Off Topic > Off Topic
U.S.A. Politics Thread
Drydess:
charges against rick snyder were quietly dropped last month
Aide33:
why is everyone mad at DT getting raided who the forget cares
MoltenKitten:
--- Quote from: Aide33 on August 09, 2022, 03:08:27 PM ---why is everyone mad at DT getting raided who the forget cares
--- End quote ---
Because the venn diagram for people that think Donald Annoying Orange won the election and the people angry at this is just a circle.
PhantOS:
--- Quote from: Swholli on August 09, 2022, 01:54:59 PM ---And Obama, don't forget the countless innocent civilians carelessly killed in his drone war
--- End quote ---
most of the drone strikes armies authorize do not have reported civilians at the time of authorization. most drone collateral is caused by bad/incomplete communication between recon teams, drone operators, ordinance operators and the people above them in rank that authorize the attack.
leaders are in a unique position where they have the power to change the world but must also take responsibility for how it changes. however, presidents aren't the only people in an army with that power. even someone like putin, who most of the world hates right now, isn't directly responsible for the artillery strikes that killed civilians. the direct responsibility falls on the ground and air crews that misidentified civilians as military targets. someone like him is indirectly responsible for authorizing and publicizing the war, but war is war and once it's started it goes sideways fast. ground units get hit by accurate fire, call artillery assistance on the position they think they're taking fire from. these positions range over several km until they narrow their targets and score an accurate hit. civilians hiding in their homes, operating vehicles or carrying long items that can be misidentified as weapons tend to be killed before anyone even realizes they are civilians. these tough decisions become even tougher during asymmetrical warfare, as anyone driving a car or even walking could carry an IED or report your position to enemies.
obama authorized the use of thousands of hellfire missiles during the waning days of the war on terror. most of these quarter million dollar missiles were good hits on enemy armor and infantry. a few of them were bad hits on civilians, and at least three were friendly fire hits on US ground vehicles. he can't be directly responsible for the mistakes of ground crew with hundreds of ranks of separation between them, nor the gunner who launched the missile on bad information reported over their comms. however, these kinds of mistakes should be planned for and targets properly investigated before the strikes. leaving ground units to take fire and report incorrect coordinates under this intense fire is very irresponsible.
Swholli:
The president as commander in chief signs off all military orders and as such "the buck stops here" in who to blame for the bad ones.
Secondly, you're completely ignoring the US backed Saudi attack on Yemen in which Obama sold $1.29 bil in smart bombs that, and I quote the human rights watch:
--- Quote ---the U.N. had documented that the war had killed 2,355 civilians and wounded 4,862, the majority in coalition airstrikes. In the nearly two dozen strikes that we have investigated on the ground, we collected the names of more than 300 civilians who died, many of them children.
--- End quote ---
A few casualties is one thing, you and your administration killing thousands and wounding thousands more, a lot who were children, all civilians, is in my opinion at least worth looking into.
But we're the US so no one calls us on it for some reason