spindrift Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 Imagine if, an hour from now, a robot-plane swooped over your house and blasted it to pieces. The plane has no pilot. It is controlled with a joystick from 7,000 miles away, sent by the Pakistani military to kill you. It blows up all the houses in your street, and so barbecues your family and your neighbours until there is nothing left to bury but a few charred slops. Why? They refuse to comment. They don't even admit the robot-planes belong to them. But they tell the Pakistani newspapers back home it is because one of you was planning to attack Pakistan. How do they know? Somebody told them. Who? You don't know, and there are no appeals against the robot. imagine it doesn't end there: these attacks are happening every week somewhere in your country. They blow up funerals and family dinners and children. The number of robot-planes in the sky is increasing every week. You discover they are named "Predators", or "Reapers" – after the Grim Reaper. No matter how much you plead, no matter how much you make it clear you are a peaceful civilian getting on with your life, it won't stop. What do you do? If there was a group arguing that Pakistan was an evil nation that deserved to be violently attacked, would you now start to listen? David Kilcullen is a counter-insurgency expert who worked for General Petraeus in Iraq and now advises the State Department. He has shown that two per cent of the people killed by the robot-planes in Pakistan are jihadis. The remaining 98 per cent are as innocent as the victims of 9/11. He says: "It's not moral." And it gets worse: "Every one of these dead non-combatants represents an alienated family, and more recruits for a militant movement that has grown exponentially as drone strikes have increased." http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann--hari-obamas-robot-wars-endanger-us-all-2106931.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artisan Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 Imagine if, an hour from now, a robot-plane swooped over your house and blasted it to pieces. The plane has no pilot. It is controlled with a joystick from 7,000 miles away, sent by the Pakistani military to kill you. It blows up all the houses in your street, and so barbecues your family and your neighbours until there is nothing left to bury but a few charred slops. Why? They refuse to comment. They don't even admit the robot-planes belong to them. But they tell the Pakistani newspapers back home it is because one of you was planning to attack Pakistan. How do they know? Somebody told them. Who? You don't know, and there are no appeals against the robot. imagine it doesn't end there: these attacks are happening every week somewhere in your country. They blow up funerals and family dinners and children. The number of robot-planes in the sky is increasing every week. You discover they are named "Predators", or "Reapers" – after the Grim Reaper. No matter how much you plead, no matter how much you make it clear you are a peaceful civilian getting on with your life, it won't stop. What do you do? If there was a group arguing that Pakistan was an evil nation that deserved to be violently attacked, would you now start to listen? David Kilcullen is a counter-insurgency expert who worked for General Petraeus in Iraq and now advises the State Department. He has shown that two per cent of the people killed by the robot-planes in Pakistan are jihadis. The remaining 98 per cent are as innocent as the victims of 9/11. He says: "It's not moral." And it gets worse: "Every one of these dead non-combatants represents an alienated family, and more recruits for a militant movement that has grown exponentially as drone strikes have increased." http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann--hari-obamas-robot-wars-endanger-us-all-2106931.html It wouldnt do any harm in a lot places in West Yorkshire. This is where most of the terrorists are holed up, at least those of them that have caused us most harm. And it would help with a bit of slum clearance as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fognuts Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 It wouldnt do any harm in a lot places in West Yorkshire. This is where most of the terrorists are holed up, at least those of them that have caused us most harm. And it would help with a bit of slum clearance as well. Guess that you dont go a whole bundle on huddersfield and halifax then ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artisan Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 Guess that you dont go a whole bundle on huddersfield and halifax then ?? That is where I live, for my sins. But the whole conurbation from Huddersfield to Kieghley is very dubious in certain areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fognuts Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 That is where I live, for my sins. But the whole conurbation from Huddersfield to Kieghley is very dubious in certain areas. Not to mention the kiddie abductors in Dewsbury.... alledgedly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buck Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 Imagine if, an hour from now, a robot-plane swooped over your house and blasted it to pieces. The plane has no pilot. It is controlled with a joystick from 7,000 miles away, sent by the Pakistani military to kill you. It blows up all the houses in your street, and so barbecues your family and your neighbours until there is nothing left to bury but a few charred slops. Why? They refuse to comment. They don't even admit the robot-planes belong to them. But they tell the Pakistani newspapers back home it is because one of you was planning to attack Pakistan. How do they know? Somebody told them. Who? You don't know, and there are no appeals against the robot. imagine it doesn't end there: these attacks are happening every week somewhere in your country. They blow up funerals and family dinners and children. The number of robot-planes in the sky is increasing every week. You discover they are named "Predators", or "Reapers" – after the Grim Reaper. No matter how much you plead, no matter how much you make it clear you are a peaceful civilian getting on with your life, it won't stop. What do you do? If there was a group arguing that Pakistan was an evil nation that deserved to be violently attacked, would you now start to listen? David Kilcullen is a counter-insurgency expert who worked for General Petraeus in Iraq and now advises the State Department. He has shown that two per cent of the people killed by the robot-planes in Pakistan are jihadis. The remaining 98 per cent are as innocent as the victims of 9/11. He says: "It's not moral." And it gets worse: "Every one of these dead non-combatants represents an alienated family, and more recruits for a militant movement that has grown exponentially as drone strikes have increased." http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann--hari-obamas-robot-wars-endanger-us-all-2106931.html Or the victims of Dresden. It wasn't moral then either. I don't condone it now, but at the time, revenge was in the air, only to be replaced by horror later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wednesday1 Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 That is where I live, for my sins. But the whole conurbation from Huddersfield to Kieghley is very dubious in certain areas. Full of <REMOVED>!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artisan Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 Full of <REMOVED>!!! No, not quite, what they do is cut their throats in the back yard, and let them bleed to death. More hygeinic you see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 ... and while such pig headed belligerence is the norm the attacks will continue and the resistance will continue in response. You reap what you sow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artisan Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 ... and while such pig headed belligerence is the norm the attacks will continue and the resistance will continue in response. You reap what you sow. No Pun intended of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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