In a long-anticipated gesture at transparency, the Obama administration on Friday released an internal assessment of the number of civilians killed by drone strikes in nations where the U.S. is not officially at war.
According to the data, U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya killed between 64 and 116 civilians during the two terms of the Obama administration — a fraction of even the most conservative estimates on drone-related killings catalogued by reporters and researchers over the same period. The government tally also reported 2,372 to 2,581 combatants killed in U.S. airstrikes from January 20, 2009, to December 31, 2015.
Releasing the figures — which appeared on a Friday afternoon, on a holiday weekend, after seven years of selective leaks and official secrecy — along with an executive order prioritizing the protection of civilian life in counterterrorism operations, reflected core American principles, the president asserted.
In addition to mandating an increased emphasis on civilian protection in U.S. tactics and training, the executive order also called on the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to release annual reports on civilian casualties resulting from counterterrorism operations, such as drone strikes, in nations where the U.S. is not at war — a move that, in effect, signals the further institutionalization of borderless wars for the foreseeable future.
“As a nation, we are steadfastly committed to complying with our obligations under the law of armed conflict, including those that address the protection of civilians, such as the fundamental principles of necessity, humanity, distinction, and proportionality,” Obama’s order read.
While many within the legal and human rights communities applauded the voluntary disclosure of casualty data and the executive order as a step in the right direction, some felt the Friday news dump fell short in key areas.
“It’s hard to credit this death count, which is lower than all independent assessments,” Hina Shamsi, the director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, told The Intercept.
Organizations such as the Long War Journal, the New America Foundation, and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimate that at least 200 and as many as 1,000 civilians have been killed by American drone strikes in nations where the U.S. is not at war since Obama took office. The administration offered no individualized accounts to explain where its numbers came from, or who the civilian casualties were. Without the government addressing individual cases, disclosing the identities of those killed, or providing detailed information on the investigations undergirding its conclusions, Shamsi contended, little could be done with the disclosures.
“Without key information like this, the public can’t be confident,” she said.
The drone program, as it’s often referred to in press accounts, is in fact a combination of both independent and overlapping efforts overseen by the military and the CIA — with support from other intelligence community agencies such as the NSA — that vary in intensity and management depending on the country. Under Obama, the unmanned vehicles have become both a tool and a symbol of a new age of modern American warfare, one in which the U.S. government asserts the right to reach out and kill suspected terrorists wherever they may be.
The casualty data, presented in the form of a three-page account, claims to reflect “credible reports of non-combatant deaths drawn from all-source information, including reports from the media and non-governmental organizations.” The report acknowledged that discrepancies exist between the government’s tallies and those compiled by NGOs over the last several years.
NGOs provide accounts that differ not only from official figures, but also vary widely from organization to organization, the report said. “For instance, for the period between January 20, 2009, and December 31, 2015, non-governmental organizations’ estimates range from more than 200 to slightly more than 900 possible non-combatant deaths outside areas of active hostilities.”
The government argued, as it has before, that it has access to information — informants and electronic surveillance, for example — that researchers, journalists, and human rights advocates are not privy to.
Yet the government’s means of assessing the efficacy of individual strikes have been called into question in recent years. Informants on the ground for U.S. forces can provide mistaken information, and aerial battle damage assessments, or BDAs — a common tool for assessing drone strikes — have at times proved unreliable. “According to one study in Afghanistan, initial air BDAs failed to identify civilian casualties in 19 out of 21 cases subsequently confirmed by ground force investigations,” noted a report on civilian protection published last month by the Open Society Foundations.
The government’s report also suggested that malign actors can spread misinformation that makes its way into NGO reports, resulting in slain militants being misidentified as civilians, though it offered no specific examples of this taking place.
While the administration’s report was short on details, it did push back on claims that U.S. officials have, over the years, maintained a practice of labeling military-aged males killed in drone strikes as militants unless evidence is produced indicating otherwise. “Males of military age may be non-combatants; it is not the case that all military-aged males in the vicinity of a target are deemed to be combatants,” it said.
The government’s insistence that it does not label dead young men as militants by default contradicted years of reporting from multiple news organizations (just this week, former military and intelligence officials speaking to the Los Angeles Times confirmed that had been a practice under the Obama administration until recently).
