“SOMETIMES YOU HIT INNOCENT PEOPLE …”
|| By FITSNEWS || A U.S. drone strike in Pakistan inadvertently killed two hostages – including one American – earlier this year. The operation – which was authorized by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – also killed an American who was working with al-Qaeda.
The drone strike – which took place in January at an undisclosed location in Pakistan – killed American hostage Warren Weinstein and Italian hostage Giovanni Lo Porto. A third American – Ahmed Farouq – was also killed in the attack. The government reportedly first learned of the hostages’ deaths back in February.
U.S. President Barack Obama apologized for the deaths of Weinstein and Lo Porto.
“As president and commander-in-chief, I take full responsibility for all our counterterrorism operations – including the one that inadvertently took the lives of Warren and Giovanni,” Obama said. “I profoundly regret what happened. On behalf of the United States government, I offer our deepest apologies to the families.”
Weinstein was a foreign aid worker who was abducted by al-Qaeda in 2011. He was last seen alive in a December 2013 video released by his captors.
This isn’t the first time America’s drone program has killed the wrong people. A year ago, a drone strike in eastern Afghanistan accidentally killed five Afghan soldiers.
In fact even when America takes out the right people, it’s often accidental.
Just two days, for example, American officials were caught flat-footed by reports that a March 2015 air strike in Iraq gravely wounded Ibrahim (a.k.a. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi), the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Critics of America’s covert drone program – most notably former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul – argue it undermines American values and makes our country less safe.
Proponents – like U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham – argue the collateral damage is worth it.
“Sometimes you hit innocent people, and I hate that, but we’re at war,” Graham infamously said back in 2013.
America’s drone program began in 2004 under the administration of former U.S. president George W. Bush – and has been dramatically expanded under the Obama administration. Because the program is shrouded in secrecy, there is no running count of how many people – “bad” and “good” – the strikes have killed. In defending the program two years ago, Graham estimated it had killed 4,700 people – although his information was reportedly more than a year out of date.
55 comments
Muslim Obama policies got him another Jew today…oops it wasn’t today…it was January…why information released today?(Damn he couldn’t even wait for Iran to get a nuke and the $50 billion???)
Of course we know why .The shit that will sink Hillary’s presidential campaign and MAY put her and Bill in prison was out in the media today…coordinated effort from Hillary and wHite House to change subject…???? YES!!!!
It’s not like he just sat around waiting for them to kill 3,000 Americans with hijacked airplanes. Oh right – that was the other guy – what’s his name again? Dang Flip – you must be feeling much better. Glad to hear that.
Hey Pogo! You sure are on a roll today!
Mean Scream Media: “No jail time for the Clintons, no story here, move along, move along …”
You are a constant source of shame for the Christians that post here. Obama identifies himself as a Christian, whatever he does is between him and God to work out. You call him a Muslim out of your own personal hatred and end up being a poor representative of the faith to others. With every action you are a witness unto others, good or bad, people come to know Christ through His followers, and such bad behavior pushes them away.
I will pray for God to help you let go of your anger and be more compassionate to others.
If it walks like a duck
If it quacks like a duck
If it flies like a duck.
just saying.
On tonight’s action packed episode of Win, Lose, or Drone will the hostages survive. Will the president need to apologize.
Will he have to give up his Peace Prize?
It may have been melted down already to help pay for another drone.
Maybe they’ll turn it into a “Rest in Peace Prize” instead.
Well done
After Jimmy Carter and Obummer, you can take the peace prize and a dollar and get a cup of cheap coffee.
No, but he will blame Bush.
If the North Charleston policeman has to go to jail for killing one guilty man; Does Obama have to go to jail for killing four innocents?
The King can kill all of you serfs and He would not do any jail time.
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.
You are right. My bad.
But the only thing I can come up with to combat the “progressive” Fascists is to cut them off at the pockets.
Combat in the media is useless (as you note) and the negative attacks never work anyway.
