7 ms·

I am on the Kill List. This is what it feels like to be hunted by drones

140 points by waffle_ss 11y ago

herbst 11y ago
Even the fact how often he widnessed drone attacks is simply mind blowing. Poor guy :/
- seivan 11y ago
  I'm bothered by the empathy and understanding displayed to this liar who with his friend have murdered and raped thousand of minorities in the Middle East. You're not the first to feel for these scumbags. You do realize he's lying? Pieces like this is good for getting his friends released from Gitmo, so they can go back for heir crusade of eradicating non Muslims from the Middle East.
  - herbst 11y ago
    I am not, and honestly i dont care. He made a visual image at how bad it might be to live in a place like this and made me feel really sad for him. His story is probably just bullshit but there are people who have to live with the exact same fears and thoughts.
    - King-Aaron 11y ago
      Yeah you're right, it probably is bullshit. I mean, you never hear in the news about mass civilian deaths caused by missile strikes. You certainly don't hear about them almost every week. It must be lies.
      - herbst 11y ago
        Next to that i don't think that you would hear about them usually anyway, but our media (Switzerland) certanly had a few times when they reported about more than one drone attack per week by the U.S.
  - grokys 11y ago
    How can you say that? You're happy a sentence a man and his family in a far-off country to death based on what exactly?
marme 11y ago
read this story and realize who the real terrorist is. Even if this man was a member of the taliban does that give anyone the right to make his children afraid to sleep in their bed at night? this whole situation reminds me of the ending of I Am Legend where the protagonist realizes he has become the terror in the night that all children are afraid of. In an effort to combat terrorism the US has become the worlds largest and most aggressive terrorists. Committing more acts of violence against civilians in one week than all other terrorists in the past decade
- seivan 11y ago
  Yea, it does. You go live under the threat of Taliban, Hamas, ISIS, etc. Sorry but you keep ignoring the people who the Taliban threaten the most aren't just Americans.
  - planckscnst 11y ago
    Are you saying innocent children should pay for the transgressions of others?
    - alecbaldwinlol 11y ago
      Implicitly, that person is. But what that comment really says is, "if my government tells me they need my taxes so that we shall kill instead of being killed, that is a decision I am prepared to support." Anyone who pays US taxes and doesn't do their utmost to stop these murders implicitly holds this belief, in my eyes.
  - facetube 11y ago
    Spoken like a true terrorist.
atemerev 11y ago
Killing civilians is war crime. Israel is hunted for 1/100th of this, even if they are doing everything to prevent hurting innocents, and terrorists are deliberately using civilian building to strike from.
TillE 11y ago
Something not discussed often enough is the rank incompetence of, well, humans. People everywhere, at every level, are simply not very good at their jobs, including experienced "experts". This is just one reason why it's insane to trust the government to carry out extrajudicial killings on people who, at the very least, pose no immediate threat. Both the selection of targets and the actual killing are prone to errors which have horrific consequences.
- AnimalMuppet 11y ago
  > This is just one reason why it's insane to trust the government to carry out extrajudicial killings on people who, at the very least, pose no immediate threat. Pose no immediate threat to who? To the government doing the killing? True (but see Paris and Brussels for counterexamples). Pose no immediate threat to humans? Absolutely they pose a threat.
  - NathanKP 11y ago
    For me it isn't a question as to whether or not this specific man poses a threat and is worthy of death, it is an issue of how he is being judged to be a threat, and judged worthy of death. The drone powered war is a system in which an organization on the other end of a robot is acting as judge, jury, and executioner, with no way to appeal for recourse or even open a dialog, and this organization also has a history of extreme inaccuracy (which they try to hide under the guise of national security). I see drone usage as just as reprehensible as the terrorism attacks carried out in Paris and Brussels, in that in both cases innocent civilians are dying and afraid of dying.
    - techdragon 11y ago
      The drone program is turning into judge dread minus the megacities and motorcycles.
  - sydneysider 11y ago
    It's a bit of a strawman argument to bring in unrelated paris and brussels.
junto 11y ago
If he is advised of something then the UK government should start him and try him on a court of law. If found innocent then he should be freed. If guilty he just send his sentence. Either way, the US needs to stop it's robotic war, which it quietly wages "on our behalf" but without our direct knowledge. They assume that out of sight is out of mind, but in reality, their actions breed hate and distrust of the US and it's allies. It is a hate that prolongs the "war against terror", lines the pockets of the military industrial complex and wastes tax payers money.
alexandercrohde 11y ago
This sounds pretty extreme. I would love to know both sides of this story. Without independent objective data I can't tell if this is a desperate plea for help from a lucky individual wrongfully sentenced to death without trial, surrounded by innocent victims also killed, or if this is anti-drone propaganda. But I would like to know.
- harel 11y ago
  It should be the standard that every controversial story comes with 2 sides of the coin plus the bonus 3rd side (coin lands standing). If the Internet thought me one thing it's to never judge based on a one sided story.
robocaptain 11y ago
After reading The Drone Papers (fascinating reporting done by The Intercept) I can certainly believe all of this. I hope it's true and I hope this man can have his story told (and more importantly, believed) as far up as possible. https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/ https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/
eveningcoffee 11y ago
Truth or not, it is either way a good propaganda.
pdkl95 11y ago
https://media.ccc.de/v/32c3-7443-the_price_of_dissent https://media.ccc.de/v/32c3-7443-the_price_of_dissent Everyone should see this talk. Hatred tends to evolve into many types of nasty tactic; this isn't limited to drone strikes, and it isn't limited to Pakistan and Afghanistan. "Muslims are the canaries in the mine."
upofadown 11y ago
Even if the drone attacks somehow only killed those fighting against Western interests they would still be evil. That's the reason that we didn't like the people with the Deathstar in that movie.

