Toll Of 5 Years Of Drone Strikes: 2,400 Dead .The U.S. drone program under President Barack Obama

[glasshouses]

The U.S. drone program under President Barack Obama reached its fifth anniversary on Thursday having tallied up an estimated death toll of at least 2,400 people.


Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International issued a pair of reports in October fiercely criticizing the secrecy that shrouds the administration's drone program, and calling for investigations into the deaths of drone victims with no apparent connection to terrorism. In Pakistan alone, TBIJ estimates, between 416 and 951 civilians, including 168 to 200 children, have been killed.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/23/obama-drone-program-anniversary_n_4654825.html

[yeoman6987]

1. Holy cow

That is scary. He is getting closer to Bush numbers. He was at 4800 deaths total (less than a thousand for Afghanistan and about 2600 for Iraq).

[glasshouses]

2. He's never going to top the Total dead that Bush caused

How many Iraqis died in the 8 years Bush was in?

[YOHABLO]

3. Sorry folks but for the continuance of this program he will leave the WH tainted. Shame.

[glasshouses]

4. It's a bad policy that he ramped up

It keeps our guys safe but even one child killed because he or she was in the wrong place is one too many.

[Skittles]

5. do you mean by our guys, the guys shouldn't be there?

[glasshouses]

7. He could bring them all home

[Scuba]

8. How does it keep anyone safe?

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/08/how-drones-create-more-terrorists/278743/

[Adrahil]

25. I don't disagree... But the only way to not have collateral damage...

... Is to do nothing at all. That is, of course, a position one can take, but I think it's a bit of a Polly Anna position. The real world is very messy.

[glasshouses]

6. Another thing

I remember how upset I felt when just 2 or 3 years ago the estimate of innocent children killed
by drones was 28

Now it's 200

[RiverLover]

9. And this article was written a year ago.

Imagine how much the death toll of innocents has risen since then.

[wavesofeuphoria]

10. Disgusting!!!

[Oklahoma_Liberal]

11. Is it worse that the bombs are delivered by a pilot on the ground and not a pilot in the air?

[elias49]

16. Yes, I think so...

remote control murder. Maybe an individual sitting in Florida, waiting for his lunch break. Then he/she will go home to his family with nary a hair out of place. It's disgusting.

[Adrahil]

26. I can't see any difference. Never could.

I can't understand your point of view. Would you be happier if occasionally one of our pilots were killed?

[elias49]

28. Well that's what war is about.

It makes life cheap when you can eliminate your adversary with a joy stick 5,000 miles from the 'battlefield'.
You don't see that?

[Adrahil]

29. No. I can't see the difference between....

A pilot dropping a bomb from 25,000 ft, and UAV operator doing it remotely. Neither will see the target as anything more than a target on a screen.

And no, war is not about putting people at risk. It's a nasty, brutal thing. And when it must be executed, it should be executed in the most lopsided, unfair manner possible. Hit when they ain't looking and don't give them a chance to strike back.

[elias49]

30. Like a video game you mean?

Ugh. Can't agree.

[Adrahil]

31. I think your dividing line is odd.

I'd say "video games" are more like the real thing, rather than the other way around. But yeah, technology is here to stay. That technology has also helped us advance precision delivery of weapons to greatly reduce civilian casualties as compared to, say, WWII.

[elias49]

32. I'm just tired of this country 'delivering weapons' all over the world.

This isn't our planet. As another op points out, we've deployed 'black ops' to 105 countries around the world. Those that don't play our game - won't buy our capitalist system, and our goods - get the poop end of the stick. Or destabilized (Ukraine).
One of the reasons the Vietnam war ended when it did is because the American public SAW what war was about. It's about dismemberment, burned bodies (phosphorous) and children without parents. IMO, you can't get precise enough. Never will.
War is the last vestige of megalomaniacs. Maybe if people could see what the landscape looked like after a major battle during the Civil War they'd say "Enough".

[woo me with science]

12. Moral cesspool. Blood, looting, torture, profit, lies.

With a slick, morally bankrupt propaganda machine to sell it all.

I weep for what my country has become.

[KG]

13. c'mon, woo, this country became what it is a long time ago.

the propaganda machine's been selling it since the 1800's

[PatrickforO]

14. These drone attacks are war crimes.

I have a friend who makes the point that every president since Truman is guilty of some war crime, except Carter. No shots were ever fired in anger during his administration. And, after leaving office, he has become a great man.

We have to face it, the military crazies are pretty much running the show.

[benz380]

15. Next #1 movie coming to a theatre near you! "American Drone" n/t

[stevenleser]

17. That strikes me as an extremely low death count from a 5 year bombing campaign.

In comparison, even the 9th and 10th most devastating bombing attacks of WW2 had five times as many civilian deaths during one attack and the efficacy in terms of the war effort was even more in question than it is for drone attacks.

http://www.onlinemilitaryeducation.org/posts/10-most-devastating-bombing-campaigns-of-wwii/

[Dreamer Tatum]

18. You're aware that it's probably dumb luck that the girl in your sig line hasn't been droned, yes? nt

[stevenleser]

19. No, it's not. The chances of someone in one of the worlds most populous countries being one of 2500

killed in three countries over five years is miniscule. Its not "dumb luck"

[Dreamer Tatum]

20. Gee, maybe you're right. How many weddings can a girl go to, anyway? nt

[stevenleser]

21. I know I'm right. Thanks for noticing. nt

[glasshouses]

22. I guess you proved Obama holds the moral high ground on children killed

Your logic is stunning

[Adrahil]

27. You, they are not randomly selecting weddings to strike....

I know that rains on your narrative, but the strikes are not occurring all over Pakistan, but in a very narrow zone controlled by the Taliban.

[woo me with science]

23. kick

[SidDithers]

24. Welcome to DU...

Sid

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

33. Oh, shush!! They were killed for their own good...or something. K&R

[woo me with science]

34. kick