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Title: The Price of ‘Freedom’? US Drone Massacres Dozens of Afghan Farmers as They Slept
Source:
The Free Thought Project
URL Source: https://thefreethoughtproject.com/d ... e-kills-civilians-afghanistan/
Published: Sep 19, 2019
Author: Direct from the Matt Agorist “News” Desk
Post Date: 2019-10-02 08:39:31 by Gatlin
Keywords: None
Views: 841
Comments: 12
The Price of ‘Freedom’? US Drone Massacres Dozens of Afghan Farmers as They Slept. Jalalabad, Afghanistan — Imagine for a moment that you had just finished a long day’s work with two hundred other farmers. You were settling down to relax for the night, when out of nowhere, hell fire missiles rain down from drones in the sky and blow up dozens of your coworkers, maiming and tearing limbs from dozens more. Imagine if this happened inside the United States. Imagine the reaction from politicians and the US war machine looking to right this wrong. Would you, as an American citizen sit idly back and accept the excuse given by the country who carried out that attack? Would you accept the wholesale slaughter of your fellow citizens by the dozen if the country who led the attack said it was a mistake and we did it to “help” you? What if it was one of your children killed in the attack? Or your brother, sister, father, mother, or grand parent? Would you simply accept that this slaughter was a mistake and the “help” you are receiving from this country is worth it? Well, that is exactly what the United States is asking Afghanistan to do right now after a drone strike Wednesday night slaughtered 30 innocent civilian farmers as they rested from a long day’s work picking pine nuts. The attack also left 40 others maimed and mangled. “The workers had lit a bonfire and were sitting together when a drone targeted them,” tribal elder Malik Rahat Gul told Reuters by telephone from Wazir Tangi. According to Reuters, a survivor of the drone strike said about 200 laborers were sleeping in five tents pitched near the farm when the attack happened. “Some of us managed to escape, some were injured but many were killed,” said Juma Gul, a resident of northeastern Kunar province who had traveled along with laborers to harvest and shell pine nuts this week. Naturally, the US is responding to the situation with a canned response and refusing to accept responsibility. “U.S. forces conducted a drone strike against Da’esh (IS) terrorists in Nangarhar,” said Colonel Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. “We are aware of allegations of the death of non-combatants and are working with local officials to determine the facts.” Residents of the Nangarhar province spoke publicly Thursday and demanded the U.S. take responsibility for this murder. “Such mistakes cannot be justified. American forces must realize (they) will never win the war by killing innocent civilians,” said Javed Mansur, a resident of Jalalabad city. Indeed. This slaughter comes on the heels of a rather disturbing report released by the United Nations in April detailing how in the first part of 2019, US forces and their allies killed more civilians than the Taliban and other terrorist groups. According to the most recent UN data, Afghan civilians were killed in greater numbers by NATO and pro-government security forces in the first three months of 2019 than by armed militants. Half of those slaughtered by allied troops were women and children. In spite of countless drone bombs raining down from the skies, hellfire and tomahawk missiles flattening buildings, and mass graves filled with collateral damage, the US has absolutely nothing to show for it except physically and psychologically damaged veterans and a massive trillion dollar debt. The Congressional Research Service, for example, concluded in 2015 that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have cost U.S. taxpayers $1.6 trillion. However, according to a report from TIME magazine last year, that number is a gross underestimate. As TFTP previously reported, according to an analysis from the “Costs of War Project” from Brown University’s Watson Institute, by the end of 2018, the U.S. War on Terror cost America taxpayers more than $5.6 trillion, which is an average of $23,386 per taxpayer. “As of late September 2017, the United States wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria and the additional spending on Homeland Security, and the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs since the 9/11 attacks totaled more than $4.3 trillion in current dollars through FY2017. Adding likely costs for FY2018 and estimated future spending on veterans, the costs of war total more than $5.6 trillion.” As The Nation noted, that estimate does not include several factors such as “the psychic costs to the Americans mangled in one way or another in those never-ending conflicts. They don’t include the costs to this country’s infrastructure, which has been crumbling while taxpayer dollars flow copiously and in a remarkably—in these years, almost uniquely—bipartisan fashion into what’s still laughably called ‘national security.’” After 18 years, there is no sign that the War on Terror is ending anytime soon, but surely the United States is finally close to defeating Al Qaeda—right? Unfortunately, the opposite is true. A report from the Los Angeles Times noted that in 2018, “Al Qaeda may be stronger than ever,” and instead of destroying the group, “U.S. policies in the Mideast appear to have encouraged its spread.” “The group has amassed the largest fighting force in its existence. Estimates say it may have more than 20,000 militants in Syria and Yemen alone. It boasts affiliates across North Africa, the Levant and parts of Asia, and it remains strong around the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.” While Al Qaeda may have started out as a small terrorist group, it has now grown into a massive network that is flourishing in Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, and Libya—all countries where the U.S. has actively carried out bombing campaigns in recent years. Coincidence? Not at all. Ask yourself this question, how many future terrorists did the United States create yesterday? Do you think that the children of those slain by a decade of bombing and constant threats of drone strikes will simply forget about the atrocities inflicted upon them? Do you think that the parents who watched their babies blown apart by predator drones, or the hospital workers who watched as US bombs rained down from the sky — will just turn the other cheek? In reality, the US War on Terror has had the opposite effect on “fighting terrorists.” It is creating them. For the last 18 years, the US has actually been planting a garden in which a million Osama Bin Ladens would grow. The truth is that since 9/11, the US and their NATO allies have fostered a breeding ground for extremist and fundamentalist groups. As Americans have sat back and said nothing over the last two decades, the military industrial complex was sowing the seeds for perpetual war, which left unchecked will inevitably lead to the demise of the American empire or total human annihilation—whichever comes first.
