Drone Operators, Not American Snipers, Rack Up the Biggest Body Count
• http://original.antiwar.comFor all the macho posturing of the late Chris Kyle, gunned down at a shooting range by a PTSD-afflicted veteran, his prolific killing has nothing on the death and destruction rained from above by those who carry out US drone strikes in the Middle Eas
Well duh. Unlike any other person of a battlefield a sniper can be certain of their target.
A person who drops bombs or fires missiles or rockets or artillery shells may hit their target or not, and when the explosive and concomitant shrapnel radiates out it engulfs anyone within its range. That is a lot of bodies despite the Pentagon's euphemism of 'surgical strikes.' Some of those commonly used warheads can KILL everything within a 5,000 foot radius! That doesn't include the many who are maimed at the periphery.
No a sniper actually is surgical. Little collateral damage. Only misidentifying a target from time to time. If they care.
"Being antiwar is not solely about US troop deaths, but also about the deaths of innocent foreigners. Even if a draft finally summoned sufficient outrage in response to the number of flag-draped coffins to end a war, it will never stop the strikes of drones. It will therefore be the chief source of blowback for decades to come. It’s just too tempting for the US government not to use. Aim and fire. Blow apart weddings, massacre children, and funerals. Aim, fire. Wait for the rescue operation, fire again. Wait for the funeral, fire a few more. Thousands dead. And each of the dead more than likely has a loved one who has inwardly declared undying war on the US."
Amen. This is the plan...never ending war machine. Go Neocon, Go!
The problem with "drone" strikes is that they're *not precise enough*, especially when dealing with enemies who surround themselves with human shields of innocent civilians. What we need are small, agile, smart missiles that can fly over the head of an innocent civilian and kill the terrorist hiding behind them The claim of PTSD for the "moral injury" of accidentally killing innocent people by accident, that too can be prevented -- and cured -- by greater precision and accuracy at getting the Bad Guys and sparing the innocent. As for the claim that any killing at a distance is particularly eeeeevil, that charge is as old as the first caveman who was hit by a thrown rock in combat, instead of a hand-swung club. It was claimed against the spear, the bow and arrow, the first personal firearm, artillery, and bomber airplanes. It has no more validity now than it did then.