Absolutely Despicable

Trey Smith

In February, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism documented that after the U.S. kills people with drones in Pakistan, it then targets for death those who show up at the scene to rescue the survivors and retrieve the bodies, as well as those who gather to mourn the dead at funerals: “the CIA’s drone campaign in Pakistan has killed dozens of civilians who had gone to help rescue victims or were attending funerals.” As The New York Times summarized those findings: “at least 50 civilians had been killed in follow-up strikes after they rushed to help those hit by a drone-fired missile” while “the bureau counted more than 20 other civilians killed in strikes on funerals.”

This repellent practice continues. Over the last three days, the U.S. has launched three separate drone strikes in Pakistan: one on each day. As The Guardian reports, the U.S. has killed between 20 and 30 people in these strikes, the last of which, early this morning, killed between 8 and 15. It was the second strike, on Sunday, that targeted mourners gathered to grieve those killed in the first strike:

At the time of the attack, suspected militants had gathered to offer condolences to the brother of a militant commander killed during another US unmanned drone attack on Saturday. The brother was one of those who died in the Sunday morning attack. The Pakistani officials said two of the dead were foreigners and the rest were Pakistani.

Note that there is no suggestion, even from the “officials” on which these media reports (as usual) rely, that the dead man was a Terrorist or even a “militant.” He was simply receiving condolences for his dead brother.
~ from US Again Bombs Mourners by Glenn Greenwald ~

Such acts are downright despicable! Can you imagine how the US would react if the tables were turned? What if the Taliban bombed a memorial service in Cincinnati. President Obama would go on TV to vow revenge for this crime against humanity. But when WE do it, it's nothing to get worked up about.

Further down in his column, Greenwald writes,

If a Hollywood film featured a villainous King ordering lethal attacks on rescuers, funerals and mourners — those medically attending to or grieving his initial victims — any decent audience member would, by design, seethe with contempt for such an inhumane tyrant.

And yet, because far too many Americans believe that our nation is exceptional, if the Hollywood film featured a US President giving such an order, so-called decent audience members will cheer and wave our national flag.

Boxing has been called by many a brutal and barbaric sport, yet even in sanctioned boxing matches, you aren't allowed to hit your opponent when he's down! When the opponent is down, the other boxer is required to go to a neutral corner.

If boxers played by the rules of the US government, not only would they refuse to go to a neutral corner but they would attack anyone who tried to administer to the fallen boxer...and the crowd would roar its approval.

Talk about barbaric!