male
Darvesh | 13 | male
Ameer Said | 15 | male
Shaukat | 14 | male
Inayatur Rahman | 17 | male
Adnan | 16 | male
Najibullah | 13 | male
Naeemullah | 17 | male
Hizbullah | 10 | male
Kitab Gul | 12 | male
Wilayat Khan | 11 | male
Zabihullah | 16 | male
Shehzad Gul | 11 | male
Shabir | 15 | male
Qari Sharifullah | 17 | male
Shafiullah | 16 | male
Nimatullah | 14 | male
Shakirullah | 16 | male
Talha | 8 | male
YEMEN
Afrah Ali Mohammed Nasser | 9 | female
Zayda Ali Mohammed Nasser | 7 | female
Hoda Ali Mohammed Nasser | 5 | female
Sheikha Ali Mohammed Nasser | 4 | female
Ibrahim Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 13 |
male
Asmaa Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 9 | male
Salma Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 4 |
female
Fatima Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 3 |
female
Khadije Ali Mokbel Louqye | 1 | female
Hanaa Ali Mokbel Louqye | 6 | female
Mohammed Ali Mokbel Salem Louqye | 4 | male
Jawass Mokbel Salem Louqye | 15 | female
Maryam Hussein Abdullah Awad | 2 | female
Shafiq Hussein Abdullah Awad | 1 | female
Sheikha Nasser Mahdi Ahmad Bouh | 3 | female
Maha Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 12 | male
Soumaya Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 9 | female
Shafika Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 4 | female
Shafiq Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 2 | male
Mabrook Mouqbal Al Qadari | 13 | male
Daolah Nasser 10 years | 10 | female
AbedalGhani Mohammed Mabkhout | 12 | male
Abdel- Rahman Anwar al Awlaki | 16 | male
Abdel-Rahman al-Awlaki | 17 | male
Nasser Salim | 19
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