Noah Shachtman is wrong on this one.

Noah Shachtman is wrong on this one.

By Gerald; Internet Anthropologist Think Tank
05.17.09


My response in all caps for ease of reading. G



U.S. drones attacked the Pakistani village of Mirali on Saturday. According to the American press, a pair of missiles from the unmanned aircraft killed “at least 25 militants.” In the local media, the dead were simply described as “29 tribesmen present there.”

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF LACK OF EFFORT ON THE INFO WAR.

PAKI MEDIA HAS BEEN UNDER HEAVY INSURGENT ATTACKS

KILLING REPORTERS. G

That simple difference in description underlies a serious problem in the campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. 

YES IT IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM, THE IMPRESSION IS USA IS KILLING MOSTLY

CIVILIANS, THE FACTS ARE IN ERROR, JUST AS IN THE ABOVE HEADLINE. G

To Americans, the drones over Pakistan are terrorist-killers. In Pakistan, the robotic planes are wiping out neighbors. 

THE QUESTION IS NOT, " SHOULD USA STOP THE DRONES" .

THE QUESTION IS WHERE IN HELL ARE THE VIDS SHOWING WHAT HAPPENED.

THE QUESTION IS WHERE IS THE USA INFO WAR EFFORT.

Which is why America needs to “declare a moratorium on drone strikes into Pakistan,” counterinsurgency experts Andrew Exum and David Kilcullen writes in today’s New York Times.(It’s an argument Kilcullen has been advancing for months, starting with a Danger Room interview and testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in early February.)


Imagine, for example, that burglars move into a neighborhood. If the police were to start blowing up people’s houses from the air, would this convince homeowners to rise up against the burglars? Wouldn’t it be more likely to turn the whole population against the police? And if their neighbors wanted to turn the burglars in, how would they do that, exactly? Yet this is the same basic logic underlying the drone war.

WHERE IS THIS COMING FROM?

USA IS NOT DROPPING BOMBS ON THE INNOCENT CIVILIANS HOMES.

YOUR ANALOGY'S PARADIGM IS IN ERROR.

THE TALIBAN INFO WAR EFFORT IS MAKING IT LOOK LIKE US IS BOMBING 

INNOCENT

CIVILIAN HOMES, YOUR JUXTAPOSITION IS IN ERROR, YOUR

ASSUMING USA IS BOMBING INNOCENT CIVILIANS.

WHERE THE HELL ARE THE CIA's VIDS SHOWING THE TRUTH?

DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THE CIA IS BOMBING CIVILIANS

ON PROPOSE?

“The drone campaign is in fact part of a larger strategic error — our insistence on personalizing this conflict with Al Qaeda and the Taliban.I 

THAT IS NOT Personalization, ITS STANDARD PROCEDURE, DECAPITATE THE LEADERSHIP.

Devoting time and resources toward killing or capturing “high-value” targets — not to mention the bounties placed on their heads — distracts us from larger problems, while turning figures like Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban umbrella group, into Robin Hoods,” the pair add.


Killing Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, for example, “bought only 18 days of quiet before Al Qaeda returned to operations under new leadership.”

MAY I POINT OUT THE SITUATION IN IRAQ NOW.

TAKING OUT ZARQAWI BROUGHT THE VIOLENCE WAY DOWN IN IRAQ.

IRAQ IS WINNING IN IRAQ NOW, AND YOU THINK IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH

TAKING OUT ZARQAWI? WHAT DO YOU THINK IRAQ WOULD BE LIKE NOW

IF ZARQAWI WAS ALIVE STILL, NOW.




GET THE CIA ON THE BIGGER TARGET, INVOLVED IN THE INFO

WAR, SHOW THE DAMN VIDEOS.

THE PROBLEM IS NOT IN BEING CALLED A WIFE BEATER

THE PROBLEM IS BEING SILENT, WHEN YOU HAVE PROOF.

WHERE IS THE INFO WAR IN PAKI?

WHERE ARE THE VIDS?




GERALD

Anthropologist




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