Nelson Mandela was on the U.S. terrorist watch list until 2008. Under President Obama, terrorists are subject to summary termination by drone strike. What would have happened to Mandela had Obama been president before 2008? Boom!
Nelson Mandela, Drone Victim
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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I threw a screaming shit fit with the gangland-style slaying of Osama. We could have regained some small measure of our national karma if we’d brought him to trial instead of illegally executing him. (Hello? Aren’t we supposed to be the good guys?) I was surprised at the number of so-called libs who not only supported the action but told me to STFU. One of my favorite responses, “Oh yeah? I don’t see them killing Americans.”
A few short weeks later we droned Anwar Al Awlaki – an American citizen, as was his sixteen year old son. Not that it matters, the constitution isn’t exclusive to citizens, nor are the international laws we championed soon after WW II. That was a blatantly illegal act, if some country pulled the same shit on our soil we’d consider it an act of war.
How long before some other country decides to follow suit and starts droning a few Americans they disapprove of? There are plenty of (so-called) Christan sermon-stuffers calling for Crusades against Islam. Don’t Islamic countries have the same rights to murder them and the twenty people standing next to them?
Our constitution promises equal justice under the law. How long before the drones bring equal justice inside our borders? Do I really need to drag out that old Martin Niemöller quote?
The overwhelming majority of Americans agreed that the Constitution is suspended for the duration. The legislative, executive, and judicial branches are in full agreement. If you’re not in the 1%, that suspension is just keeping you safe from having to stay awake all night worrying about what to do with all your surplus money.
And as to drones, one can buy a cheap drone for $300, but it has very limited carrying capacity and range. A drone that can carry a camera for 30 minutes costs about $7,000. A lot for the kind of small-time terrorist who would fly a camera-sized explosive the distance the drone can travel in 30 minutes. So non-state actors are limited. And if a private citizen tries to purchase a more capable drone, they all come with a free gift: Interpol and/or FBI agents.
Meanwhile, state actors know that, if any state officially attacked the US, their entire state would be reduced to Trinitite. So they won’t. And non-state actors can’t.
Consequently, the US is in a position where the POTUS can drone anyone, anywhere, for any reason or for no reason, and absolutely no one can do anything about it, it’s the right of the POTUS under US and International Law. (The reason Nazis were hanged after WWII was because they lost unconditionally. The Allies did many of the things for which they said they were hanging the Nazis, but when Allied forces did those things, it made them heroes, since they were just doing what was necessary to win.)
> Meanwhile, state actors know that, if any state officially attacked the US
The operative word being ‘officially’ – if oh, say, Saudi Arabia attacked us unofficially then we’d retaliate by killing a bunch of innocent people in uninvolved countries.
Wouldn’t it make more to attack Canada instead of Iraq? They’ve got oil, and they’re a heckuva lot closer. Just sayin’
I don’t even see that as a joke. Climate disruption is predicted to desertify much of the USA. Because of weird weather patterns driven by the broken jet stream, everywhere is going to be a crapshoot, but overall it will be warmer and there is much undeveloped land in Canada, and water, on top of all the stuff that can be mined.
hmmm, then how about we liberate Bumfukistan next? So what if it doesn’t exist, we’ve got lots of practice fighting non-existent threats. Faux News’ coverage could be just as pro-war and fact-free as ever. Best of all, the administration wouldn’t be embarrassed by unembedded reporters publishing unauthorized images.
Everybody wins!
There you go again, Ted – pointing out uncomfortable facts about recent US history ! Why can’t you just go with the flow – and Barack Hussein Obama and look FORWARD ?!!…
Henri