Afgan children killed by USA

A top news store today was the admission by the White House that one of US Killer Drones killed an American and Italian citizen in a drone attack. The President apologized to the American family and took full responsibility. He added that his office “will do everything we can do to prevent the loss of innocent lives, not just of Americans, but all innocent lives, in our counterterrorism operations.” Actually 3 Americans were killed in this drone attack but since the other two were members of al-Qa’ida I guess their lives do not count. Actually “The Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates that between 2004 and 2015, as many as 960 civilians may have been killed by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, including up to 207 children.” Other groups, including Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) estimate much higher numbers. If you include innocent civilians killed by American aircraft the number is much higher. In one attack on a wedding party in Afghanistan the government said 47 civilians including the bride were killed by a USA bombing strike. Where are the apologies by the President on this non-good Americans killing? One article I read quoted an attorney with the international human rights group saying “The White House is setting a dangerous precedent - that if you are Western and hit by accident we’ll say we are sorry, but we’ll put up a stone wall of silence if you are a Yemeni or Pakistani civilian who lost an innocent loved one. Inconsistencies like this are seen around the world as hypocritical, and do the United States’ image real harm.”

A good friend told me tonight that when he votes for President he always votes for the “lesser of two evils” that for him voting for the Democratic candidate, even if he means voting for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. I pointed out that voting for lesser of two evils is still voting for evil and our Christian faith tells us “the end does not justify the means.” President Obama, in his second terms election which cost over a billion dollars, was considered by many to be the “lesser of two evils.” Although he approves a “kill list” for CIA attacks by Special Forces or drones every Tuesday, although he has been president over a time when the division between rich and poor in USA has grown and although he has ordered more deportations than all the presidents in USA history combined he is not held accountable. Some say the congress, Republicans are to be blamed and some say he is too blame. But whoever is to blame the killing goes on and more and more persons, including USA citizens, want to harm our country.

Another friend sent me via Facebook a more telling fact: “America has been at war 222 out of 239 years since 1776.” Empires have always considered the killing of others, not its own, as justified in war, even though they are innocent. The insanity of “endless war” continues.

Comments

Please send any comments on this post to . Let us know which day’s post your comments pertain to. If the comments are appropriate we will post them here for you.