Free Soul
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US had on parallel to its armed war of terror launched a media war to villainize the enemy to an extent that the human element can be taken out of the conflict where US is involved.
On the Bombing raids of WWII - Howard Zinn at a number of occasions like i think discussing The three holy wars describes how aerial bombardment makes it easy for the perpetrators to distance themselves from the carnage that goes on down below.
The first line of defence against the war crimes was to plain and simple deny any such wrong doing, but with leaked videos of Bagram and such like prisons the Iraq war footage where unarmed civilians including women and children were being mowed down and the Wiki Leaks if not all then at least a lot became public knowledge. The war and media machinery then focused on justifying the actions.
One aspect of How drones are palatable to general public of the West is that the atrocity being committed is far far away and does not concern them, their immediate concerns are - banking crisis current economy, adverse austerity measures to public spending, national health service in Europe UK and the US the cuts the shoring up the heath insurances etc etc etc....
They would care less for a browned skinned person dying at the hands of US and NATO forces be it aerial bombardment or a illegal occupation or drone strikes.
Chomsky and Herman describe the manipulation of thought and acquiring consent in Manufacturing Concent
The legality:
International law does not approve of it plain and simple.
Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, summary or arbitrary execution
Heyns suggested some of these drone strikes may even constitute "war crimes"
Addressing a conference Geneva , another UN rapporteur, Ben Emmerson QC, who monitors counter-terrorism, announced he would be prioritising inquiries into drone strikes.
If the US or any other states responsible for attacks outside recognised war zones did not establish independent investigations into each killing, Emmerson emphasised, then "the UN itself should consider establishing an investigatory body".
Heyns, a South African law professor, told the meeting: "Are we to accept major changes to the international legal system which has been in existence since world war two and survived nuclear threats?"
Some states, he added, "find targeted killings immensely attractive. Others may do so in future Current targeting practices weaken the rule of law. Killings may be lawful in an armed conflict [such as Afghanistan] but many targeted killings take place far from areas where it's recognised as being an armed conflict."
If it is true, he said, that "there have been secondary drone strikes on rescuers who are helping (the injured) after an initial drone attack, those further attacks are a war crime".
Heyns ridiculed the US suggestion that targeted UAV strikes on al-Qaida or allied groups were a legitimate response to the 9/11 attacks. "It's difficult to see how any killings carried out in 2012 can be justified as in response to [events] in 2001," he said. "Some states seem to want to invent new laws to justify new practices.
Resources:
Drone strikes threaten 50 years of international law, says UN rapporteur | World news | guardian.co.uk
On the Bombing raids of WWII - Howard Zinn at a number of occasions like i think discussing The three holy wars describes how aerial bombardment makes it easy for the perpetrators to distance themselves from the carnage that goes on down below.
The first line of defence against the war crimes was to plain and simple deny any such wrong doing, but with leaked videos of Bagram and such like prisons the Iraq war footage where unarmed civilians including women and children were being mowed down and the Wiki Leaks if not all then at least a lot became public knowledge. The war and media machinery then focused on justifying the actions.
One aspect of How drones are palatable to general public of the West is that the atrocity being committed is far far away and does not concern them, their immediate concerns are - banking crisis current economy, adverse austerity measures to public spending, national health service in Europe UK and the US the cuts the shoring up the heath insurances etc etc etc....
They would care less for a browned skinned person dying at the hands of US and NATO forces be it aerial bombardment or a illegal occupation or drone strikes.
Chomsky and Herman describe the manipulation of thought and acquiring consent in Manufacturing Concent
The legality:
International law does not approve of it plain and simple.
Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, summary or arbitrary execution
Heyns suggested some of these drone strikes may even constitute "war crimes"
Addressing a conference Geneva , another UN rapporteur, Ben Emmerson QC, who monitors counter-terrorism, announced he would be prioritising inquiries into drone strikes.
If the US or any other states responsible for attacks outside recognised war zones did not establish independent investigations into each killing, Emmerson emphasised, then "the UN itself should consider establishing an investigatory body".
Heyns, a South African law professor, told the meeting: "Are we to accept major changes to the international legal system which has been in existence since world war two and survived nuclear threats?"
Some states, he added, "find targeted killings immensely attractive. Others may do so in future Current targeting practices weaken the rule of law. Killings may be lawful in an armed conflict [such as Afghanistan] but many targeted killings take place far from areas where it's recognised as being an armed conflict."
If it is true, he said, that "there have been secondary drone strikes on rescuers who are helping (the injured) after an initial drone attack, those further attacks are a war crime".
Heyns ridiculed the US suggestion that targeted UAV strikes on al-Qaida or allied groups were a legitimate response to the 9/11 attacks. "It's difficult to see how any killings carried out in 2012 can be justified as in response to [events] in 2001," he said. "Some states seem to want to invent new laws to justify new practices.
Resources:
Drone strikes threaten 50 years of international law, says UN rapporteur | World news | guardian.co.uk
