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This Saturday 10 to 11:30am will mark the 8th straight month we will be at the main gate of CIA Headquarters in Langley protest/vigil against killer drones.
This month one of our guest speakers will be David Swanson of Charlottesville VA. author and speaker who has written a number of books including "War Is A Lie"
So please join us at the front gate this Saturday.
We are a coalition made up of faith base and secular groups.
Sponsored by Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore, Northern Virginians for Peace and Justice, and Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker of DC, Code Pink, NOVA Catholic Community, Langley Hill Friends(Quakers), Veterans For Peace and many more.
Contact: Jack McHale of Pax Christi at 703 772 0635 or jackmchale51@gmail.com for more info.
This - or maybe ths reply - should probably be on some political message board around here rather than the NoVA board (albeit - Langley - of course).
However....
Some of us think the RPV program is a real win w.r.t. warfare tech. Note that stating a particular methodology is a win says nothing about the particular war that methodology is being used in.
In the case of RPV use, allied forces are rather completely protected from harm - this is a good thing in warfare.
In the case of RPV use, enemy forces are fairly specifically targeted when compared to "traditional" methodology - cannon fire, mortar fire, of course dumb bombs. These methods are sufficiently inaccurate - or nonspecific - that "civilian" casualties are significantly greater.
As far as what "civilians" are killed/injured, it doesn't matter if they're kids or women (the two groups used to garner the most sympathy) - they're "civilians", so that's all that matters. Trying to minimize those casualties seems like an excellent pursuit - and RPVs and their weapons have been an AMAZING success at that relative to prior tech.
I literally do not understand the objection to the use of RPVs - they seem like SUCH a win compared to prior methods that it feels to me like EVERYONE should be in favor of their use.
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Again, it's very important to seperate "the war" from "the warfare" - once one has decided to take part in a war then methods that protect one's "own side" while causing extreme effects (physical AND psychological) on the "other side" with a dramatic reduction in "civilian" casualties seem like a total win to this poster.
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The term "civilian" in this post is in quotes because it is hard to separate what is "civilian" from what is "something else" - for example, if a major Bad Guy is in his friend's house having a dinner meeting with a bunch of other Bad Guys and is being served by the friend's wive(s) with his friend's kids all around and the house is destroyed by a RPV resulting in deaths of all mentioned, are the wives and children "civilians" or are they "something else"? If a dumb bomb bombing raid had been used instead of an RPV-directed missile, wouldn't it be MUCH worse to destroy the friend's house and the 8 other houses full of literally-innocent neighbors (for REALLY accurate dumb bombing) all around?
I don't get the objection to RPVs - they seem like SUCH a win to me that protesting against THEM seems like a totally misdirected protest.
Last edited by sullyguy; 06-06-2013 at 08:17 AM..
Reason: various typos
I think you are absolutely right sullyguy. The protestors have an issue with the overall bombing of these foreign countries and loss of innocent lives, not necessarily the drones in particular. It just sounds better to be more specific(I suppose is their rationale).
They also consider anyone of military age 14 yrs. and up that are killed in drone strikes as military combatants even if they are not.
They do double taps, they strike a target and wait till rescuers and family arrives and they strike again.
The government's thinking is anyone who would attempt to help must be enemy combatants.
I think you are absolutely right sullyguy. The protestors have an issue with the overall bombing of these foreign countries and loss of innocent lives, not necessarily the drones in particular. It just sounds better to be more specific(I suppose is their rationale).
Well it is actually both, we make more enemies/terrorists because of these strikes.
I guess most people have heard that Obama finally came out and admitted he has ordered drone strikes on American citizens including a 16 yr. old boy.
There is a lot of info available about these drone strikes that may or may not change everybody's mind but you cannot make an inform decision because this info is hidden by main stream media.
I bet just about everyone reading this thread never knew there was an on going vigil/protest at CIA Headquarters because it is only reported by foreign news services or local independent news services on the internet.
you don't honestly believe everything the government tells you do you
Do you guys provide the foil hats, or do I need to bring my own?
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