Free Talk Live

President Barack Obama ramped up drone strikes in Pakistan when he took office in 2009. There were 53 attacks that year, more than in the previous five years combined. Many Pakistanis oppose the attacks because they believe they mostly kill civilians, an allegation denied by the U.S. Independent research indicates that a majority of those killed are militants, but civilian casualties also occur.

Only 2% of deaths high level targets according to Stanford Law / NYU Study. Cites entire regions of civilians living in fear of death from the skies from the USA.

The CIA’s drone campaign in Pakistan has killed dozens of civilians who had gone to help rescue victims or were attending funerals, an investigation by the Bureau for the Sunday Times has revealed.

"It’s the third time in a month that Apple has turned Drones+ away, says Josh Begley, the program’s New York-based developer. The company’s reasons for keeping the program out of the App Store keep shifting. First, Apple called the bare-bones application that aggregates news of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia “not useful.” Then there was an issue with hiding a corporate logo. And now, there’s this crude content problem."

The big news this week is a secret memo from the Justice Department titled, “Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a U.S. Citizen.” It was leaked to NBC News, and details the legal justification the Obama Administration believes legitimizes drone strikes on American citizens. When this story broke, most people’s first thought was of Imam Anwar al Awlaki and his 16 year old son, two American citizens assassinated in Yemen by the Obama Administration in two distinct drone strikes, but my first thought was the Free State Project.

Now let’s bring all the pieces together.

1) Drone strikes against US citizens branded “terrorists” are ok.
2) Collateral Damage of US citizens during Drone strikes is ok.
3) The definition of “combatant” has drifted to include inciteful speech.
4) The definition of “terrorist” has drifted to include crimes of dissent.
5) Drones are being programed to detect dissent.
6) Domestic police will soon be using unmanned aerial vehicles.
7) Military technology trickles down to local law enforcement.

Are you seeing the pattern yet?

The death of innocent bystanders in foreign nations has been accepted in a very nonchalant manner.... But again, will we be so nonchalant if we frame this question in the light of homeland drone strikes? Will we care so little if it is our own schools and children being blown away by disconnected men hundreds or thousands of miles away?

The U.S.-led wars, albeit alleged to be "humanitarian intervention" efforts and for "the rise of a new democratic nation," created humanitarian disasters instead. For Iraqis, the death toll in the U.S.-initiated Iraq war stands at 655,000 (Tribune Business News, December 15, 2011). According to figures released by the Iraq Body Count, at least 103,536 civilians were killed in the Iraq war (Reuters, December 18, 2011). In 2011, there were an average of 6.5 deaths per day from suicide attacks and vehicle bombs (www.iraqbodycount.org).

Apparently the drones are not only used to bomb civilians in Pakistan and Afghanistan now the establishment have found another use for them , to spy on Americans , it is no surprise that the government turn against its own citizens , if you thought that your government is their to protect you and that giving up some of your freedom will bring you security , then think again ..who is going to protect you from the tyranny of your own government , the same government that have been massacring civilians with the drones in your name can turn against you any time ...