Michael Cohen points out that Americans love Obama’s drone strikes:
To understand why the existence of a presidential kill list won’t do much to dent Obama’s strong foreign-policy standing, it’s important to remember that Americans don’t just like drone warfare — they love it. A Washington Post poll this February found that 83 percent of Americans approve of Obama’s drone policy. (It’s hard to think of anything that 83 percent of Americans agree on these days.) In addition, a whopping 77 percent of liberal Democrats support the use of drones — and 65 percent are fine with missile strikes against U.S. citizens, as was the case with the Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, killed last September by a drone.
The popularity of unmanned vehicles is not difficult to understand. They’re cheap; they keep Americans out of harm’s way; and they kill “bad guys.” That unnamed and unseen civilians may be getting killed in the process or that the attacks stretch the outer limits of statutory law are of less concern. Indeed, rare is the American war where such legal and humanitarian niceties mattered much to the electorate.
Americans, including a plurality of liberals, couldn’t care less about the innocents who happen to be standing next to drone targets or those who are targeted when they shouldn’t have been. As long as the President can spin the story as “bad guys get killed, good guys – i.e. Americans – don’t” then a plurality of the populace don’t give a damn about morality or legality. Michael points out on Twitter that the same was true in Iraq, where U.S. opposition to the war was all about American troop deaths, American money wasted and bashing Bush; the vast number of Iraqi civilians who died were a bipartisanly “meh” subject.
The same seems to be true of Obama’s cyberattacks on Iran, only more so. They may be illegal aggressive warfare of the kind that the Obama administration has said would be worthy of physical retaliation should another nation do it to the U.S.A. but Americans could care less.
Now I need a drink.
it seems. Nor can they spell B-L-O-W-B-A-C-K.
I wonder what percentage of those folks also view themselves as being “morally superior.”
Looking at these numbers, one would be hard-pressed to think Obama sees any disincentive to attacking Iran after the election. He probably thinks it will make him the most popular Emperor evar! He may even be right.
My grandparents left Germany in 1932, out of the desire to continue breathing. The rest of the family was not so fortunate. In any case, I think I now have a clue as to how they felt back then.
you’re correct, I’ve know a lot of so called progressive people who think this a good thing and because it’s happening way over there what could go wrong. I just walk away, murders are us.
as long as it’s not our kids dying. During the Civil War, there were Draft Riots but nobody complained about the slaughter of the enemy or Sherman targeting civilians on his march through Georgia. And it wasn’t a coincidence that Vietnam-era war protests stopped when the draft ended.
First you declare them Other, then you kill them. We’ve been doing it for almost 400 years.
Watch out for the fellow who talks about putting things in order!
Putting things in order always means getting other people under your control.
- Denis Diderot
One of the little things that I’ve noticed over a lifetime of study dealing with conflict is that pretty much everyone who isn’t pulling the trigger or in the impact area doesn’t understand and – when push comes to shove – really doesn’t care that much. They feel bad about it and by extension they go to all sorts of trouble to make sure that you know that they have Very Important Opinions [tm] and Deep Special Insight [tm] but there’s really no good way of bridging the gap.
“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” ~ Steve Jobs
It’s just that Michael’s post was written in the context of their being no election negatives for Obama and my post was in the same line. It’s certainly not a purely American phenomenon.
When you get right down to it, most Americans consider democracy and the rule of law to be inconvenient and messy. Equal rights for blacks or gays? Nah! Trials in civilian court for suspected terrorists? Who needs ‘em! A Muslim mosque near Ground Zero? Can’t have it. Americans are about to get the kind of democracy they deserve – which is none!
after the Kent State Massacre, once those protesting realized expressing their ‘first amendment rights’ could get them murdered by US troops.
Kent State triggered a lot more protests. It did, however, bring home the issue to a lot of people who had ignored it and perhaps extended the anti-war feeling beyond the young.
Watch out for the fellow who talks about putting things in order!
Putting things in order always means getting other people under your control.
- Denis Diderot
when the folks who get the short end figure out a way to even things up. It won’t be too long now, I think.
When the USA fall down go boom, I think there may be plenty of aggrieved people waiting to get a few kicks in.