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#1. To: Gatlin (#0)
In a separate incident, at least 20 people died in a suicide truck bomb attack on Thursday carried out by the Taliban in the southern province of Zabul. Where's THAT headline??
Where's THAT headline?? They have both proven that they are fully dedicated to only publishing and posting articles that are severely anti-government. Right, Deckard? Salute,
So you are saying that killing the farmers was a just punishment for the track bomb attack somewhere else? You are sick.
Learn to read. I said they should be covered by the press equally.
So your point is, we are no better than the Taliban? OK, got it.
Government is in the last resort the employment of armed men, of policemen, gendarmes, soldiers, prison guards, and hangmen. On pretty much all of the mainstream news sites.
Government is in the last resort the employment of armed men, of policemen, gendarmes, soldiers, prison guards, and hangmen. What you “got” is an extreme case of the transference phenomenon. Salute,
On pretty much all of the mainstream news sites. And one you will never find in an article published by Matt Agorist or posted by you because it expresses no severely deep anti-government sentiment. Salute,
Why parrot the dozens of stories already on the MSM? Is the concept of "alternative news" lost on you? it expresses no severely deep anti-government sentiment. OH, so we should be cheering the murder of innocent civilians by the United States? Nope - we should hold them accountable just like cops. But then, you never have been one for holding cops (or the military and government in general) accountable for their actions
Government is in the last resort the employment of armed men, of policemen, gendarmes, soldiers, prison guards, and hangmen. Rhetorical question - Moving on ... Nah. I am on top of everything by being constantly aware of changes and proper direction of actions to take. What would ever possess you to do such a thing? Never mind trying to answer– since that was a rhetorical question. I have never been asked to do so. And if I ever am asked to do so – how do you propose that I do it? Plaster TFTP articles by Matt Agorist all over the Liberty Flame forum? Hmmm ... Salute,
What should be covered equally?
I think you underestimate those guys, they cheer up any murder of innocents. They are pervs.
#2. To: misterwhite, Deckard (#1)
n a separate incident, at least 20 people died in a suicide truck bomb attack on Thursday carried out by the Taliban in the southern province of Zabul.
Ah, we don’t need to bother Matt or Deckard with asking that sort of thing.
Gatlin
#3. To: Gatlin, misterwhite (#1)
In a separate incident, at least 20 people died in a suicide truck bomb attack on Thursday carried out by the Taliban in the southern province of Zabul.
#4. To: A Pole (#3)
So you are saying that killing the farmers was a just punishment for the track bomb attack somewhere else?
#5. To: Gatlin, misterwhite, A Pole (#2)
In a separate incident, at least 20 people died in a suicide truck bomb attack on Thursday carried out by the Taliban in the southern province of Zabul.
The essential feature of government is the enforcement of its decrees by beating, killing, and imprisoning.
Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom.
#6. To: misterwhite (#1)
Where's THAT headline??
The essential feature of government is the enforcement of its decrees by beating, killing, and imprisoning.
Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom.
#7. To: Deckard (#5)
OK, got it.
Gatlin
#8. To: Deckard, misterwhite (#6)
Where's THAT headline??
Gatlin
#9. To: Gatlin (#8)
And one you will never find in an article published by Matt Agorist
The essential feature of government is the enforcement of its decrees by beating, killing, and imprisoning.
Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom.
#10. To: Deckard (#9)
(Edited)
Why parrot the dozens of stories already on the MSM?
Is the concept of "alternative news" lost on you?
OH, so we should be cheering the murder of innocent civilians by the United States?
Nope - we should hold them accountable just like cops.
When people aren't taking responsibility for their bad actions, they should always be held accountable. But then, you never have been one for holding cops (or the military and government in general) accountable for their actions.
Gatlin
#11. To: All (#3)
I said they should be covered by the press equally.
#12. To: Deckard (#9)
OH, so we should be cheering the murder of innocent civilians by the United States?
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