Drones Cannot See What Afghan Civilians See

[unhappycamper]

Drones Cannot See What Afghan Civilians See
by David Smith-Ferri
Published on Tuesday, November 9, 2010 by CommonDreams.org

KABUL, Afghanistan – “We live in constant fear of suicide attacks,” said Laila, an Afghan woman who lives in Kandahar city and who visited with us yesterday. “When will the next one strike and where?”

“Twelve days ago,” she continued, “a good friend was walking home from the mosque. A four-minute walk. An IED was detonated, and my friend lost half his face. Another man lost his leg, and his son lost his leg, too. We live with that kind of uncertainty, when you don’t know what is going to happen from one moment to the next.”

Laila’s descriptions of living with fear and violence in Kandahar contradict the mild U.S. descriptions of the “security situation” there. “The Taliban do not control the city,” said Army General Stanley McChrystal, in a May 13, 2010 briefing concerning a “much-anticipated” military operation in Kandahar. “You can walk around the streets of Kandahar, and there is business going on. It is a functioning city.”

Compare McChrystal’s blithe comments with Laila’s experience. “In Kandahar city, you don’t know what’s going to happen, minute to minute. Every single minute that we live – if you can call it living – every single second there is the thought that this is going to be my last second.”

Laila went on to illustrate this graphically. “A good friend of mine had a ticket to travel to Canada to visit her mom for a family wedding. She dressed in a burqa, and went to say goodbye to some colleagues. When she returned home, traveling by rickshaw, she saw a neighbor outside. So she stood for two minutes to talk to her. In those two minutes, two men on a motorcycle drove up. One man shot her in the head and killed her, and the other man drove them away.”

[madrchsod]

1. the operators of the drones do`t care either..

[Catherina]

4. Or the people who authorized those drones. n/t

[KharmaTrain]

2. The Future Of War...

The "success" of the drone are changing warfare...and not for the better. The technology is inexpensive and can literally fly under most radar. It's a weapon that has proven to be as much a pyschological as a military tool and can wreck havoc without endangering any of your own. But put in the "wrong hands", it can and will empower those this government so fears. That's the irony of "push button" war...and as has been the case with most weapon breakthroughs...they eventually come back to hurt those who first use them.

[bemildred]

3. It has occurred to me that it won't stay anyones exclusive posession for long.

As you say it's not really that hi-tech.

And the image of drone wars between bunkered elites is not a pretty one.

[Gravel Democrat]

5. k.r.^

The peacenicks finally found a gathering spot