In October, The Intercept published The Drone Papers, a series of reports based on classified military documents detailing the inner workings of the Pentagon’s drone operations. The source of the documents, a member of the intelligence community who worked on so-called targeted-killing missions, described how military-aged males, or MAMs, killed in drone strikes are routinely labeled as enemies killed in action, EKIA, unless there is information indicating otherwise.
“If there is no evidence that proves a person killed in a strike was either not a MAM, or was a MAM but not an unlawful enemy combatant, then there is no question,” the source said. “They label them EKIA.”
While the publication of the drone data is unprecedented, its lasting impact remains to be seen. Shamsi, the ACLU attorney, said Obama’s executive order reflected “a positive step” for what has otherwise been a regime of near-total secrecy in matters of life and death, but it’s an order “sprinkled with caveats.”
“It’s important to remember that the next president, whoever that president may be, can revoke this order with a pen stroke,” she said.
I think you should reread §c and §d, since they are a group of people who bond based on their beliefs about sexuality, right?
Also, I think you are foremost a human being and as such you are owed respect. If they don’t respect your humanity to begin with, what is the point of arguing about your sexuality?
RCL
Homosexuality is a sexual preference, not a belief. Many people who oppose homosexuality and believe that they are heterosexual are in fact gay. Paraphilias are also sexual preferences.
Another of the problems created by “freedom-loving”:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/audio/2016/may/19/why-are-so-many-children-around-the-world-out-of-school-podcast
There is a lot more to “116 civil casualties” (as USG talking about “being ‘transparent'” claims) and the “kosher technicalities” of drone attacks
RCL
I wonder if any of the admin’s informants are the ones who sold innocent neighbors to Guantanamo for profit? Selling out a corpse has to be easier on the conscience.
Let me share with you my lines about that excellent, true-to-matters documentary. Now, for those of you who don’t know gringos well, yes, that kind of “500 years ago there were people …” introductory talk seems to be for some children story (which is still very worrying!) but gringos actually think, are like that. They are prompt to believe what they are being told off TV-sets as if it were the Gospel
Just pick any of their newspapers and you will see repeated all over it from headlines to implicit assumptions: “look how stupid are all other people, … how they are not like us …”
They even (somewhat unconsciously?) use themselves as reference of what is rightful and holy when they would, for example, say that my take on that documentary is “‘Un’-‘American'” (At times you hear even Glenn (someone whose moral grounding I generally trust) throw around those “American” and “‘Un’-‘American'”)
// __ The Canary Effect
youtube.com/watch?v=lD7x6jryoSA
(1:00) 500 years ago there were people on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean but neither knew about the other … people had “reddish brown skin”, lived in huts … on the Eastern side people were “white skinned” who had learned how to build houses and large sailing ships …
(9:10) definition of genocide
The crime of genocide is defined in international law in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.
“Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
(11:50) Roosevelt: … “as righteous and beneficial a deed as ever took place on the frontier”
(17:15) Andrew Jackson: … it was in the interest of the Indian to remove them from proximity to ‘white’ people
(19:10) 1970: “Family planning act” … “Indian Boarding School program” … “kill the Indian, save the man”
(22:30) half of the children that were forced into those “Indian Boarding School program” didn’t come out alive
(23:00) when they came up with the plan for Indian reservations Christian churches actually administrated them
(25:25) … all of a sudden I was always sinning and I didn’t even know what sin was
(26:30) it is a rapist mentality …
(27:40) Ronald Reagan: Let me tell you a little something about American Indians in our land …
(40:50) …. “imagine if they had been ‘white’ (kids)”
(49:10) “Mr. President (Bush)” …
(50:00) … (notice the honking car in the background the US. gov loves those kinds of “noising” tactics. They use fire department trucks and emergency ambulances)
(58:30) “it is a ‘very’ hard decision” … “the price (of indiscriminately killing children) is worthy …”
~
RCL
Strangely, exterminating all homosexuals would not qualify as genocide according to that definition.
I was the one comparing, not equating, present-day USG to Nazi Germany during WWII. Why can’t you do so?
Because USG has 8-timed the genocidal ratio of Nazi Germany during WWII?
https://theintercept.com/2015/04/17/ramstein/?comments=1#comment-124574
Because gringos are the “master race”? “Divinely chosen by (their star-trek-like) God” to be the rulers of our planet?
Because the USG is “democratically” elected by “a conscious, morally grounded, ‘good Christian’ citizenry”?
