Obama's drone war a 'recruitment tool' for Isis, say US air force whistleblowers

[LiberalArkie]

Four former US air force service members, with more than 20 years of experience between them operating military drones, have written an open letter to Barack Obama warning that the program of targeted killings by unmanned aircraft has become a major driving force for Isis and other terrorist groups.

The group of servicemen have issued an impassioned plea to the Obama administration, calling for a rethink of a military tactic that they say has “fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like Isis, while also serving as a fundamental recruitment tool similar to Guantánamo Bay”.

In particular, they argue, the killing of innocent civilians in drone airstrikes has acted as one of the most “devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world”.

The letter, addressed to Obama, defense secretary Ashton Carter and CIA chief John Brennan, links the signatories’ anxieties directly to last Friday’s terror attacks in Paris. They imply that the abuse of the drone program is causally connected to the outrages.

Snip

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/18/obama-drone-war-isis-recruitment-tool-air-force-whistleblowers

[Fumesucker]

1. I hate to say it but Mission Accomplished

It's so damn obvious that only a complete moron could miss it.

Obama's a smart man so there's some other agenda being played out.

[LiberalArkie]

2. Would have to look at his stock portfolio.

[Orrex]

3. With all due respect to the whistleblowers...

Especially considering how aggressively whistleblowers have been hunted down lately, this revelation was actually obvious to anyone who thought about it for more than two seconds.

Every time we've won civilians' "hearts and minds" by bombing the shit out of them, we've created another generation's worth of passionate--and completely understandable--anti-American hatred. It was bad enough when we were doing it with bombers; sending remote-controlled drones makes it that much worse.

Yes, The Onion identified this years ago, but The Onion is far from unique in this regard. Many people--myself included--predicted exactly the same thing, and sadly we were all correct.


I hope that the whistleblowers fare well, since they'll no doubt be scapegoated as traitors blah blah blah, but the murderous drone strategy needs to stop.