“A free press isn’t free except to those who own one.” – W.R. Hearst.
It’s a war of ideas.
… which should not be a war at all, but a debate.
It’s a war when both sides are ideological.
Just remember, when you advance to an iPhone, Obama and the drone guys can track you. Wasn’t he supposed to blow up Charleston with a nuke back at Navidad? That’s what you’re friends said.
“…Critics of America’s covert drone program – who are clueless like former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul – argue it undermines American values and makes our country less safe.
There, fixed it for you.
This is simple. if you don’t want to get killed in a drone strike in Syria or Yemen, stay the hell out of Syria or Yemen. There are plenty of other places on earth worth reporting on or aiding.
Who is doing the counting over there?
Counting the dead bodies?
yes
UAVS do the battle damage assessments as well.
If they can’t see them before they shoot their missiles, how do they see them afterwards?
Contrary to popular liberal belief, we don’t just randomly target vehicles and buildings, weddings and school houses. Generally, there is some surveillance that identifies a pre approved target, that target is then observed until he/she gets into a position optional got a drone strike (heading off to the
brothelmosque in the Toyota land cruiser is an ideal position). Once the target is in a good position for the strike, they blow him/her into little bitty bits. If you counted how many people got into the land cruiser and you blew the land cruiser into shreds, you have your BDA. Fixed structures are trickier.So, if they count before the strike, didn’t they know already they were killing civilians?
I’m not implying we *want* to kill civilians, or that we count them as *collateral damage*, but I can’t figure out how they knew they killed hostages.
Buildings and compounds are trickier. That’s why sane people stay the Hell putt of places like Syria and Yemen. It’s also why we like to target vehicles and convoys, collateral damage is far easier to limit.
…but how did they know they killed hostages?
The bad guys said so.
that’s what I thought – we don’t know.
I’m not sure I made it clear in my earlier messages, but I want to make sure you know… I was in the Army for 4 years, and I learned to respect rank.. until an officer showed me he was a prick, anyway… it’s a big responsibility to have the authority to send men to certain death… I’m not ashamed to say I never met an officer that was a prick. I met several non-com pricks though.
Anyway… I was an FTA kind of guy, with a low profile… fast promotion, proficiency pay, no marks on my record.
To me, finding such solid character among officers was no less a surprise to me than the high quality of the chow. Few are able to admit the latter, and even fewer the former.
I’m not saying officers have a clue on a political level… being wrong isn’t always deliberate.. it’s a person’s character that counts in my world view, not whether he’s bought a pack of lies.
I freely admit my world view is relative, and am always processing new information that modifies it, so I’m tolerant of those, like me, whose motives are pure as silver bullion.
No, I got you – always keep in the back of your mind that warfare is always a bloody, brutish, mistake prone, violent, inefficient way to accomplish anything. The relative intelligence(or lack there of) of the chain of command is meaningless when the civilian command structure wants to accomplish war goals without appropriately using the weapons of war or accepting that there will by necessity be mistakes.
In combat the “perfect” is the enemy of the “good enough”. There is never enough time or information to have a “fool proof plan” for several reasons but largely because there’s always at least one fool involved in executing the plan. Having a National Command Authority that expects perfection is counter productive.
Let’s examine our “surgical strikes” using AGM 114 Hellfires. The weapon was originally designed to kill tanks with a shaped charge warhead. Due to it’s high speed and incredible accuracy, they modified it to include a proximity warhead – basically a 20 pound grenade, only this grenade is actually a MAC or thermobaric warhead with a burst radius of about 30 meters where everything goes bye- bye (and a wound radius far greater). It also sets off anything flammable or explosive within the strike foot print. As precise as it is, it isn’t a “surgical weapon” and you have to expect collateral damage, overkill and mistakes – it’s an armed missile after all. The best way to avoid “mistakes” that kill innocents is to keep the innocents off the battle field.
