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Fortiani» (Obstruer A u g u s t 8, 2012 Page 7 Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views of the Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com. New Prices Effective May 1,2010 Martin uses o r VNMAMHSD TO F ÎT . e îV fU A ^ ç û t w ivi PAKISTAN 9 AFOUA- RÎSTAM à ie ,,.? • •• Cleaning a MAH eoULD NevFp, kiUz So many W M ANb ewvpReM ANb vive- \ n *T h HÎ n VS f -VF s .. . _ » . z X T î D Service Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Residential & Commercial Services Minimum Service CHG $45.00 g A sm all distance/travel charge m ay be applied 'Z CARPET CLEANING 2 Cleaning Areas or more $30.00 Each Area Pre-Spray Traffic Areas (Includes: I sm all H allw ay) I H t ; I 1 Cleaning Area (only) $40.00 Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area (Hallway Extra) Stairs (12-16 stairs - With O ther Services)-. $25.00 Drone Attacks are Plain Old Murder A weapon of choice that w kills citizens C hris T oensing D rones are P resi dent Barack O bam a’s w eapon o f choice in the W ar on T error. S ince taking o f fice, he has ordered o v er 280 drone strikes in Pakistan alone. T hat's m ore than eight tim es as m any as G eorge W. B ush au th o rized and doesn't even count the scores o f other unm anned attacks in S om alia and Y em en. W hen the m a in stre am m ed ia re p o rts th e se o p e ra tio n s, it c laim s th a t a lm o st all the p e o p le k ille d are "m ilita n ts" — m e m b e rs o f al- Q a ed a o r a ffilia te d rad ical g ro u p s. T h a t's w h at the P e n ta g o n an d the C IA say , a n y w a y . T he P a k ista n i g o v e rn m e n t lo u d ly p ro te sts th at m an y o f the c a s u a ltie s are c iv il ian. T h e L o n d o n -b a se d B u reau o f In v e s tig a tiv e J o u rn a lism a g re es, estim ating in m id-July that as m any as 8 0 0 o f the P a k ista n i d e ad h av e b een n o n -c o m b a ta n ts, a lo n g w ith som e 5 0 -1 5 0 Y em en is and do zen s o f S o m alis. In late M ay, T he N ew Y ork Tim es suggested one reason for the d is crepancy in civ ilian tallies. T he by O bam a adm inistration basically con siders “all m ilitary-age m ales in a strike zo n e” to be fighters “ unless there is explicit intelligence posthu m ously proving them inno cen t.” T he preceding m onth, the T im es revealed that the W hite H ouse had authorized strikes on people in Pakistan and Y em en “w ho m ay be plot ting attacks against the U nited States, but w hose identities m ig h t n o t b e c o m p le te ly kn o w n .” Strip aw ay the conditional verbs and the backw ards burden o f proof, and it’s clear that W ashington isn ’t alw ays sure w hom the unm anned aerial vehicles are killing. In Pakistan, m any o f the dead m ay in d e ed b e “m ilita n ts ,” but they're conspiring against the g o v ernm ents o f Pakistan and A fghani stan, not the U nited States. Q uietly, the Pakistani go v ern m en t is happy to see them dispatched from the sky. It saves P ak istan ’s generals the trouble o f sending their ow n troops into the m ountains on the A fghan frontier. In Y em en, the regim e is also trick- ing the P en tag o n into attack in g p articipants in a dom estic rebellion u n d er the guise o f the W ar on T e r ror. Som alia has no governm ent to speak o f — it’s a free-fire zone. T h e c o n n e c tio n b e tw e e n the drone strikes and the security o f A m ericans is tenuous. A nd even if one acc e p ts P e n ta g o n and C IA statem ents that the dead are indeed anti-A m erican terrorists, w hy as sum e that the drones are defeating them ? O b a m a ’s fo rm er directo r o f n a tional intelligence, D ennis Blair, said the W hite H ouse conversations on this topic “rem inded m e o f body counts in V ietnam .” It is ju s t as likely — and indeed there's reason to believe — that the attacks recruit m ore m ilitants than they kill. M eanw hile, som e o f the d ro n e s’ victim s are undoubtedly civilians. W ashington has offered no ex p la nation, fo r exam ple, for the death o f A bdal-Rahm anal-A w laki, 16, whose only crim e was to have been the son o f a m an on O b am a’s “kill list.” The boy, w ho like his fath er w as a U.S. citizen, w asn’t collateral dam age. He w as killed in a separate strike. It's rem arkable that the younger A w la k i’s v io len t end cau sed no outcry. By and large, A m ericans support the drone w ar — it keeps o u r troops out o f h a rm ’s w ay — and trust the O bam a adm inistration to run it responsibly. A nd so, once again, a dangerous gap is grow ing betw een A m erican s’ perceptions o f U .S. foreign policy and how that policy is regarded abroad. T o R e p u b lic a n s , d u b io u s d e a th s by d ro n e are th e a c c e p t a b le c o st o f a w a r th ey w ish w ere w id er. T o all b u t a tiny m in o rity o f D e m o c ra ts, th e y are re g re tta b le m ista k e s th a t sh o u ld n o t o v e r sh ad o w O b a m a ’s su c c e sse s. 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