Because gringos’ military basis around the globe are just taking care of “peace”, “justice” and “freedom-loving”?
Because Nazi’s didn’t have FISA courts and “‘secret’ laws”?
Because technology wasn’t there yet for Nazi’s to have an NSA?
Because gringos would be a “least worse” world police than Nazis would have ever been?
Because Nazis weren’t able to get their atomic bomb on time and still in our times USG is adamant about saying sorry with their characteristically arrogant “God blessed ‘America'” b#llsh!t?
Because, when Nazis killed people they would stake their heads, hang the corpses right in the towns’ plazas for every one to watch? Instead of using Western Media to convince us that people we invade, kill are grateful to us for “saving democracy” …, that “terrorists hate us for having a ‘free’ media”?
What is that great difference between Imperial Britain and Nazi Germany? That Nazis didn’t give a sh!t about “gentlemen agreements”, “white man burden” b#llsh!t and threw the party right in Europe? Bombing London, occupying Paris, going head-on against Russia, … instead of “freedom-lovingly” invading and messing with Afghanistan, Haiti. Guatemala, … doing the tried and true thing from times immemorial of messing with people who can’t defend themselves on an equal basis?
Most importantly, from whose point of view perspective do you consider such comparisons to be “erroneous”?
Ask current day Muslim people from the Middle East. What were the opinions of Indian people during British colonial times (BTW I am not asking you to find that information in “History books” from current day Britain), gringos fighting off British occupation and then native-American people being genocidally exterminated by those who had so vehemently opposed British occupation? They aren’t still quite done with their own “final solution”
// __ The Canary Effect
youtube.com/watch?v=lD7x6jryoSA
~
If gringos could they would to the same with the whole world at large to that extent so that the 0.1% (including those praise by Reagan) rightfully live their lives happily ever after …
Why can’t you compare such acts of abuse and extermination?
Furthermore, do we really have to live like this? Can’t we do better than that?
Please, enlighten me!
RCL
They don’t even try to make their lies remotely believable.
What does that tell us about the level of contempt in which they hold us?
Insane bastard! He really believes he will survive nuclear war?
huh? nuclear war?
Well you don’t really have to kill so many people to test your hypothesis. Just cheat a bit while paying your taxes or actually brake a window and you will see what “happens” to you, while the 0.1% legally keep their money in “tax heavens” and kill as destroy as they wish.
Also, as the constitutional lawyer he is, he should know and actually defends the honorable precept that:
… “anybody is above the law” …
http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/open_for_questions_round_2_response/
it is just, paraphrasing Orwell’s Animal Farm, that our dully elected representatives, actually serving as front for the 0.1% are “… more equal than the rest of us”
Also when you “freedom-lovingly” kill people “for the greater good” we should all be thankful to them (including those killed). Technically, it is only when those “freedom-hating” terroristic lowlifes kill us “for having a free media” that it is considered wrongful murder.
Obama is just rationalizing the use of drones, you should read his verbal farting as some sort of “cost analysis” if you want to understand what he means.
RCL
I actually do! I was just elaborating a bit more on your points in my own ways.
“truth and peace and love” would also mean to me “curse emming effing politicians institutionalizing a police state”
I went to school in Germany and read, learned, thought about quite a bit of their history from primary sources (German people, as they compare to gringos, are very good at smelling their own sh!t, just visit one of their museums and you will see what I mean). I once read a story about Jewish people in concentration camps that described what happened when they were taken into gas chambers. Some of them were still scared, some (after so much persecution and moral exhaustion) were quiet; yet, some were viscerally cursing Nazis, kapos, and those collaborating with Nazis as “workers” in the concentration camps (many of them Jews themselves).
I see myself as “a cursing ‘Jew'” which in our times would be perhaps be “a cursing Palestinian”, any morally grounded person who says no to b#llsh!t …
I would suggest to anyone “tired” of cursing morally deafferented, emming effing b#llsh!ting morons to read: Primo Levi’s “Survival In Auschwitz” (Italian: Se questo è un uomo (“If This Is a Man”))
Paperback: 187 pages
Language: English
ASIN: 0684826801
ISBN-10: 9780684826806
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primo_Levi
// __ Primo Levi, Back to Auschwitz
youtube.com/watch?v=cPOKXfHOuw4 (1/2)
youtube.com/watch?v=lA7Xa2ANx2c (2/2)
~
There you have a thorough going account of a kid whose dream was just becoming a Chemist who could not understand why all of a sudden he was a “Jew” … darüberhinausgehend, more than writing from the perspective of a Jew in Auschwitz or simply writing an anti-Nazi lampoon, he uncompromisingly wrote about the human condition.
