Comments on: Death from above http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2007/09/18/death-from-above/ Making the Connections Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:10:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Michael Anderson http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2007/09/18/death-from-above/#comment-522983 Michael Anderson Mon, 17 Jan 2011 12:14:17 +0000 http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2007/09/18/death-from-above/#comment-522983 Full spectrum disorder? http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/16/drones-unmanned-aircraft?CMP=EMCGT_170111& Attack of the drones Unmanned aircraft are now a vital tool in war zones, but our skies could soon be buzzing with spy planes that feed information back to the police – and even the paparazzi Full spectrum disorder?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/16/drones-unmanned-aircraft?CMP=EMCGT_170111&

Attack of the drones
Unmanned aircraft are now a vital tool in war zones, but our skies could soon be buzzing with spy planes that feed information back to the police – and even the paparazzi

]]> By: Sam http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2007/09/18/death-from-above/#comment-92703 Sam Tue, 25 Sep 2007 04:00:42 +0000 http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2007/09/18/death-from-above/#comment-92703 Excellent interview with Paul Craig Roberts on 911, Iraq, the economy: http://electricpolitics.com/ Excellent interview with Paul Craig Roberts on 911, Iraq, the economy:

http://electricpolitics.com/

]]> By: claudia krenz http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2007/09/18/death-from-above/#comment-92072 claudia krenz Thu, 20 Sep 2007 01:04:12 +0000 http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2007/09/18/death-from-above/#comment-92072 Does anyone have a citation for the new ORB study? I think it's *really* important to document such studies. Thanks. Moderator: It's in the link. Does anyone have a citation for the new ORB study? I think it’s *really* important to document such studies. Thanks.

Moderator: It’s in the link.

]]> By: Jack Thompson http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2007/09/18/death-from-above/#comment-92046 Jack Thompson Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:53:30 +0000 http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2007/09/18/death-from-above/#comment-92046 Another flash from the Clinton era, from Robert Young Pelton’s The Worlds Most Dangerous Places, “NATO, which had embarked upon an often-myopic air campaign with the curious proviso that the lives of their volunteer service personnel were worth more than those of the civilians they’d gone to war to protect. The inevitable result of this policy came at Djakovica on April 14, 1999, where, to the ill-concealed delight of Serb authorities, who took busloads of foreign journalists to the gruesome impact site, NATO F-16s demonstrated that, from a distance, convoys of hostile military vehicles and tractors full of refugees can look remarkably similar.” I remember that 60 Minutes interview with Albright where she said “we think the price is worth it” which was also featured in a documentary called Genocide by Sanctions and when it was reviewed by the New York Times the reviewer said that Albright’s words were taken out of context…as if they weren’t just talking about dead children. More spin to get Americans to believe that we really care about Iraqi lives, and that the million plus killed from the U.S. led sanctions were not the fault of the U.S. And I don’t recall the film Black Hawk Down depicting the helicopter air strike that fired 16 I think, TOW missiles into a building thought to be occupied by Aidid, a strike that wounded and killed scores of civilians, an event that undoubtedly strengthened the resolve of the Somalis to repel TFR. I think Americans would have viewed that film differently if they could empathize with people of Somalia, seen that if another countries military was killing their people from the air, they would be pretty eager to get some pay back when they had faces to connect with their loss and trauma. But instead, Americans got to watch racist propaganda, Somalis being depicted as black people being mowed down because they are too stupid to realize that the good Americans are here to help them. When I hear about Predator droves missing their targets and killing civilians, I can’t help but think of every time I read about Israeli attack helicopter pilots shooting anti tank missiles at suspected terrorists while they walk through crowded markets. Of course, dozens of people are killed and maimed. But this is not called murder. And I can’t help but wonder how this is different than Nazis lining up civilians and machine gunning them as a reprisal for the loss of one of their soldiers. And when an American soldier calls in an air strike on a building and the bombs impact kills civilians, this is just called collateral damage, nothing more. They are brown and not like us, so fuck them. And because their lives mean so little to the war planners, it is out of their frame of reference that their deaths only further motivate Iraqis to resist the occupation. Stan, you called Vietnam a race war. I think Iraq must be one as well. Another flash from the Clinton era, from Robert Young Pelton’s The Worlds Most Dangerous Places, “NATO, which had embarked upon an often-myopic air campaign with the curious proviso that the lives of their volunteer service personnel were worth more than those of the civilians they’d gone to war to protect. The inevitable result of this policy came at Djakovica on April 14, 1999, where, to the ill-concealed delight of Serb authorities, who took busloads of foreign journalists to the gruesome impact site, NATO F-16s demonstrated that, from a distance, convoys of hostile military vehicles and tractors full of refugees can look remarkably similar.”