140 points by waffle_ss 11y ago

herbst 11y ago

Even the fact how often he widnessed drone attacks is simply mind blowing. Poor guy :/

seivan 11y ago
I'm bothered by the empathy and understanding displayed to this liar who with his friend have murdered and raped thousand of minorities in the Middle East. You're not the first to feel for these scumbags. You do realize he's lying? Pieces like this is good for getting his friends released from Gitmo, so they can go back for heir crusade of eradicating non Muslims from the Middle East.
- herbst 11y ago
  I am not, and honestly i dont care. He made a visual image at how bad it might be to live in a place like this and made me feel really sad for him. His story is probably just bullshit but there are people who have to live with the exact same fears and thoughts.
  - King-Aaron 11y ago
    Yeah you're right, it probably is bullshit. I mean, you never hear in the news about mass civilian deaths caused by missile strikes. You certainly don't hear about them almost every week. It must be lies.
    - herbst 11y ago
      Next to that i don't think that you would hear about them usually anyway, but our media (Switzerland) certanly had a few times when they reported about more than one drone attack per week by the U.S.
- grokys 11y ago
  How can you say that? You're happy a sentence a man and his family in a far-off country to death based on what exactly?

marme 11y ago

read this story and realize who the real terrorist is. Even if this man was a member of the taliban does that give anyone the right to make his children afraid to sleep in their bed at night? this whole situation reminds me of the ending of I Am Legend where the protagonist realizes he has become the terror in the night that all children are afraid of. In an effort to combat terrorism the US has become the worlds largest and most aggressive terrorists. Committing more acts of violence against civilians in one week than all other terrorists in the past decade

seivan 11y ago
Yea, it does. You go live under the threat of Taliban, Hamas, ISIS, etc. Sorry but you keep ignoring the people who the Taliban threaten the most aren't just Americans.
- planckscnst 11y ago
  Are you saying innocent children should pay for the transgressions of others?
  - alecbaldwinlol 11y ago
    Implicitly, that person is. But what that comment really says is, "if my government tells me they need my taxes so that we shall kill instead of being killed, that is a decision I am prepared to support." Anyone who pays US taxes and doesn't do their utmost to stop these murders implicitly holds this belief, in my eyes.
- facetube 11y ago
  Spoken like a true terrorist.

atemerev 11y ago

Killing civilians is war crime. Israel is hunted for 1/100th of this, even if they are doing everything to prevent hurting innocents, and terrorists are deliberately using civilian building to strike from.

TillE 11y ago

Something not discussed often enough is the rank incompetence of, well, humans. People everywhere, at every level, are simply not very good at their jobs, including experienced "experts". This is just one reason why it's insane to trust the government to carry out extrajudicial killings on people who, at the very least, pose no immediate threat. Both the selection of targets and the actual killing are prone to errors which have horrific consequences.

AnimalMuppet 11y ago
> This is just one reason why it's insane to trust the government to carry out extrajudicial killings on people who, at the very least, pose no immediate threat. Pose no immediate threat to who? To the government doing the killing? True (but see Paris and Brussels for counterexamples). Pose no immediate threat to humans? Absolutely they pose a threat.
- NathanKP 11y ago
  For me it isn't a question as to whether or not this specific man poses a threat and is worthy of death, it is an issue of how he is being judged to be a threat, and judged worthy of death. The drone powered war is a system in which an organization on the other end of a robot is acting as judge, jury, and executioner, with no way to appeal for recourse or even open a dialog, and this organization also has a history of extreme inaccuracy (which they try to hide under the guise of national security). I see drone usage as just as reprehensible as the terrorism attacks carried out in Paris and Brussels, in that in both cases innocent civilians are dying and afraid of dying.
  - techdragon 11y ago
    The drone program is turning into judge dread minus the megacities and motorcycles.
- sydneysider 11y ago
  It's a bit of a strawman argument to bring in unrelated paris and brussels.

junto 11y ago

If he is advised of something then the UK government should start him and try him on a court of law. If found innocent then he should be freed. If guilty he just send his sentence. Either way, the US needs to stop it's robotic war, which it quietly wages "on our behalf" but without our direct knowledge. They assume that out of sight is out of mind, but in reality, their actions breed hate and distrust of the US and it's allies. It is a hate that prolongs the "war against terror", lines the pockets of the military industrial complex and wastes tax payers money.

alexandercrohde 11y ago

This sounds pretty extreme. I would love to know both sides of this story. Without independent objective data I can't tell if this is a desperate plea for help from a lucky individual wrongfully sentenced to death without trial, surrounded by innocent victims also killed, or if this is anti-drone propaganda. But I would like to know.

harel 11y ago
It should be the standard that every controversial story comes with 2 sides of the coin plus the bonus 3rd side (coin lands standing). If the Internet thought me one thing it's to never judge based on a one sided story.

robocaptain 11y ago

After reading The Drone Papers (fascinating reporting done by The Intercept) I can certainly believe all of this. I hope it's true and I hope this man can have his story told (and more importantly, believed) as far up as possible. https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/ https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/

eveningcoffee 11y ago

Truth or not, it is either way a good propaganda.

pdkl95 11y ago

https://media.ccc.de/v/32c3-7443-the_price_of_dissent https://media.ccc.de/v/32c3-7443-the_price_of_dissent Everyone should see this talk. Hatred tends to evolve into many types of nasty tactic; this isn't limited to drone strikes, and it isn't limited to Pakistan and Afghanistan. "Muslims are the canaries in the mine."

upofadown 11y ago

Even if the drone attacks somehow only killed those fighting against Western interests they would still be evil. That's the reason that we didn't like the people with the Deathstar in that movie.