US drone strikes are as “scandalous” as Cambodia bombing during Vietnam War

[The Northerner]

Washington, Nov 9 (ANI): Prominent international human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith has said the rising death toll caused by the US drone attacks in Pakistan is as “scandalous” as the secret US bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War.

Terming the attacks as major flaws in the CIA-run drone campaign, Smith said the strategy will cause more civilian deaths and create additional enemies for the United States. When you have warfare with no political costs at all, it becomes much too easy to resort to violence,” he said, adding his goal was to raise international awareness about the suffering caused by drone strikes.

“What we are seeing in Waziristan is a process that is alienating the population just as napalm in Vietnam did and it’s achieving very little benefit,” The dawn quoted him, as saying. mith spoke about a 16-year-old boy, Tariq Aziz, who impressed him by drawing his attention to civilian deaths caused by US drone strikes in Pakistan.

Three days later, on October 31, he and his 12-year-old cousin were themselves killed by a drone missile strike in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, Smith said.

Read more: http://truthdive.com/2011/11/09/US-drone-strikes-is-as-scandalous-as-Cambodia-bombing-during-Vietnam-War.html

[gratuitous]

1. As long as it's only "scandalous," it will continue

When we get to the point of "war crime" or "crime against humanity," we have a chance of putting an end to this. And everyone, from the guy with the joystick controller in his hand right up to the commander in chief is guilty on this one. There isn't a gray area, there isn't some John Yoo sophistry, than can excuse it. This is wrong, plain and simple.

[Dragonbreathp9d]

2. I must disagree-

Not that I am supporting the drone strikes, but the truly terrible thing about the bombing of Cambodia and Laos is that there is still, today, lots of unexplored ordinance that have claimed numerous lives and limbs, and will continue to do so. I do not see this as being an issue with Predator Drone strikes because of the types of ordinance used, the areas of target, and the amount of ordinance used

[TheKentuckian]

3. So it is cool as long as all the death is in the present?

[Dragonbreathp9d]

6. I most definitely did not say that

[bluestate10]

4. What is scandalous.

Is allowing extremists to plot mass murder then launch the series of actions to carry those plots out. Fuck extremists. My only wish is for more Drones that are exact on the kill and have long enough range to be launched from ships or high flying planes, and return to their launch point after killing the fucks that they were launched to kill.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. No doubt the murderers who authorized and launched the strikes will be tried and punished.

I mean, we are fighting that lost war in order to bring peace and justice to the area.....aren't we??

[Bandit]

7. One MAJOR difference is we were engaged against

The third largest conventional army in the world at the time, not against civilians..We were bombing a major NVA highway called the Ho Chi Minh Trail and there were no civilian villages even near the bombing areas.. Today we are killing civilians randomly and then trying to justify it by saying they may have been involved somehow in terrorism. People have forgotten that Vietnam was mainly a Conventional war with conventional troops in uniform with modern weapons..