RCL
Obama……..”I didn’t know I was so good at killing people”
This should be enough to arrest Obama for war crimes, shouldn’t it? If I admitted to killing 116 people I would surely get arrested.
You are right that you would get arrested (and executed) if you admitted to killing 116 people.
Obama won’t be arrested for war crimes because he is the President of the most powerful country. But then, there will be the continuation of terrorist strikes in America and its allied countries, which can trigger (if it has not already) World War 3. George Bush Jr., Obama etc. will likely not have peaceful deaths (‘peaceful’ doesn’t just mean dying in sleep in a peaceful environment; it also means an absence of fear, guilt etc. when dying).
I think that it is erroneous to equate present-day America with Nazi Germany since America is more similar to Imperial Britain. It seems to me that America, for all its war machinery and arrogant behaviour, is not the greatest threat to the world. The greatest threat is from Zionist Israeli Jews — they are paranoid psychopaths, and perhaps schizophrenics. It’s said that their participation in terrorist detention camps lifted torture to high levels.
Saudi Arabia is another possibly dangerous country because of its literal interpretation of the Holy Quran, and being the capital of the Muslim world and having a lot of oil, its misdeeds get ignored, like in the case of the 28 pages of the 911 report.
I’m not sure if SA is considered “the capital of the Muslim world” by majority of the Muslims, but it’s export of Puritanical Salafism (the entity that emerged as a result of the union between Salafism and the more rigid Wahhabism, in the middle of the last century) has had a devastating effect on the way many Muslims now see Islam.
Both entities, and their offspring (Puritanical Salafism), deviate from traditional Islam in some key areas under the guise of reverting to the pure Islam of the Prophet (S) and his (S) companions.
This is appealing to many Muslims as it gave them the illusion of an anchor to an “ideal” society and a way out of the collective decline of the Muslims that has been going on for centuries and culminated in losing power and control to the Western colonialism.
They felt that by bypassing the 1400+ years of traditional scholarship, they’d tap into the original Islam and re-experience its perceived bliss and “golden age”.
Puritanical Salafism also distorts the writings of some traditional scholars, and does so quite literally.
One huge distortion they made was in Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s commentary on the Quran, distortions they were “courageous” enough to admit right off the bat, and presented it as a “reformation”.
Through these distortions, it became very difficult for contemporary Muslims to read for themselves what some classical and recent scholars have said on some key issues.
There are many areas (nearly all in the realm of the Shariah) in which reformation is needed, which can only be done by challenging the orthodoxies and re-interpreting the sources through contextualization, common sense, re-evaluation of their authenticity, the collective consciousness of humanity today, and international norms and treaties; that is, by moving away from the literal interpretations and applications, as you’ve pointed out.
I have said this before, and I will say it again: this kind of re-interpretation and reformation is very difficult to do in Muslim majority countries, especially in SA, where anyone who challenges the orthodoxies can get into a lot of trouble.
I myself fear when I say these things in this public forum because who knows what one might misconstrue what I say and do to me and my family!
You’re my religious/philosophical star and hero (ine), Sufi.
May your clear explication of your faith and interpretation of its scriptures guide believers of all faiths.
In the spirit of Hazrat Inayat Khan . . .
Thanks, Doug.
Being praised in public is an excellent opportunity to immediately focus on one’s shortcomings in order to check the rise of the ego.
As for my interpretations, they are not new. But those with religious and/or political power tend to monopolize what should be expressed and what should not be expressed.
In some (or many) cases, religions have become more about beliefs than about selfless acts and love.
“In some (or many) cases, religions have become more about beliefs than about selfless acts and love.”
should read: “In some (or many) cases, religions have become more about beliefs, power and control, than about selfless acts and love.”
