@r2varney – You sound so enlightened. I don’t see any better way to stop terrorism then to make terrorists anathema in their own communities. Currently the local communities give these thugs and villains aid and shelter. Eventually the communities will drive them out to protect their wives and children.
How many tears have you shed for the “innocent” victims of our bombings in Nagasaki, Hiroshma, Dresden, Essen, Bremen, I could go on and on.
I deplore violence when there are reasonable alternatives but the terrorists have left us none. I much prefer surgical drone strikes, that make every effort to contain the collateral damage as much as possible, to flattening entire towns and villages suspected of harboring terrorists. I would prefer more that we not have to do this at all but these anti-western zealots seem unmoved by the collateral damage they cause to civilians.
“Elected officials doing reprehensible things like using drones, torture and attacking a country based on lies is WORSE than a theologically based group of terrorists.-The US CAUSED many of the problems in the Middle East and South America but think that any action can be taken by the US without reprisal.1953 Iran coup by CIAIran-ContraUS support of brutal SA dictators to enable corporate interestsTraining bin LadenSupplying Saddam with weaponsSupplying Egypt with weapons (remember teargas canisters marked “made in USA”?)”-Don’t forget the invasion of Iraq. You know, Bush’s gift that keeps on giving.
The ‘toon is absolutely 100% dead-on, no pun, just what happens when guns and nuts are in the same place at the same time. And don’t forget on “motivation” such good guys as Tim McVeigh and Eric Rudolph, or dozens of other U.S. raised radicals, either theologically or politically driven to acts of horror, for effect. Schools are just chosen as they’re supposed to get people more riled up.
Drones can be very effective, when VERY CAREFUL planning and corroboration precede its use. One problem is that the controllers of drones are in a warm room, thousands of miles away, seeing only what the camera focusses upon. There is a gulf, of Human sensory, between the operator and the people on the ground. How much affects the operator as he/she zeros in on the target, but is unknowing of what or who is nearby? The operating must be somewhat detached, emotionally, by not being present, and not seeing the results in person, up close, and not hearing the cries of the ones who were not killed, but injured..In WW1, the Turks were fleeing, heading toward Damascus, in 1917 (or 1918). Their army was travelling through a long, narrow pass, with mountains closing in on both sides. It was many miles long. The British spotted them, and from a nearby airfield, launched continuous air attacks; machine gunning, and dropping bombs. The planes returned to their airfield, quickly re-armed, and came back for second, third, even fourth sorties. However, after the second attack, some pilots, who could actually see the carnage they were inflicting, considered it murder, unnecessary slaughter, and refused to return. The third and fourth sorties had fewer and fewer returning warplanes, because the pilots though “Enough is enough!”.The type of warfare which General George Patton saw coming, in which soldiers are secondary to radio-controlled rockets and weapons of mass destruction, is what we have today.
Actually, Hiram, coalition pilots were radioing in that it was becoming a slaughter, and Colin Powell recommended to Pres Bush to end it. Although few Iraqi soldiers survived, the situation was recognized, and halted..The point I am trying to make in my first post is that modern methods of warfare, in which, in some instances, are being waged in a business-like, impersonal way. Being so detached from the battlefield, the few chances at feeling any humanity for the victims are falling further away from us.
Mephistopheles over 9 years ago
@r2varney – You sound so enlightened. I don’t see any better way to stop terrorism then to make terrorists anathema in their own communities. Currently the local communities give these thugs and villains aid and shelter. Eventually the communities will drive them out to protect their wives and children.
How many tears have you shed for the “innocent” victims of our bombings in Nagasaki, Hiroshma, Dresden, Essen, Bremen, I could go on and on.
I deplore violence when there are reasonable alternatives but the terrorists have left us none. I much prefer surgical drone strikes, that make every effort to contain the collateral damage as much as possible, to flattening entire towns and villages suspected of harboring terrorists. I would prefer more that we not have to do this at all but these anti-western zealots seem unmoved by the collateral damage they cause to civilians.
manteo16nc over 9 years ago
Because our school shootings were done by well-organized terrorist groups threatening all of civilization. Oh wait…
braindead Premium Member over 9 years ago
“Elected officials doing reprehensible things like using drones, torture and attacking a country based on lies is WORSE than a theologically based group of terrorists.-The US CAUSED many of the problems in the Middle East and South America but think that any action can be taken by the US without reprisal.1953 Iran coup by CIAIran-ContraUS support of brutal SA dictators to enable corporate interestsTraining bin LadenSupplying Saddam with weaponsSupplying Egypt with weapons (remember teargas canisters marked “made in USA”?)”-Don’t forget the invasion of Iraq. You know, Bush’s gift that keeps on giving.
Wacky Jacky over 9 years ago
Children are dead and the only thing people can say is “well you see, ours died for more valid reasons”.
Have you no shame?
Dtroutma over 9 years ago
The ‘toon is absolutely 100% dead-on, no pun, just what happens when guns and nuts are in the same place at the same time. And don’t forget on “motivation” such good guys as Tim McVeigh and Eric Rudolph, or dozens of other U.S. raised radicals, either theologically or politically driven to acts of horror, for effect. Schools are just chosen as they’re supposed to get people more riled up.
moosemin over 9 years ago
Drones can be very effective, when VERY CAREFUL planning and corroboration precede its use. One problem is that the controllers of drones are in a warm room, thousands of miles away, seeing only what the camera focusses upon. There is a gulf, of Human sensory, between the operator and the people on the ground. How much affects the operator as he/she zeros in on the target, but is unknowing of what or who is nearby? The operating must be somewhat detached, emotionally, by not being present, and not seeing the results in person, up close, and not hearing the cries of the ones who were not killed, but injured..In WW1, the Turks were fleeing, heading toward Damascus, in 1917 (or 1918). Their army was travelling through a long, narrow pass, with mountains closing in on both sides. It was many miles long. The British spotted them, and from a nearby airfield, launched continuous air attacks; machine gunning, and dropping bombs. The planes returned to their airfield, quickly re-armed, and came back for second, third, even fourth sorties. However, after the second attack, some pilots, who could actually see the carnage they were inflicting, considered it murder, unnecessary slaughter, and refused to return. The third and fourth sorties had fewer and fewer returning warplanes, because the pilots though “Enough is enough!”.The type of warfare which General George Patton saw coming, in which soldiers are secondary to radio-controlled rockets and weapons of mass destruction, is what we have today.
Dtroutma over 9 years ago
Mangy: ask Australians what happened at Galippoli. “Suicide bombers” aren’t anything new.
moosemin over 9 years ago
Actually, Hiram, coalition pilots were radioing in that it was becoming a slaughter, and Colin Powell recommended to Pres Bush to end it. Although few Iraqi soldiers survived, the situation was recognized, and halted..The point I am trying to make in my first post is that modern methods of warfare, in which, in some instances, are being waged in a business-like, impersonal way. Being so detached from the battlefield, the few chances at feeling any humanity for the victims are falling further away from us.