General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumsconsidering our drone killings, I'm surprised we don't see more bombs in places like
shopping malls, etc.
No, I'm not saying that it would be justified.
We have killed hundreds of civilians with drones, including children and the elderly.
No, I'm not saying we intentionally target civilians.
We bomb countries we are not at war with as if that's our absolute right.
and yes, someday this will come back to bite us and yes, our government will be, in part, responsible.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)"This is blowback for our support of terrorism against the West and India."
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)you seem to be suggesting some kind of parity. It's our government policy to launch drone strikes. There is no equivalent. We invaded and occupied Afghanistan.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)It's Pakistani society, all the way from the tribe to the national government.
And bombing India turned out to be not good enough.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)first place. Maybe if we just minded our own business, stayed out of other people's countries which we have been interfering in for decades, we would not be dealing with this problem.
What do YOU think caused people to turn to terrorism in the first place? A hundred years ago there were no terrorists aiming their hatred at the US.
At the British Empire maybe.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)I mean, is it always someone else's fault that Pakistan and Pakistanis sponsor terrror groups?
It's India's fault. It's the US's fault. It's the UK's fault. It's the USSR's fault.
Etc etc etc.
cali
(114,904 posts)in the Middle East over the past 65 years, but carry on.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Every bad thing they do is the fault of the US?
It's the US's fault that Pakistan has been sponsoring terrorist attacks against India for decades?
Yes, yes, thank you for invoking the Chomsky Rule: Every bad thing committed anwhere on Planet Earth can be blamed on the United States.
cali
(114,904 posts)the fault of the U.S. And I sure as hell don't think that every bad thing that happens on planet earth can be blamed on the U.S. I've often commented that that's just another form of American exceptionalism.
I do think that our drone policies invite blowback.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)ground in the US. Certainly US foreign policy has been counterproductive in terms of creating enemies, but let's also not forget that it takes two to tango, and the people now suffering drone strikes were more than cool with terrorist violence when it was directed at New York and Mumbai.
Blowback is not a one-direction phenomenon.
cali
(114,904 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)considering that Pakistan was born radicalized in the partition of India.
malaise
(267,789 posts)That is the ultimate history lesson.
You cannot dominate and control as if you own the world and only your rights count.
It's awful because innocents are slaughtered everywhere but every action brings a reaction.
What's more is that it is really economic domination.
Newest Reality
(12,712 posts)we are not supposed to consider these things because it appears to be official that America's past and current foreign policies have nothing to do with our reasons to occupy, act preemptively or blow people up.
It's the American way and when they say, "our values" that's implied, but the truth of it requires us to be a three-monkey participant acting in full compliance.
It's not easy to wake-up from the myth of American innocence and then try to make sense of something you were not privy to all along. Relax, it will sink in and you will cope with it.
Hegemony Ho!
peace13
(11,076 posts)Tell me again who thought that would work?
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"considering our drone killings, I'm surprised we don't see more bombs in places like shopping malls, etc."
...an invitation or justification for people to bomb "shopping malls"?
I mean, the bombing in Boston doesn't appear to have anything to do with foreign policy.
cali
(114,904 posts)fuck. that is beneath contempt, sweets.
"yes, honey, I'm inviting terrorists to come bomb us. fuck. that is beneath contempt, sweets. "
..."sweets," speaking of "beneath contempt," I'm not the one who posted an OP claiming that "I'm surprised we don't see more bombs in places like shopping malls, etc."
onenote
(42,373 posts)While I don't know, I suspect that the vast majority of people here with ties to the areas that are the location of drone strikes are here because they want to be and because they don't want to be there. I suspect they don't have a lot of sympathy for the folks that are supposed to be the targets of those strikes and while they undoubtedly are saddened when innocents are killed in those strikes, they've seen more than their share of innocents being blown to bits by the combatants in the region and don't particularly see vengeance as the answer.