I agree with all that you’ve said. I wasn’t an FTA guy because I didn’t think our war machine was good enough… accurate or precise enough…
Like the death penalty, though the Marines are damned good at what they do… (and the soldiers do what they’re told for the most part, too, only not as well)…
the government has not demonstrated that it is competent to take life… the people are sheep being fed propaganda… war is glorified… as if killing people is a “right of passage” that “makes you a real man”… thousand yard stare… PTSD.. real macho… look at me, I’m still alive!
And for what?
I’m not saying I’m ungrateful, on the contrary, I don’t want them to become disfigured and maimed for the defense industry, the Israeli lobby, the neocons, and the politicians who lead, and then read, the polls.
But what are you going to do, put on a pink cardigan and wave a white flag? oh, yoooo hooo, mr. america.., this is a big crock of shit?
We *need* a military, but not for this shit. And the whole country is lurching towards the abyss… we be mad and shit.. we have the *bomb*…
Reminds me of a teen with a muscle car… on his way to a life-support machine.
“… We *need* a military, but not for this shit. …”
So Obama and the “progressive” Fascists are ginning up an army of Brown Shirts to circumvent both the military and local police …
no.
It does take a real man to admit it when he is wrong. In my book, that is a test of character.
I don’t think of it as being “wrong,” but as “learning,” which is a constant process for intelligent people.
This is a good argument for my suggestion that:
The Judge, Jury and Executioner should be on the scene. Armed UAVS controlled from central Wyoming or Florida are just an exotic video game. It is all too easy to bomb the crap out of civilians with no repercussions.
That’s is the single most important reason for using piloted attack planes instead. The Judge/Executioner is right there on the scene, watching folks die.
Well said. Well said indeed. Ooops, gotta go, my flight to Yemen is leaving now. Tell your friends I’m wearing a large white Mexican hat, and a red shirt. Don’t shoot me.
The two that were hostages knew the risks of being over there. If you’re only qualified to clean septic tanks, you take a job over there which pays you $100,000 to clean septic tanks in a war zone, if you get killed or captured, don’t expect the government to spend millions trying to free you.
How do we know if they were killed from the initial strike? They could have been murdered afterwards in retaliation. Just sayin’….
Sure, and it’s not going to cause me any loss of sleep over it. You go into a shark tank chances are you might get bit. Personal responsibility.
The use of drones dose away with the need for Gitmo. No one left to question. it also dose away with our sources of intel. It makes Obummer look like he is doing something while not doing any real info. gathering from high ranking prisoners. Just wasting time and money while beating his chest to look good.
“Where are the WMD old man?”
“I cannot tell you where they are”
“Why cannot you tell us,old man”
“I do not know where they are”
“Ok, zen…. Sign ze paper old man”
“I cannot sign ze paper”
“Why cannot you sign ze paper,old man”
“You have broken all of my fingers”
“Would you like a cigarette old man?”
[sssssssssssssss….] “Arrrrrrggggggghhhhh!”
Oh wow man,he stuck it in his eye, man!
Should have tortured the old man some more. The WMDs were in the Baca valley of Syria. Assad used them on his own people. But it is still Bush’s fault. LOL
They did.
Humph.
How folks get these pics of us blowin’ up our allies?
Didn’t Bush say “Sometimes you have to crack a few skulls to make an omelete.”
Hey, FITS! How you get pics of U.S. killing allies? Da ISIS give you slides?
I think FITS is engaged in a bartering arrangement with Thomas Ravenel; in exchange for incessant pandering and plugging attendant to that ridiculous and embarrassing reality show (assuming any of the participants had any shame, that is), TR provides FITS with high level analysis of foreign affairs, military operations, and counter-terrorism. It would appear that TR must have written this piece of fluff.
How about we stop it with the playstation kids firing live ordnance by remote control into sovereign nations with whom we are not at war? The suffering of hostages is a shame, but why make it OUR shame? Drone strikes are more valuable to the enemy as propaganda than to our interests.