I would still give a bit of credit to Mr. “yes we can”, “look forward as opposed to looking backwards” (while asked about crimes against humanity during the Bush administration):
http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/open_for_questions_round_2_response/
when he realized:
“Turns out I’m really good at killing people,” Obama said quietly, “Didn’t know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/03/obama-drones-double-down_n_4208815.html
As Cenk points out, especially “double taps” (which had been always a terrorist tactic) were very obviously directed at family members, medical personnel and people compulsively acting on their sense of humanity:
// __ Obama Brags About Out of Control Drone Strategy
youtube.com/watch?v=vAah_HYFsgk
~
Which ultimately “We the people” pay for and gives more “sense”, fun to their miserably psychopathic lives.
This is something I clearly noticed with Nazi Germany too. It is like people lose their collective sense of reality and start “projecting themselves” into their own b#llsh!tting “cosmic” illusions … as if morality and humanity are “philosophical” issues. As if they were doing a favor to the universe (their “greater good” thing) by declaring themselves as “rulers”, “masters” …
Yep! I would agree with you. We are just easily gullible pretentious apes. If you give a careful reading to Orwell’s Animal Farm, you will see how he does not only mock politicians, but us, human nature as well. However, our position towards all of this should not be of accepting silence, placating cynicism or complacent acknowledgement.
truth and peace and love,
RCL
I’m guessing you agree with me? If not, please explain more clear. “Truth, peace and love is what I feel too. I didn’t really understand what you were saying but I felt you agreed with the majority of what I said. I love having philosophical dialogue.
Remember that, oh . . . Vietnam War? Every Vietnamese death was reported as a member of the “Vietcong.”
As detailed in Nick Turse’s book kill anything that moves. The real American war in Vietnam
http://americanempireproject.com/kill-anything-that-moves/
This is ridiciolous. To think it adds any value is absurd.
Obama’s drone order: Institutionalizing a state murder operation wsws.org
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/07/02/pers-j02.html
… Arithmetically speaking I think I was NOT being “fair” to Nazis (I meant to say) (as if you could be “fair” to Nazis (but, hey! they did ban smoking, didn’t have “‘secret’ courts”, did their “‘responsible’ freedom-loving” with Russia, Britain, France … (instead of Afghanistan, Haiti, Guatemala, …), would have certainly banned drinking soda and eating junk food as well …, so, comparing USG with Nazis on many counts is not that far off))
Right in one incident 500 people lost their lives:
http://www.ted.com/talks/melissa_fleming_a_boat_carrying_500_refugees_sunk_at_sea_the_story_of_two_survivors
(that was a link)
RCL
Imaging (as Lennon would say) someone with the insightful bitchiness and debasing acuity of il Duce questioning that 116 USG body count report, calling their b#llsh!t to task as if he was proving a theorem!
~
Village Voice: 2016-06-28 NYPD Watchdog Shatters Bratton’s ‘Broken Windows’ — Now What?, by NICK PINTO
When sixteen-year-old Rhamar Perkins escaped police officers who were trying to arrest him for jumping a subway turnstile in Brownsville last week, the NYPD scrambled an all-night manhunt, complete with helicopters. The mobilization was eventually called off when Perkins turned himself in to the precinct four and a half hours later, but the incident — an all-out effort to catch a boy who skipped out on a $2.75 fare — makes for a pretty tidy illustration of what policing in New York City looks like in 2016.
…
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/nypd-watchdog-shatters-brattons-broken-windows-now-what-8796746
~
RCL
The most important point out of this report is not the number of civilians, it’s that it provides more of a basis for the “justification” of drone warfare. And no where is there any talk of why violence does not stop the spread of terrorism.
Good point as the ratio is great for droning on.
Never in the history of our planet have so many leaders have no souls,and they are all Western.
I wonder if Obama will eventually realize that all the killing he did with the drones was totally useless. Even in those cases when the people killed really were resisting us it is still useless killing.
You are completely wrong. Obama knew what he was doing. This is on purpose. The killings (for mankind) are useless, but to the criminals in Politics it is not. This is their clear plan. Kill innocent people in the Middle East and this causes “Blow Back”. They knew they were going to have “Refugees” fleeing the Middle East because of NATO intervention. They set up the plan. Destabilize the entire Middle East while flooding the Western World and Europe with people who hate us, and have just reasons for that. (Our evil politicians destroying legally elected Presidents). They want to mix all cultures and races because the NWO knows this will not work. They want massive chaos world wide because the Economy that they have controlled since the creation of the Federal Reserve In 1913 is in collapse. They don’t want you to know that their policies and money printing causes the destruction. Don’t believe me just read some history of Ancient Rome. Every great empire collapses because of Government power/control is an addictive drug for these evil bastards.