I remember that 60 Minutes interview with Albright where she said “we think the price is worth it” which was also featured in a documentary called Genocide by Sanctions and when it was reviewed by the New York Times the reviewer said that Albright’s words were taken out of context…as if they weren’t just talking about dead children. More spin to get Americans to believe that we really care about Iraqi lives, and that the million plus killed from the U.S. led sanctions were not the fault of the U.S.

And I don’t recall the film Black Hawk Down depicting the helicopter air strike that fired 16 I think, TOW missiles into a building thought to be occupied by Aidid, a strike that wounded and killed scores of civilians, an event that undoubtedly strengthened the resolve of the Somalis to repel TFR. I think Americans would have viewed that film differently if they could empathize with people of Somalia, seen that if another countries military was killing their people from the air, they would be pretty eager to get some pay back when they had faces to connect with their loss and trauma. But instead, Americans got to watch racist propaganda, Somalis being depicted as black people being mowed down because they are too stupid to realize that the good Americans are here to help them.

When I hear about Predator droves missing their targets and killing civilians, I can’t help but think of every time I read about Israeli attack helicopter pilots shooting anti tank missiles at suspected terrorists while they walk through crowded markets. Of course, dozens of people are killed and maimed. But this is not called murder. And I can’t help but wonder how this is different than Nazis lining up civilians and machine gunning them as a reprisal for the loss of one of their soldiers. And when an American soldier calls in an air strike on a building and the bombs impact kills civilians, this is just called collateral damage, nothing more. They are brown and not like us, so fuck them. And because their lives mean so little to the war planners, it is out of their frame of reference that their deaths only further motivate Iraqis to resist the occupation.

Stan, you called Vietnam a race war. I think Iraq must be one as well.

]]> By: peggy http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2007/09/18/death-from-above/#comment-91900 peggy Wed, 19 Sep 2007 01:17:17 +0000 http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2007/09/18/death-from-above/#comment-91900 There are many Americans, and people from other countries as well, who shout their heads off about the monstrosities committed in Iraq by the US government, but it doesn't do a damn bit of good, which is why we'e allowed to shout our heads off. Just my opinion. There are many Americans, and people from other countries as well, who shout their heads off about the monstrosities committed in Iraq by the US government, but it doesn’t do a damn bit of good, which is why we’e allowed to shout our heads off.
Just my opinion.

]]> By: Timothy R. Anderson http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2007/09/18/death-from-above/#comment-91809 Timothy R. Anderson Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:13:49 +0000 http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2007/09/18/death-from-above/#comment-91809 Deaths of Iraqis under-reported. Yet, please, dear reader, imagine the outrage emerging from " average Americans " if gasoline goes up to $ 7. 40 a gallon. I realize that what I'm typing is an over-simple-li-fi-cation of a complex, socio-geopolitical thingy , ........ still, let's just take a deep breath, shall we , and consider what it is that " average Americans " truly hold dear. Availability of cheap gasoline. No waiting. Tim Deaths of Iraqis under-reported. Yet, please, dear reader, imagine the outrage emerging from ” average Americans ” if gasoline goes up to
$ 7. 40 a gallon. I realize that what I’m typing is an
over-simple-li-fi-cation of a complex, socio-geopolitical thingy ,
…….. still, let’s just take a deep breath, shall we , and consider
what it is that ” average Americans ” truly hold dear.

Availability of cheap gasoline. No waiting.

Tim

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