If Trayvon Were Pakistani…

[mota bhai 2,675]

It is striking to compare Obama's deliberate and thoughtful commentary about the tragic killing of Trayvon Martin with the military tactic that will forever characterize his presidency: killing people with drones. The president posits that it is wrong to profile individuals based upon their appearance, associations, or statistical propensity to violence. By extension, he believes that, just because those characteristics may seem threatening to some, the use of lethal force cannot be justified as self-defense unless there are reasonable grounds to fear imminent bodily harm. But that very kind of profiling and a broad interpretation of what constitutes a threat are the foundational principles of U.S. "signature strikes" -- the targeted killings of unidentified military-age males.

The use of signature strikes began in early 2008, when "instead of having to confirm the identity of a suspected militant leader before attacking," the New York Times reported, drones were permitted to "strike convoys of vehicles that bear the characteristics of Qaeda or Taliban leaders on the run." By the summer of 2008, as a Bush administration official recollected, "We got down to a sort of ‘reasonable man' standard. If it seemed reasonable, you could hit it."

...

Obama vastly increased the scope and intensity of targeted killings in Pakistan and, in April 2012, expanded the practice into Yemen against unknown men, allowing the CIA to henceforth "hit targets based solely on intelligence indicating patterns of suspicious behavior." As Jo Becker and Scott Shane reported last year, "Counterterrorism officials insist this approach [of signature strikes] is one of simple logic: people in an area of known terrorist activity, or found with a top Qaeda operative, are probably up to no good."

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/07/22/if_trayvon_were_pakistani_signature_strikes_profiling

[Karee 4,191]

Pakistanis aren't American Citizens. They can't vote in the next election. Why should Obama care about them?

[mota bhai 2,675]

Pakistanis aren't American Citizens. They can't vote in the next election. Why should Obama care about them?

Because Obama isn't an American citizen either.

[Jacque67 7,328]

Hypocrisy is rife

[Teddy B 17,252]

Because Obama isn't an American citizen either.

And those Pakistani's could not have been his son.

[mota bhai 2,675]

And those Pakistani's could not have been his son.

If Weiner and Obama ever swap wives and the condom breaks, sure they could be.

[Karee 4,191]

Hypocrisy is rife

I'm surprised that's not a guaranteed right under the constitution. Maybe it falls under freedom of speech.