From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Sun Dec 29 2002 - 17:30:28 MST
On Sunday, December 29, 2002, at 05:14 pm, John K Clark wrote:
> As far as I know the number of US citizens this has actually happened
> to can
> be counted on the fingers of one hand, perhaps just one finger of one
> hand.
What about Canadians? The US bombed canadian troops in Afghanistan
without verifying their identity. Shortly afterwards it was stated
that whoever it was was in close proximity to terrorist camps and were
therefore guilty by association. Later we discovered it was our own
allies. We still tried to cover it up with false information. Finally
we just admitted that we had no idea who they were. We just bombed
them because they were in the area with terrorists and we assumed they
probably were terrorists too.
It is true that the number is low. But I think this was due to our
policy of identifying targets before we kill them. If the policy now
allows unknown targets to be killed first and asking questions later, I
expect this number to rise. The Israelis have a similar policy of
shooting first and asking questions later. This has lead to the
killing of a few UN peacekeepers who have been shot for associating
with Palestinians. The Israelis even claimed they were working with
the terrorists at first, but then backed away from these claims and
admitted that they didn't have prior reason to shoot them.
> The bozo was riding in a jeep in Yemen with 5 known members of
> al-Qaeda
> when he was blown up by a Hellfire missile fired from a unmanned
> Predator
> drone. Maybe he was just hitchhiking with the terrorists and on his
> way to a
> church picnic, but somehow I rather doubt it, and don't think it's
> practical
> in war to get a judge to say it's OK before every shot is fired.
Or he might have been a reporter working on a story. Or he might have
been an undercover agent infiltrating the group. Or he might have been
a negotiator trying to make a deal. Or he might have been an unwitting
neighbor who wasn't told about the terrorists' double life. Or he
might have been a hitchhiker. Or he might have been a kidnapped
American was being held by the terrorists. He could have been anybody.
But now we'll never know. Because the secret star chamber that acted
as judge, jury and executioner shot first, asked questions later, and
isn't talking.
-- Harvey Newstrom, CISSP <www.HarveyNewstrom.com>
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