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  | LettersCollateral DamagesDear Alibi, I think the questions posed by Chuck Hoskins and Don Schrader (February 21 issue) were excellent ones: Do we think that our children are intrinsically more valuable than the children of some other country? I will add a question of my own: Does anyone truly believe that Yemeni, Pakistani, or Somali mothers love their children less than our mothers do? The racist lie that THEY don't value life as much as we do, has been an excuse throughout history used to justify some really awful stuff, like slavery and genocide. Otherwise decent people have bought into the lies and propaganda that saturates us through the corporate media, resulting in a complacent and compliant public. It's a lie that drone strikes are consistent and precise. They aren't. It's a lie that the only alternative would be "boots on the ground." That may seem like the only alternative to a profiteering industrial war machine with their army of lobbyists and paid-for politicians. There are alternatives. It's a decade long lie that we're making good progress. A lot of bad things can be said about targeted killings and signature strikes. If the fact that they are criminal violations of international law and immoral actions that destroy innocent people's lives hasn't stopped them, maybe we need to acknowledge the simple fact that they are really bad policy. The drone strikes have been the best recruitment tool jihadist groups all around the world have ever had. Why have the drone attacks escalated? There is an ever increasing number of targets. As we kill more and more peoples' family and friends, the number of hate-filled, desperate individuals with little hope can only grow. It has grown. We have managed to radicalize large portions of the population of Yemen and Pakistan. We're taking the same path in Somalia. At this rate, we will eventually need to kill entire populations to keep ourselves safe. John Brennan has said that the drone strikes are very precise and that collateral damage (a euphemism for innocent civilians being killed) is in the single digits. This lie doesn't hold up even if one pretends that any male of military age killed is a terrorist or enemy combatant. Credible Human Rights groups have compiled a list of children killed in drone strikes. Think about them. Don't be hypnotized by video games, reality shows and celebrity news. Don't buy the lies and propaganda. Editor’s note: This letter was received with a list containing the names and ages of Yemeni and Pakistani teens and children who have lost their lives in drone strikes, but due to space constraints, we weren’t able to publish it. YEMEN Name | Age | Gender Afrah Ali Mohammed Nasser | 9 | female Zayda Ali Mohammed Nasser | 7 | female Hoda Ali Mohammed Nasser | 5 | female Sheikha Ali Mohammed Nasser | 4 | female Ibrahim Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 13 | male Asmaa Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 9 | male Salma Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 4 | female Fatima Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 3 | female Khadije Ali Mokbel Louqye | 1 | female Hanaa Ali Mokbel Louqye | 6 | female Mohammed Ali Mokbel Salem Louqye | 4 | male Jawass Mokbel Salem Louqye | 15 | female Maryam Hussein Abdullah Awad | 2 | female Shafiq Hussein Abdullah Awad | 1 | female Sheikha Nasser Mahdi Ahmad Bouh | 3 | female Maha Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 12 | male Soumaya Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 9 | female Shafika Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 4 | female Shafiq Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 2 | male Mabrook Mouqbal Al Qadari | 13 | male Daolah Nasser 10 years | 10 | female AbedalGhani Mohammed Mabkhout | 12 | male Abdel- Rahman Anwar al Awlaki | 16 | male (US Citizen born in Denver) Abdel-Rahman al-Awlaki | 17 | male Nasser Salim | 19 PAKISTAN Name | Age | Gender Noor Aziz | 8 | male Abdul Wasit | 17 | male Noor Syed | 8 | male Wajid Noor | 9 | male Syed Wali Shah | 7 | male Ayeesha | 3 | female Qari Alamzeb | 14| male Shoaib | 8 | male Hayatullah KhaMohammad | 16 | male Tariq Aziz | 16 | male Sanaullah Jan | 17 | male Maezol Khan | 8 | female Nasir Khan | male Naeem Khan | male Naeemullah | male Mohammad Tahir | 16 | male Azizul Wahab | 15 | male Fazal Wahab | 16 | male Ziauddin | 16 | male Mohammad Yunus | 16 | male Fazal Hakim | 19 | male Ilyas | 13 | male Sohail | 7 | male Asadullah | 9 | male khalilullah | 9 | male Noor Mohammad | 8 | male Khalid | 12 | male Saifullah | 9 | male Mashooq Jan | 15 | male Nawab | 17 | male Sultanat Khan | 16 | male Ziaur Rahman | 13 | male Noor Mohammad | 15 | male Mohammad Yaas Khan | 16 | male Qari Alamzeb | 14 | male Ziaur Rahman | 17 | male Abdullah | 18 | male Ikramullah Zada | 17 | male Inayatur Rehman | 16 | male Shahbuddin | 15 | male Yahya Khan | 16 |male Rahatullah |17 | male Mohammad Salim | 11 | male Shahjehan | 15 | male Gul Sher Khan | 15 | male Bakht Muneer | 14 | male Numair | 14 | male Mashooq Khan | 16 | male Ihsanullah | 16 | male Luqman | 12 | male Jannatullah | 13 | male Ismail | 12 | male Taseel Khan | 18 | male Zaheeruddin | 16 | male Qari Ishaq | 19 | male Jamshed Khan | 14 | male Alam Nabi | 11 | male Qari Abdul Karim | 19 | male Rahmatullah | 14 | male Abdus Samad | 17 | male Siraj | 16 | male Saeedullah | 17 | male Abdul Waris | 16 | male Darvesh | 13 | male Ameer Said | 15 | male Shaukat | 14 | male Inayatur Rahman | 17 | male Salman | 12 | male Fazal Wahab | 18 | male Baacha Rahman | 13 | male Wali-ur-Rahman | 17 | male Iftikhar | 17 | male Inayatullah | 15 | male Mashooq Khan | 16 | male Ihsanullah | 16 | male Luqman | 12 | male Jannatullah | 13 | male Ismail | 12 | male Abdul Waris | 16 | male Darvesh | 13 | male Ameer Said | 15 | male Shaukat | 14 | male Inayatur Rahman | 17 | male Adnan | 16 | male Najibullah | 13 | male Naeemullah | 17 | male Hizbullah | 10 | male Kitab Gul | 12 | male Wilayat Khan | 11 | male Zabihullah | 16 | male Shehzad Gul | 11 | male Shabir | 15 | male Qari Sharifullah | 17 | male Shafiullah | 16 | male Nimatullah | 14 | male Shakirullah | 16 | male Talha | 8 | male Our Bill is DueDear Alibi, Back before the Tea Party was bitted and saddled and run into the arroyo like a king boar on speed, there was a glimmer of intelligence, eclipsed by perilous loonies like Michelle Bachmann and other seedy and treacherous toadies in the Republican Party who trashed the Tea Party and dumped it like a rotting couch out on the Mesa. Maybe we have to tag Schrader as part of the "Green Tea Party" as he has little good to say about the duty we have to pay for foreign wars or Washington bureaucrats; the difference is the nattier suits worn by the military. Perhaps, we all deserve to be tied to the mast and lashed by the Transportation Security Administration for irreverence against the government, and we are all on the list. Beware. Dip your ammunition in Lubriplate, and bury it in the backyard. The bill is coming due for the "people who enjoy the rights and freedoms preserved by America, tax dollars and the fighting men and women they seem to despise," whether on the Regular or Green Tea side of the aisle. Pay up now. The Voice of Doom calls You. Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, address and daytime phone number via email to letters@alibi.com. They can also be faxed to (505) 256-9651. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium; we regret that owing to the volume of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter. Word count limit for letters is 300 words. |  Today's EventsRunes 101 at Abitha's ApothecaryBelen de la Quintana Flamenco Dance Workshops at Conservatory of Flamenco ArtsFree Classes in the Month of January: Conservatory of Flamenco Arts! at Conservatory of Flamenco ArtsMore Recommented Events ››
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