US KILLS MAYOR'S STAFF IN AFGHANISTAN--US LOOKS STUPID

Today (03-22-09) the NY Times reported: “US Kills 5 Afghans in Raid on House”

While workers here in the US are being laid off left and right, the US has positively altered the situation for employment in a tiny village Afghanistan. The tiny village of Imam Sahib, (population 100) in Afghanistan has five new high-paying employment opportunities due to the intervention of the US. The vacancies occurred in this strange way.

The mayor of this small village, a friend of the US and former anti-Taliban military leader, was roused out of bed by search lights overhead and the rotors of a military chopper. Fearing for his life he sought refuge for his wife and children in the root-cellar. While he remained hunkered down, above ground attacking US soldiers landed from the helicopter, smashed down the front gates on the mayor’s compound, and as his staff went out to investigate, US soldiers opened fire. Two of the mayor's guests, his driver, his cook, and his bodyguard were all shot dead. Two other guests were detained by the US military. No word has been heard of the survivors so far. The US military has not responded to reporter’s inquires regarding the incident. I suspect they are presently hunkered down themselves somewhere, trying to develop some logical explanation for another screw-up. They will need a good story--something that would tend to mitigate the damage to their reputations. However, with the level of intelligence they have displayed so far, the hope for a cogent explanation from them may take some long time coming . So don’t hold your breadth. Expect to feel embarrassed for them and for the nation for some long time! After all we killed five people who were friends of the USA in a very hostile nation! This is not the way to build one's reputation as a friend and helpmate.

Now, in regard to those military "killer" drones, those so-called “smart weapons” which fly silently at high elevations for long periods taking TV pictures of the ground and then at a touch of a button-- on a console far away in Phoenix Arizona--or Washington DC they fire a missile which can blow up a whole house full of people. Using this technology we have been regularly killing in Afghanistan and Pakistan what the US and the media often simply record as “militants”
Well, it seems to me, the high number of "wrong kills" and other embarrassments associated with these drones are easily explained, after this last debacle. If our military men can’t figure out who is friend or foe while they are actually on the ground, how can we possible expect them to kill the "bad guys" from a vacant air-hangar in Phoenix, Arizona! We set up a "pilot" with a joystick, and a TV screen in some isolated location like the above unused CIA location in Phoenix. The "pilot" sits there in front of a console staring at a video screen of grainy images. He can not hear what's going on, and even if he did, this person is definitely not a linguist and is untrained in the language or culture of his targets. The odds of getting it right--hitting the right target- seem pretty slim..and the constant screw-ups are so very, very counter-productive.

This situation would fit well into a Monty Python script if so many unwitting innocent people (often women, children, and the elderly) did not so often fall victim to our mis-guided drone missiles. It's no laughing matter either to see our military and their commanders appear so dumb at a time when a lot of other bad, really "dumb" things are happening such a regular basis right here on Wall Street and in Washington, DC! It’s just not good for appearances. We are beginning to look like a nation of screw-ups and clowns.

Please President Obama, stop the stupidity in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Bring the troops home. Bernie Madoff, AIG, Wall Street, GM head Waggoner and the Humvee, Palin and the GOP, and the Congress crowd are enough! We can’t take any more national embarrassments and maintain some bit of national pride.