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I'm mostly depressed that the President only apologizes to the families and promises an investigation when it's American and Italian innocents who were killed.

I'm mostly depressed that the President only apologizes to the families and promises an investigation when it's American and Italian innocents who were killed. Hundreds of innocent Pakistanis, Afghans, Iraqis, Yemenis, and Somalis have been killed by US drones. And only the worst of those cases has even a mention been made of any review of policy or procedure. In summary: :(

rdtsc 12y ago
Good point. Also you'll notice the American and the Italian have names -- Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto. That is very important, especially because all the Pakistani, Afghan, Iraqi women, children, elderly, by-standers, and other innocents never have names. They are just "collateral damage" or whatever the current PR terminology is.
chimeracoder 12y ago
Just to drive home the point further, if it's a US citizen who gets killed, but that US citizen has an Arab name, no apology is apparently needed[0]. Abdulrahman al-Awlaki was a 16-year-old American boy, eating dinner at a restaurant in Yemen while searching for his father. Nobody denies that he was completely innocent, and even the US government simply says he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time"[1]. You'll also notice that the media oftentimes use the euphemism "US-born" to refer to people like al-Awlaki and his father, but refer to Weinstein as American. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdulrahman_al-Awlaki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdulrahman_al-Awlaki [1] We can also question why that place was "the wrong place", since (A) we're not at war with Yemen, and (B) the target of the drone strikes (his father) was also a US citizen who had never been convicted of any crime, but that's a separate matter, since it's not analogous to this incident.
- happyscrappy 12y ago
  It is too bad Europe does not have the guts to stand up to the US.
- tim333 12y ago
  >if it's a US citizen who gets killed, but that US citizen has an Arab name, no apology is apparently needed It helps if they are the son of a "senior talent-recruiter and motivator who was involved in planning terrorist operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki
- tzs 12y ago
  > We can also question why that place was "the wrong place", since (A) we're not at war with Yemen, That's not really relevant, since the US drone program in Yemen was operating with the approval of the Yemen government.
graedus 12y ago
No reason to apologize when it is only "combatants" who are killed, by the administration's definition. "[...] Mr. Obama embraced a disputed method for counting civilian casualties that did little to box him in. It in effect counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent." [0] So in the official language, a "military-age" male Afghan or Yemeni who is killed in a drone strike instantly transforms into a combatant by merit of being in a strike zone. Great. [0] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in...

rdtsc 12y ago

Good point. Also you'll notice the American and the Italian have names -- Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto. That is very important, especially because all the Pakistani, Afghan, Iraqi women, children, elderly, by-standers, and other innocents never have names. They are just "collateral damage" or whatever the current PR terminology is.

chimeracoder 12y ago

Just to drive home the point further, if it's a US citizen who gets killed, but that US citizen has an Arab name, no apology is apparently needed[0]. Abdulrahman al-Awlaki was a 16-year-old American boy, eating dinner at a restaurant in Yemen while searching for his father. Nobody denies that he was completely innocent, and even the US government simply says he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time"[1]. You'll also notice that the media oftentimes use the euphemism "US-born" to refer to people like al-Awlaki and his father, but refer to Weinstein as American. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdulrahman_al-Awlaki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdulrahman_al-Awlaki [1] We can also question why that place was "the wrong place", since (A) we're not at war with Yemen, and (B) the target of the drone strikes (his father) was also a US citizen who had never been convicted of any crime, but that's a separate matter, since it's not analogous to this incident.

happyscrappy 12y ago
It is too bad Europe does not have the guts to stand up to the US.
tim333 12y ago
>if it's a US citizen who gets killed, but that US citizen has an Arab name, no apology is apparently needed It helps if they are the son of a "senior talent-recruiter and motivator who was involved in planning terrorist operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki
tzs 12y ago
> We can also question why that place was "the wrong place", since (A) we're not at war with Yemen, That's not really relevant, since the US drone program in Yemen was operating with the approval of the Yemen government.

graedus 12y ago

No reason to apologize when it is only "combatants" who are killed, by the administration's definition. "[...] Mr. Obama embraced a disputed method for counting civilian casualties that did little to box him in. It in effect counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent." [0] So in the official language, a "military-age" male Afghan or Yemeni who is killed in a drone strike instantly transforms into a combatant by merit of being in a strike zone. Great. [0] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in...