Letters

Collateral Damages

Dear 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 Due

Dear 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.