Reducing war to an antiseptic video game

Syed Wali Shah age 7 was killed  in  CIA Drone Attack in Pakistan on Aug. 21, 2009. Photo courtesy of blog.alexanderhiggins.com

 

The Christian Science Monitor’s Anna Mulrine reports on “unmanned drone attacks and shape-shifting robots” in America’s growing arsenal for reducing war to an “antiseptic video game.” Mulrine's article is chilling:

In the shadow of a heavily fortified enemy building, US commanders call in a chemical robot, or what looks like a blob. They give it a simple instruction: Penetrate a crack in the building and find out what's inside. Like an ice sculpture or the liquid metal assassin in "Terminator 2," the device changes shape, slips through the opening, then reassumes its original form to look around. It uses sensors woven into its fabric to sample the area for biological agents. If needed, it can seep into the cracks of a bomb to defuse it.

Soldiers hoping to eavesdrop on an enemy release a series of tiny, unmanned aircraft the size and shape of houseflies to hover in a room unnoticed, relaying invaluable video footage.

A fleet of drones roams a mountain pass, spraying a fine mist along a known terrorist transit route – the US military's version of "CSI: Al Qaeda." Days later, when troops capture suspects hundreds of miles away, they test them for traces of the "taggant" to discover whether they have traversed the trail and may, in fact, be prosecuted as insurgents.

Read more:

Has the Huffington Post Turned on Obama?

Three days since Barack Obama was sworn into office, it’s startling to read the screaming headlines at the Huffington Post, earlier known as Obama’s top online mouthpiece – Obama himself was known to drop a post there every now and then. Before his inauguration, you could count on Huffpo to give a positive spin to everything Obama, but take a look at four headlines pulled from today’s edition:

Obama Irritated by Serious Question at Press Meet and Greet

(Politico’s Jonathan Martin asked about Obama’s appointment of Raytheon lobbyist William Lynn as second in the command in the Pentagon)

Obama’s First Missile Strike

(18 killed in Pakistan)

Concern in Labor Community that Obama Won’t Act on the EFCA Soon

(the Employees Free Choice Act)

Obama to GOP: I Won

(what happened to bipartisanship?)

Obama Picks Raytheon Lobbyist as Second in Command at Pentagon

President Obama just announced new ethics laws tightening the restrictions on lobbyists working in government. But get this – ABC’s Justin Rood reports:

‘“Experts and watchdogs say they cannot fathom how President Obama's choice for the Pentagon's second-in-command, currently a lobbyist for a defense giant, could be nominated under the principles of his new ethics rules.

‘“It appears to be a black-and-white case. I am unaware of what makes it so gray in the mind of President Obama," said Winslow T. Wheeler, a former congressional budget staffer now with the Center for Defense Information, on the president's choice of Raytheon lobbyist William J. Lynn to serve as Deputy Secretary of Defense. Wheeler said it would take a "gigantic loophole" to squeeze Lynn, a top executive for defense giant Raytheon who registered to lobby for the company as recently as last June, into the office.

“Obama's executive order, which he signed Tuesday, would appear to ban lobbyists like Lynn from working in executive branch jobs related to the work of their former employers. Moreover, it would force appointees to recuse themselves from any business their former employers might have an interest.

‘"We need to close the revolving door that lets lobbyists come into government freely," Obama said yesterday upon signing the order.

‘"I think they need to re-evaluate [Lynn's appointment] after their strong stance on government openness and ethics," said Scott Amey, of the Project on Government Oversight. His group opposes Lynn's confirmation.”’

To read more on this puzzling development, go here, and let’s hope – there’s that word again – that President Obama will sooner, rather than later, start practicing what he preaches.