19, February 2013
Dear Editor, John Brennan and drone warfare
The confirmation hearings of John Brennan to head the CIA were profoundly disappointing. There was no discussion of the so-called signature strikes which has resulted in the death of so many innocent victims. Jeremy Scahill, of the Nation magazine, recently returned from a visit to Yemen and reported the massacre of 40 villagers, including many women and children with U.S. cluster bombs. A US independent fact finding mission visiting Pakistan reported horrific killings by US drones. The study conducted by NYU and Stanford Law School, ‘Living Under Terror –Under Drones’, highlights the terror inflicted on entire populations being exposed to drones buzzing overhead 24 hours a day disrupting entire communities and according to General McCrystal” unleashing visceral hatred of the U.S.” The entire Senate Intelligence Committee has abdicated its responsibility by failing to demand an oversight role and has allowed the CIA to become a ‘007 license to kill’ death squad. The checks and balances of our government have been seriously eroded.
President Obama would do well to reflect on his earlier speech in 2000 – “the Bush policies failed to rely on our legal traditions and our time-tested institutions and have failed to use our values as a moral compass.” The White House should do some soul searching and re-calibrate its own moral compass. Contrary to Obama’s earlier promise to be ‘the most open administration in U.S. history’, the White House is shrouded with unprecedented secrecy which is the enemy of an open democratic society.
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