Are All Dead Innocents Equal?

By Joe Clifford

April 25, 2015 "Information Clearing House" - While all death is tragic, one of the greatest tragedies is the killing of people who are completely innocent, so it was with much soul searching and question that we ponder the deaths of two innocent Americans killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan. The President has said he assumes all responsibility, but families have been shattered, lives have ended, and questions are being raised, as well they should.  News stories indicate no individual was targeted in this strike; it was the specific building that drew the interest of the drone strike.  This means we have no idea of who, or how many individuals were in the building, nor was it important; it is the building that was targeted and apparently everything else was irrelevant.  Recently it was also disclosed that cell phones are frequently targeted by drones. Certain cell phones are targeted and we have no idea who is using the phone at the time of death. If an innocent somehow is using the targeted phone, he or she, is simply vaporized and blown to tiny bits. Every time an innocent person dies there should be in inquiry, investigation, and someone should be held accountable and punished. Mr Obama took full responsibility for the two dead Americans, so how can he not be responsible for the thousands of dead innocents that occur from drone strikes he ordered? The latest drone strike that killed two Americans demonstrates the complete hypocrisy of the American people and the President, for their total lack of empathy for any lost lives of innocents, be they children or women, except Americans.

Everyone is shedding crocodile tears for the two American deaths with justification. They were innocent, they had families, they did nothing wrong, and their deaths were tragic.  Why however, was not one tiny tear shed for the 69 young children who were killed in a drone strike in Pakistan when their school was leveled. No inquiry, no crocodile tears in this county, hardly even a story in media occurred, when 80 innocents were killed, including the 69 kids.  Why no tears for them?

What about another drone strike that killed more innocent kids? In Afghanistan in 2013, 10 children and 2 women were killed in a drone strike.  No tears, no inquiry, no questions, nothing! Why no tears for those 10 little children? One year prior and another group of kids was killed in the very same area. We did not even blink.

Just this week a humanitarian facility in Yemen which contained supplies that would bring clean water to Yemeni refugees was bombed and destroyed. Oxfam, a humanitarian organization owned the building, and had given the exact GPS co-ordinates to those bombing, so that their facility would be spared.  Millions will not get clean drinking water because of the bombing. Reports indicate the US is providing the Saudi bombers with target information. No tears, no lament, no inquiry? Why not?

Then there were the eight wedding parties in three countries that were hit with drone bombs. Hundreds of innocents slaughtered, but no inquiry, no crocodile tears in this country, and no one held accountable.

What does all the media attention for the deaths of the two Americans mean, compared to the complete lack of attention or feeling for the innocent school kids, women, wedding brides, grooms,  guests, and humanitarian facilities, that are being bombed, in what is called  a “humanitarian bombing” of a nation. President Obama offered his apology to the families of the two dead American innocents, but has never offered regret or an apology for the thousands of innocent women and children in the many drone strikes he has ordered. Do readers even know or remember any of the above drone strikes that killed women and children? It would appear that not all lives are considered equal; that somehow “foreign” children and women being killed are of little consequence. Are they not even worth a story, a tear, an apology, or even remembering? Are US lives worth more than others? Is that not racism? Didn’t the belief in “superiority” lead to the rise of Hitler? Do “you” believe that all innocent lives are equal?

Joe Clifford lives in Rhode Island.

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