Out of chaos they know they can get “More control” and especially over the uneducated, leach sucking masses.
There seems to be considerable confusion about where the U.S. is officially not at war.
Old Soviet saying: In Truth there is no news, and in News there is no truth.
US version: Would you buy a used car from them?
The report is totally false since the US Government classifies anyone killed in the vicinity of a drone attack, who is of military age, as an enemy combatant/insurgent. This practice is manipulative, and hides the truth, which is that drones have massacred hundreds of civilians, including women and children. The mass media also assist the US Government in concealing this deception by failing to draw attention to the practice, so the majority of the public remain unaware. Here is an example of the failure to mention from the BBC News :
US air and drone strikes ‘killed up to 116 civilians’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36691208
But of course they, even more disgustingly, are willing to try to cast doubt on the Human rights groups claims that the civilian death toll is much higher :
But the Obama administration cautioned that figures from human rights groups could be flawed due to the “deliberate spread of misinformation by some actors, including terrorist organisations, in local media reports on which some non-governmental estimates rely”.
Another message to be “held” (again if you want to see if your message is being “held” just disable javascript in your browser and take a peek at the source of the page), Also we should all end our messages with a time stamp.
When I said that they have 8-timed the genocidal ratio of Nazi Germany during WWII in their “freedom-loving” wars.
https://theintercept.com/2015/04/17/ramstein/?comments=1#comment-124574
Arithmetically speaking I think I was being “fair” to Nazis since I included in their case people who died due to famine in Russia during the war (of course USG would say that they didn’t kill them, or as U.S. State Department clown would say “we are not responsible for the actions of other ‘human’ beings ” …)
The social cost of those wars to many individuals should be considered as well even if to Washington politicos that doesn’t mean anything at all, all it matters is “freedom loving”. Right in one incident 500 people lost their lives:
ted.com/talks/melissa_fleming_a_boat_carrying_500_refugees_sunk_at_sea_the_story_of_two_survivors
U.S. official parrots would read off on camera to journos: “USG doesn’t know of any ‘credible’ allegation of people being killed by U.S. trained death squads” … (while members of those death squads have blown the whistle)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/21/berta-caceres-name-honduran-military-hitlist-former-soldier
// __ State Department won’t comment on possible U.S.-trained Honduran hitmen
youtube.com/watch?v=jv-nuwvs0aM
RCL
$ date
Sat Jul 2 06:59:11 EDT 2016
This report will confuse Allah since he will not be able to reconcile these figures with his actual distribution of virgins.
I doubt that. Even lesser beings know blatant lies when they hear them.
At the very least, He knows they’re all men.
This must then be a circular reward for groups of 73 terrorists each. Allah is great! Allahuakbar!!
All we need to do is make sure we always send down multiples of 73. Otherwise, Chaos!!
It’s beside the point, but since you’ve mentioned the words, “Allahuakbar”, a lot, I feel that the time has come for me to explain the original meaning of this term, which, like many other terms in Islam, have been distorted through misuse and misinterpretations.
To some of us, this is what this term means (I’m aware that many will disagree with me; but my purpose is to share how some of us see things vis-a-vis Islam):
First of all, Allah refers to the Reality — that Cosmic Consciousness (aka Absolute Consciousness) that encompasses and permeates all other realities, existences and consciousnesses.
Akbar means great, or greater.
So Allahu Akbar simply means that that Reality is greater than all other realities.
It is a term that was meant for one to learn humility, and to use it often in variety of situations to remind one of one’s nothingness in relation to the Infinite Cosmic Consciousness.
Somewhere along, it became a call (slogan if you will) for warfare and violence.
And that’s how, as I have indicated in my discussions of other terms used in Islam, the extremists have hijacked Islam and distorted it.
And many non-Muslims are doing a fabulous job of perpetuating these distortions — some of them seem to do it deliberately as they are not interested in acknowledging any good currents within Islam and tend to consider Islam as monolithic even though, in reality, it is a very diverse religion with myriad of religious interpretations and practices (religious as well as cultural).
Sufi Muslim,
You don’t have to explain anything to anyone. Allahuakbar.
Your report enlightens Yahweh as to his distribution of shekels to sayamin like you.
An elegant touche` grammatically speaking.
