Ted Rall for January 23, 2013

This is over your head, isn’t it?

Turn about is fair play.

OK Ted. We get it. You’re against drone strikes. I don’t like them either, but we didn’t choose the jihad. Or would you rather we lose more American lives on suicide missions in unfriendly countries? Especially ones whose military undermines our objectives while paying lip service to “helping” us eradicate the terrorists, who they support! As to rightisright, if they couldn’t operate those things, why are we effing worrying about them? Or about suitcase nukes, dirty bombs, etc. Let’’s just abolish the TSA to start, and save billions of our tax dollars!

@ rightisright – you obviously haven’t met enough Pakistanis^Years ago, I knew a man who flew A10 Warthog’s against Hussien after the invasion of Kuwait. His CO made the unit visit the highway between Kuwait and Baghdad where US aircraft strafed hundreds of trucks hauling loot home as they withdrew in preparation to end that war. The pictures were graphic.After that, he was part of the program that resulted in the drones we have today. He had flown in Bosnia, Croatia, Kuwait, Iraq, and had a comment I thought shocking at the time. He felt using drones was akin to using suicide bomber, an act of terrorism that failed to properly target legitimate military targets and was just as likely to harm innocent civilians. My daughter was in the second Iraq war and I thought it better for a drone to attack our enemies than for our sons and daughters to be sent into harm’s way. I am conflicted. I don’t want our neighbors to die for our country, I want the bad guys to die for theirs. However, I do not want the next Malala to be killed in a drone strike just because her house was too close to where a terrorist was hiding. I don’t want a young man inspired to join Al Qaeda to avenge the death of his family.DC comics use to have a large line of military themed comments… the ghost tank, sgt rock, more…In the late 1960s, they began ending each story with these words…“Make War No More’.Not practical with humans too conflicted to even be nice to each other, but… Hopelessly, Helplessly, but still..Respectfully,C.

keep on, Ted. way to go.

Once a drone, launched from an Islamic or gun-rights militia extremist compound, manages to attack the Pentagon, the White House, or Congress; we’ll suddenly want to ban them as war crimes. It’s like land mines or poison gas. Once everyone has them, it’s going to be trouble for us as well.

“I tremble fory my country when I reflect that God is just”

- Thomas Jefferson

Good for you Ted this work of showing the perspective of your enemy is honourable work but the majority will be scornful and derisive. I don’t know why it doesn’t rationally occur to them that this is something one is obligated to consider if one is to fight a war.

In 2001 I made an art print for a school project of my face transposed with Osama Bin Laden called “Our enemies, Ourselves.” I was amazed how few people “got it.” I would get feedback like: “Do you want people to beat you up?” I still get stupid feedback, to this day, on that self-portrait.

Keep up the good work.

Did you ever read the March to Death comic by John Olday. Pretty amazing stuff. 1943. Pretty great bio I just came across: http://www.takver.com/history/meetings/olday.htm

@ Bill – Absolutely. My comment dealt only with my conflicted feelings regarding the use of drones in warfare. I perhaps should have mentioned that, despite my regret of what our absence will mean to women and religious minorities in Afghanistan, I want my neighbors to come home.@ Night Gaunt – my comment to Bill is partly to you, but my earlier nod to the young man who takes arms against the US after drones have killed innocent family members is my reply to you. I’m sure it gives such young people, like our young people who joined the military after the Two Towers fell, a sense of righteousness, even honor, to be going up against a foe who has attacked his loved ones.One man’s terrorist is another man’s patriot, as Bill said. Lacking sufficient knowledge of the regions and the totality of the threat to our country, I do not know if Mr. Rall is correct when he suggests we should pull out of ALL of the areas where AQ is trying to get power; but it would be good if we could ‘fight’ their influence in ways that don’t get children killed by our military, or get our children’s parents’ killed by them.Respectfully,Sadly,C.

Just what?

George Washington,. Patrick Henry, etc. were consideredterrorists by the british…think about that one

I agree that no government is going to use nukes, not even Iran or North Korea. Pakistan’s nukes worry me, though. The government there is not strong or stable. I think it’s possible that someone crazy enough to use a nuke could gain control of one in Pakistan.Glad someone from the more conservative leaning group is showing more sense than lma or rightisright.

Once again, you’re showing your complete disconnect from reality. Those “dummies” did a fine job using our stinger missiles against the Soviet Union.

You think the “rednecks” have better or more guns than the Taliban?Iran already has a drone. As they become cheaper, terrorist groups will have them, too.If you think it’s ok to use our drones anywhere, anytime, why should it be different for Iran?

Actually I would approve, if we could GUARANTEE that the person in question was actively engaged in terrorism, including training for jihad. Unfortunately we have decided to choose our on the ground incursions based on “difficulty”, i.e. Syria, Libya, Somalia, Mali. And WHY are we sucking up to the Wahabist Saudis? Oil maybe? We keep hearing that they hate us for our freedoms. It’s more likely that they hate us for our support of Israel, which they believe has no right to exit, even though Jews and Palestinians had been living in that region peacefully for centuries. It is the IDEA of a Jewish state that enrages them.Unfortunately the Arab “leaders” have chosen to use the Palestinians as bargaining chips rather than actually look for a solution. It’s interesting that, with all the pre-election rhetoric and settlement activity, it appears the Israeli populace is getting tired of Netanyahu’s beligerence. A ray of hope maybe?

I suppose we should stop using drones in Pakistan and just invade… what?

@tiggerjust because mutually assured destruction DID work, doesn’t mean it will always work. In those times we were playing with ‘rational’ players (if you could call MAD rational).probably the best thing we could do given your scenario is sell arms to both pakistan and india (wait, aren’t we already doing that), and surruptitiously provke them into nuking each other so they don’t nuke us.