I spotted this article on Reddit.com today. The little Vietnamese girl who was photographed running, terrified, naked and burned from the napalm attack recovered, grew up to become a doctor and is now living in Canada. She has lived quite an interesting life.
Americans don't seem to understand much of anything unless we restate it in a war-metaphor: War on Drugs War on Terror War on Poverty War on Science War on Democracy And now there is a "War Against Floods," which we battle with the "Army Corp of Engineers." And I forgot to mention some of the other wars: [More . . . ]
Those who are uncomfortable with cognitive dissonance or so-called conspiracy theories might be better off skipping this post. Those who seek to understand the machinations of our government however, are encouraged to read on. Firstly, let me clearly state that I disapprove of the manner of this killing. Extrajudicial assassinations are an anathema to a society that claims to live by the rule of law. Numerous voices are loudly praising this decision to kill bin Laden rather than capture him, supposedly to save the fragile American public from the rigors of a trial. They claim that a trial would have been "too controversial", as if that had anything to do with the law or its application. Either we believe that laws matter or we don't. Either we believe that there is justice available under our system of laws, or we do not. In this case, it's clear that we do not trust our own system of justice to arrive at the "right" conclusion. Implicitly, this suggests that we are hoping for a kangaroo court, already convinced of the guilt of the accused based upon the mere say-so of our government. When the president can order someone to be killed, with no oversight or evidence presented, we no longer a democratic system of checks and balances. We have an emperor, a tyrant, relatively benign though he may appear to be. I argued much the same in the case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed last year. [More . . . ]
Have you ever wondered who the United States is killing with its drone attacks in Pakistan? I have. Here's a comprehensive source of information from New America Foundation. The map will show you the drone attack sites and numbers of deaths. From 2004 - 2011 it is reported that the United States has killed a total of 2,290 people. You can also see that the military claims that 1,829 of these people were "militants."
The above web page offers this link for an expanded view of the locations of the drone attacks. If you click that expanded view, you'll see some fascinating information. Click this link for recent drone-killings. The most recent reported attack occurred on April 13, 2011. If you click on it, you'll see that 4-7 "militants" were killed, and an unknown number of "others." By clicking on the link, you can then view various news sources regarding the attack.
[More . . . ]
For many months, Glenn Greenwald has documented the many ramifications of the mistreatment of Bradley Manning, including the failures of the U.S. media and the moral failures of Barack Obama. I highly recommend his latest article for the latest information. His final line: "And it's quite telling how one must go to to a British newspaper to read about U.S. abuse of a U.S. service member." [Addendum of April 21, 2011] Bradley Manning has been transferred out of the military brig at Quantico, and he's headed toward Leavenworth. As usual, you can learn many of the details from Glenn Greenwald. One can only hope that he is kept in more humane circumstances in Kansas. Greenwald takes a moment to celebrate the work and success of the independent press, which carried this story along where the mainstream media melted:
[T]his episode should be a potent antidote to defeatism, as it provides a template for how issues that would be otherwise ignored can be amplified by independent voices creatively using the democratizing and organizing power of the Internet, and meaningful activism achieved.