The madness that depicts U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan has recently been escalated with the "emperor of assassination" himself, Barack Obama unleashing the CIA to ramp up its not so clandestine drone operations to go after suspected bad guys in that country.
So a few innocents are killed in these strikes along with a few al Qaeda types, but hey, most of the American people don't seem to mind and as far as the Pakistani's are concerned, who cares what they think.
Certainly not Obama and his inner circle, who apparently meet every Tuesday to determine who they want to assassinate next; with the prez always having the final say on who gets whacked. Funny, if I didn't know better, that sounds like something right out of Mario Puzo's "Godfather". But no, according to an article, "Secret "Kill List' Proves Test of Obama's Principles and Will" by Jo Becker and Scott Shane in the New York Times on May 29, 2012 (on information the administration gave in interviews with the two reporters and obviously wanted disseminated to the American public) was the latest attempt by Obama to show his tough guy personae to offset any criticism coming from the Republicans.
Heck, even the "prince of darkness", ex V.P. Dick Cheney has weighed in lately all but congratulating Obama for following the Bush/Cheney playbook on the war on terror, extraordinary rendition, indefinite detention and targeted assassination of anyone, including American citizens. How's that for an endorsement!
But getting back to the Pakistani's, they've continued to refuse reopening the supply routes for U.S./NATO supplies to travel from the port city of Karachi through Pakistan into Afghanistan because the U.S. refuses to apologize for the helicopter gunship killing of Pakistani soldiers at a border outpost in Pakistan in November.
And the Obama crowd is miffed that the Pakistani doctor, who supplied the CIA with info on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, that led to his being killed by a Navy SEAL team last year, was recently sentenced to 33 years in prison by a Pakistani court. So even though Obama is viewed in America as the sheriff who got Osama, it seems the Pakistani's don't take kindly to their sovereignty being violated with the bin Laden killing and continue to demand the U.S. CIA drone strikes cease.
Meanwhile, across the border in Afghanistan, President Karsai again condemned the U.S. war effort protesting the latest killing of 18 innocent Afghans in what the U.S. is calling an "errant air strike", you know the inadvertent "collateral damage"; please accept our apologies.
Of course, these latest revelations fly pretty much below the radar in most Americans' consciousness with the people weary and disinterested about the wars or whether drones kill a few innocents in these less than precision strikes.
Many Americans have other "priorities" on their minds.
This past week a new casino opened nearby that saw thousands waiting to get inside while traffic was snarled for miles on nearby highways. As one lady put it, "I've been waiting nine years for this" as she whooped her excitement, (of which I might add, I do not begrudge her or anyone else from taking some down time and being distracted as they please with any type of R and R they desire).
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