Terrorists

Dear Mr. President,

“Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13). “We’re killing these sons of bitches faster than they can grow them” (head of CIA Counterterrorism division). Kill Lists, Signature Strikes, Crowd Killing, Targeted Assassinations, “of interest” compounds and individuals, militant, insurgent, Islamic Radical, jihadist, “Kill ‘em and sort it out later”…Onward Christian Soldiers. What has happened to us? What has happened to you? The definition of a “bad guy” is “a terrorist who poses a clear and demonstrable threat to Americans.” A 17-year-old girl in Pakistan? A 16-year-old boy in Yemen or the mountains of Waziristan is a clear and demonstrable threat to America? Here’s the dictionary definition of a terrorist: “terrorism the systematic use of terror, esp. as a means of coercion – terrorist adj. or n.” (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 1974) Drones circling over a village in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia for hours are a form of terrorism. Teams of highly trained killers who break into homes in the dead of night and assassinate “suspected insurgents” are terrorists. Snatching people from non-combatant countries and sending them to secret prisons to be tortured is an act of terrorism. The use of depleted uranium warheads on missiles and bombs is an act of terrorism. We are terrorists, Mr. President, and you bear responsibility for that. This is no longer Bush’s Dumb War; the wars, all of them, are now Obama’s Dumb Wars and there is no justification for any of them. You have had three years to correct this disastrous course but instead, you have exacerbated it; you ignore the sovereignty of nations, the rule of law, human rights and the will of those who elected you. You have turned the CIA into your own private paramilitary and send them out to assassinate whoever you choose, wherever they are. But what you consider necessary and lawful acts of war, some of us outside the Washington bubble consider outrageous acts of lawlessness and evil. You may lawyer your way around the law but evil is an absolute and what you are doing with your drones and assassins and kill lists is pure evil and you can’t lawyer your way around that. You have been seduced by power and blood lust and become a cyber-Rambo, a cold blooded killing machine and the greatest threat to peace, justice and human rights  in the world today. Shame on you. Shame on us for allowing this to happen.