The report on “civilian casualties”, is merely a small-spit in the bucket but miss the underlining significance of what the U.S. is telling the world. That war, in the technical application of; putting boots on the ground, having third-world countries (like in days of the cold war) or declaration, are now obsolete.
This is very scary business.
Finally, after all these years, Obama has come along and made Dan Quayle look like a genius.
Well, that report soundly debunks Jeremy Scahill’s work. Not to mention the film ‘Eye in the Sky’ which demonstrates that drone operators go to considerable lengths not to harm civilians. Moreover, should the rare civilian come to harm, the drone operators will shed tears. Expect to see many more years of drone usage, no matter who wins the glorious democratic election. In the immortal words of Bono, “Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you.” I don’t think anyone put it better.
No bullshit from the US Government will ever debunk any of Jermy Scahill’s work. The facts are that drones have massacred hundreds of civilians, and that they have been deliberately, and falsely classified as enemy combatants. It was exactly the same in the Vietnam war, when the US military covered up the daily war crimes, and slaughter of civilians, describing them as killed Vietcom. Go read Nick Turse’s book ‘ Kill anything that moves’.
If you can’t see the ends-justify-the-means rationalization of your comment you’re not even trying, perhaps to sleep at night. If you can see it and just don’t care that makes you either a sociopath or troll and possibly both.
Apologies, Mister, that comment reply was meant for Beak.
Hey no problem, and a great comment for Beak – my guess is that he is a sociopath, and a psychopath.Most commonly found within the corrupt and false US Government, and their military and intelligence agencies.
Nothing more illuminating than Zionists revealing their shorted souls.
Keep up the good work!
Some people’s irony detectors are of very low quality.
Hee heeeeeee
“It’s hard to credit this death count, which is lower than all independent assessments”
But which will be cited by wingnuts across Facebook for years as proof drones are awesome and we need to use more of them.
“Director of National Intelligence to release annual reports on civilian casualties resulting from counterterrorism operations, such as drone strikes, in nations where the U.S. is not at war”
Excuse me but if you are bombing them you are at war. When you are on the receiving end of a bomb and lose a loved one, child, friend, neighbor, wife, husband, or see a stranger blown to bits that is the experiencing of Satan’s greatest work “war”.
Poor wording. We’re at war in them but not with them.
I remember bent dick,back in 98,on bombing OBLs camps in Afghanistan,killing some family members,and declaring we are at war.
I guess they took US at our word.
People forget the power of air quotes—or their absence.
“Director of National Intelligence to release annual reports on civilian casualties resulting from counterterrorism operations, such as drone strikes, in nations where the U.S. is not at war”
Excuse me, but if you are bombing them you are at war. When you are on the receiving end of a bomb and lose a loved one, child, friend, neighbor, wife, husband, or see a stranger blown to bits that is the experiencing of Satan’s greatest work “war”.
It’s getting more and more difficult to distinguish between Israeli and Washington excuse-making machines. Both are running out of anything that sounds the least bit credible as a justification for what seems more obviously an addiction to killing. I often wonder what the real age and gender(s) are of MAMs.
I find it disgusting that you think killing me is morally palatable.
Those numbers about which (of course) USG is lying to us again are just part of the picture. I read on the book “The assassination complex” that in just one attack some 50 people at a wedding were killed and then USG bribed the Yemeni government into accepting it was “their mistake” …
A more important number is that they have 8-timed the genocidal ratio of Nazi Germany during WWII in their “freedom-loving” wars.
https://theintercept.com/2015/04/17/ramstein/?comments=1#comment-124574
I wonder how could Obama with his paternalistic, cynicism explain that “transparently”
Also, there exist such pages as:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drone_strikes_in_Pakistan
why not compiling:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_names_of_people_killed_in_drone_strikes
with the names, (approx.) age, country and date as record and as attributes the lists from where the data was taken and what they are considered MAM, EKIA, …
They want transparency, right? So, let’s call their bluff!
RCL
One Israeli or American child is killed by a terrorist and the whole world shake, thousand children are killed by American intervention in other countries, drones attack, Israeli bombing on Gaza and that is normal.
Obama says: Yes, we can, yes, we can.
