Yea ... that's it.
Posted on 10/13/2011 5:06:13 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross
Once the war on terror’s fiercest critic, Obama has become its deadliest practitioner.
We are in a long war against radical Islamic terrorism. The struggle seems almost similar to the on-again/off-again ordeals of the past — such as the French-English Hundred Years War of the 14th and 15th centuries, or the Thirty Years War between Catholics and Protestants in the 17th century.
In these kinds of drawn-out conflicts, final victory will go to the side that responds best to new challenges. And we’ve seen a lot of those since 9/11, when the United States was caught unaware and apparently ill-equipped to face the threat of radical Islamic terrorists hijacking our passenger jets.
Even when we adjusted well to the 9/11 tactics, there were new threats, such as suicide bombers and roadside improvised explosive devices that seemed to nullify American technological and material advantages.
But America is once again getting the upper hand in this long war against Middle Eastern terrorists, with the use of Predator-drone targeted assassinations to which the terrorists have not yet developed an answer. In systematically deadly fashion, Predators are picking off the top echelon of al-Qaeda and its affiliates from the Hindu Kush to Yemen to the Horn of Africa.
New models of drones seem almost unstoppable. They are uncannily accurate in delivering missiles in a way even precision aircraft-bombing cannot. Compared to the cost of a new jet or infantry division, Predators are incredibly cheap. And they do not endanger American lives — at least as long as terrorists cannot get at hidden runaways abroad or video-control consoles at home.
The pilotless aircraft are nearly invisible and, without warning, can deliver instant death from thousands of feet away in the airspace above. Foreign governments often give us permission to cross borders with Predators in a way they would not with loud, manned aircraft.
Moreover, drones are constantly evolving. They now stay in the air far longer and are far more accurate and far more deadly than when they first appeared in force shortly after 9/11. Suddenly it is a lot harder for a terrorist to bomb a train station in the West than it is for a Predator to target that same would-be terrorist’s home in South Waziristan.
All those advantages explain why President Obama has exponentially expanded the program. After five years of use under George W. Bush, such drones had killed around 400 suspected terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Under President Obama, in less than three years, Predators have taken out more than 2,200.
The program is uniquely suited to Obama’s “leading from behind” approach to warfare: killing far out of sight, and therefore out of mind — and out of the news. So comfortable is Obama with this new way of war that at a White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the president joked about using Predators on would-be suitors of his daughters: “But boys, don’t get any ideas. Two words for you: Predator drones. You will never see it coming.”
For Pres. Barack Obama, the Predator drone avoids former candidate Obama’s past legal objections by simply blowing apart suspected terrorists without having to capture them — and then to ponder how and where they should be tried. With a dead, rather than a detained, terrorist, civil libertarians cannot demand that Obama honor his campaign pledge to treat suspects like American criminals, while conservatives cannot pounce on any perceived softness in extending Miranda rights to captured al-Qaeda killers.
Anti-war protestors demonstrate in response to American soldiers getting killed, but rarely about robotic aircraft quietly obliterating distant terrorists. American fatalities can make war unpopular; a crashed drone is a “who cares?” statistic.
Still, there are lots of questions that arise from this latest American advantage. Waterboarding, which once sparked a liberal furor, is now a dead issue. How can anyone object to harshly interrogating a few known terrorists when routinely blowing apart more than 2,000 suspected ones — and anyone in their vicinity?
Predators both depersonalize and personalize war in a fashion quite unknown in the past. In one sense, killing a terrorist is akin to playing an amoral video game thousands of miles away. But in another, we often know the name and even recognize the face of each victim, in a way unknown in the anonymous carnage of, for example, the Battles of Verdun and Hue. Does that make war more or less humane?
Once the most prominent critic of the war on terror, Obama has now become its greatest adherent — and in the process is turning the tide against al-Qaeda. And so far, the American people of all political stripes — for vastly different reasons — seem more relieved than worried over Obama’s most unexpected incarnation as Predator-in-Chief.
"So comfortable is Obama with this new way of war that at a White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the president joked about using Predators on would-be suitors of his daughters: 'But boys, don’t get any ideas. Two words for you: Predator drones. You will never see it coming.'"
There has never been a more undeserving, selfish, immature narcissist thug occupying the Oval Office.
The reason Obama doesn’t please the Democrats and Bush didn’t please the Republicans (not all) is that they both are (were) working for the New World Order, not either of our political parties.
What passes for the war now strikes me as more form than substance. It's my guess that the Muzzies would be more impressed by substance.
ML/NJ
Yea ... that's it.
They have the will to reproduce prodigiously and we lack the will to fight them. But let's not think about that...
Terrorists, whether religious, drug suppliers, radicals calling for the guillotine, or whatever, would not dare threaten the United States or the American people if it were not for American Decadence.
Decadence IS the Left--the Democrat Party and its henchpersons.
Decadence IS the counter-culture movement of the 1960s AND Occupy Wall Street (or Whatever).
Decadence IS the Mainstream News Media pushing Leftist causes, Democrat politicians, and Decadence.
Decadence IS internal moral rot--decay--the destroyer of civilizations--the destroyer of people and all that is good.
The United States will fall--not because of foreign enemies--but because of internal moral rot and decay: DECADENCE!
love the pic. THAT is funny.
Substance? Is that like when your text bud actually shows up at Burger King? That's like a whole other level, dude. I dunno...sounds kinda 20th c.
FWIW, the whole idea of drones makes me somewhat uncomfortable.
Implicit in war has always been the assumption that it is something resembling a “fair fight.” Those attacking an enemy put themselves at risk in the process of doing so.
The operators of these systems are essentially using a video game to kill the enemy, with zero risk to themselves.
I just wonder how Americans would react if our enemies used similar zero-risk methods to attack us. Would we still think this was just fine?
I realize the whole point of war from a practical standpoint is to kill the enemy without taking casualties yourself, and given the terrorist methods of those who attack us, it doesn’t bother me all that much. But there is no reason to assume America will always have the tech edge, or for that matter that we will always be on the morally superior side of an issue.
It concerns me when the justification for use of a particular method partially boils down to, “It’s ok because we’re the good guys, and we’re the good guys because we’re us.” The argument seems a trifle circular.
Some strange “reasoning” involved in our present policy.
It is fine and dandy to kill specific people without warning.
But it is utterly forbidden to cause the same people discomfort or pain in an attempt to save other people’s lives.
While I’m sure I would not enjoy being waterboarded, I’m equally sure I’d prefer it to being blown into itty-bitty pieces.
Conservatives must never forget that our government has named politically incorrect Jews and Christians on par with American Islamic terrorists for the purposes of political correctness. If they can murder domestic terrorists who are Islamists, they will progress to killing Christians and Jews and everyone else they have classified as domestic terrorists for reasons of political correctness.
Look at how they are abusing Americans at the airports with powers we gave them to halt Islamic terror on airplanes. Our government will kill us just as soon as look at us. Look at how the military has turned on Christians under Obama.
We must dissolve this extra-constitutional power we trusted them with amidst the trauma of 911. We should have never trusted the US government with this power. Politican correctness is an ideology consisting of an elitist pack of lies and aggression towards it’s political, speech and thought enemies.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.