Franklin's Focus 6/4/10


Is Obama's Order to Massively Use Drone Attacks a Violation of the Law of Nations?


I've been a critic of the use of drone attacks since day one. Every such attack has constituted a violation of the Geneva Accords and the law of nations. The great majority of the slain people have been noncombatants. Many others have merely been suspected to be Taliban. Killing civilians and Taliban suspects in this manner obviously are criminal acts under the law of nations. In some cases, illegal white phosphorous gas bombs have been dropped by drones on villages thusly killing men, women, and children at random throughout the entire village. On top of that, there has not even been a formal declaration of war by Congress, which is the proper constitutional procedure. Both national law and international law have been trashed. Bush, and now Obama, have said with their actions, 'the Constitution be damned'.


The appended item summarizes the current drone malfeasance. The United States has literally become an outlaw nation. The invasion and occupation of Iraq, was illegal under international law. The nine year occupation of Afghanistan is illegal under international law. Plus the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians with drones is also illegal. This nation has said to hell with international law. Yet this nation tried Germans and Japanese after WWII for violations of international law. Some were hanged for those violations. Does Obama think the rest of the world is not aware of this huge discrepancy in American policies and actions? Obama arrogantly believes he can do anything and get away with it, including a poisoning of the world's waters. Alas, I guess he IS getting away with it.


Every person in Afghanistan who has lost relatives or friends to drone bombs has undoubtedly become an enemy of America. The drone program is surely recruiting more enemies than it is killing. Obama is populating the world with enemies of America with a kind of Malthusian formula. Kill a Taliban member plus a half dozen civilians in the process, and this process, when repeated over and over again, will create a huge surge in Taliban membership. One does not have to be a math genius to see that this is stupid along with being illegal.


Long time readers will recall my oft used example of the two ancient middle eastern caliphs with court chess masters who were rivals for having the best chess master in their courts. When one master was a winner of that ferocious rivalry, he was asked what reward he wanted. He asked for a kernel of corn for square one of the chess board, which was to be doubled for square two with that number then being doubled for square three and so on for every square on the board. The caliph protested vehemently, but finally agreed. After all, he wanted to heap gold and silver on his chess master. Eventually the wise men of his court abjectly came to tell their ruler that they could not possibly fill the agreement because there was not enough corn in all of the kingdom to fill the court chess player's request. I once asked a mathematician about this tale. He said the math checks out. Is the legend true? I don't know if it is, but as the mathematician says, the numbers check out.


It is doubtful that any of the peoples of the world now respect this nation as a result of American violations of international law and treaties and its unending militaristic imperialism.


At last, the UN is now making some statements about the reckless killing of civilians in Afghanistan. The rest of the world will take notice of these comments by a senior UN official. American leadership in the world is now dependent on power alone. Admiration for this country has been shrinking for quite some time, and Obama seems bent on speeding up that decrease. This is despite loud and numerous protests from the president of Afghanistan. Obama is thusly violating both international law and our specific agreements with Afghanistan. It is certain the Afghan government has never agreed to the actions now being taken. What Obama is doing does not represent progress. It actually sabotages his own imperialist goals.


My apologies for not including the source for the appended item. I copied it into an email yesterday but forgot to annotate the source; however, that strikes me as of little importance. I'm sure news of the UN announcement has popped up all over the Net by now. Amerika has now implicitly been labeled a war criminal by a U.N. official, and that has surely been front page news all over the globe.


Warmest regards,
Richard


Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:41:02 GMT
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A senior United Nations official says the US-operated drone strikes in Pakistan pose a growing challenge to the international rule of law.

Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, said the attacks were undermining the rules designed to protect the right of life, the BBC reported.

Alston also said he feared that the drone killings by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) could develop a "playstation" mentality.

The attacks were initiated under former US president George W. Bush and have escalated under incumbent President Barack Obama.

Washington claims its airstrikes target militants, but most of the attacks have resulted in the death of civilians.

Since August 2008, such strikes have killed nearly a thousand people in the country's troubled tribal areas.

The issue of civilian casualties has strained relations between Islamabad and Washington with the Pakistani government repeatedly voicing its objection to the attacks.


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