Well said!! Idk why Americans won’t WAKE THE HELL UP!! Every time I try to explain to someone why we have become the rest of the worlds tyrannical psychopathic boogeyman they look at me like I’m a conspiracy theorist nut job and should be thrown into solitary confinement for daring to say such a thing about this amazing country that is only trying to save the world and never ever harm anyone! I now have an overwhelming sense of hopelessness for this country and I’m terrified of what my children’s futures hold.
Can we not :
ground all these drones and grind them to scrap metal? Gotta find some way to deny these guys their toys.
Thank you, Shamsi
https://ipsoscustodes.wordpress.com/2016/07/01/theguardian-obamas-hope-drones/
Here, you all! USG talking about credibility!
RCL
Released on a Friday leading just before the 4th of July weekend. I suppose someone thinks that is clever.
The American media are pack of whipped curs, so badly beaten down they just passively accept whatever garbage is thrown at them by the government. Even when Trump publicly humiliated them, they stood there and meekly accepted it.
It must be a Pavlovian response, because they really hate Trump.
@Si1ver1ock –
Yeah, TPTB reallydidn’t want even this meager report to get any traction. And the sheeple are just going to keep on sleeping, I guess.
Interesting thoughts you have about the media. I often wonder WHY they just let that nutjob candidate throw his tantrums and all —- even yes, rant against the media (and keep them in a “pen” at his events) and they just kept right on enabling him. I’m not sure whether they’re whipped (and being spied on may do that) or owned, the msm journalists for the most part have not been on the job. Sad.
Punishment isn’t a very good way to control behavior. Much better is positive reinforcement. So, if a news agency conducts propaganda for the government, they’ll be more likely to receive interviews from officials, cooperation obtaining information, and other perks.
Nein,nein!They do the whipping!
They create the environment for war war war,and our feckless whores of Zion(MSM)follow suit.
They are the drivers of all this,not followers.Jesus.
Accepted Trumps humiliation?Holy shite,the news every day about Trumps failings counters that.
I saw something today that Trump was Jeffrey Epsteins(Bubba bent dicks pal and Menendez’s). guest back in the day and he raped a 13 year old.
We aint seen nothing yet from the serial liars.
How The Drone King Turned Assassination Into Counter-Terrorism Policy Mint Press News: (Eight minute video with transcript)
A nation that tortures and murders it’s own civilians.
Government Sponsored Stalking.
DEW’s are lethal.
The USA goes around the world killing with impunity. They exadurate how many enemies they kill and lie about how few women and children they kill. Yankee go home and work on inequality, racism, poverty and health care for all. You have more than enough stuff to keep you busy at home. wanna bomb someone; bomb Wall st. . Wanna kill foreigners, bomb the “City of London”.
You think we should bomb New York and London. Take some time off of thinking.
You think bombing New York and London is a good day’s work. What is your plan for those of us who do not agree?
You’ll get a call from the Israeli embassy to stay home that day.
Not sure why we should believe proven liars with a vested interest in keeping the official figure low.
so much for transparency
today we read that ISIL takes hostages in restaurant in bangladesh
and
Israeli troops ‘mistakenly’ kill Palestinian teenager
The Guardian? – Jun 21, 2016
This world wide KILLING SPREE is a fire that the militarists believe can be stopped by more killing.
Hillary is all for it – amping up the war, paying for everything.
Hillary favors drafting women into the armed forces.
some would say the cat’s out of the bag
or the genie is out of the nuclear bottle
or perhaps, pandora is out of the box
another fine morsel.. “IDF says 15-year-old died and four others were wounded in West Bank after soldiers mistook them for stone-throwers”
i get it. throwing stones (at armor plated heavily armed soldiers) is cause for murder on the spot.
what about sticks? spitballs? old shoe soles? paper airplanes? dust? wads of paper? apple cores? banana peels? doodoo? tin cans? pieces of shrapnel from previously exploded israeli rockets? body parts from victims of the previously exploded rockets? dish rags? diapers? chewing gum? paper clips launced from robber bands? fingernail clippings?
instant update
Israeli army locks down half a million Palestinians in occupied West Bank after surge in attacks.
call me a pessimist but doesnt that sort of radical israeli terrorism sound like a motivator for radical islamic terrorism?
This guy Obama is a real regular shite, polishing his rotten apple.
Just shows all of us of any race or color are capable monsters.The US war of terror is a panoply of diversity,from whites, Jews ,Koreans,Latinos,blacks and even a few Arabs thrown in.(Or under a river near Parris Island).
What a country!