Music that’s just a little too loud is playing in the background.
I’m thinking “turn it down” but I don’t say it because I don’t want to be the one who’s always complaining about such things. The food is good and so is the mood in the room as my family sits together for a meal. I love observing the contrast between my girls who are seventeen and nine.
They are so very different.
The younger one is so animated; the older is much more reserved.
My wife mentions that the police came to our neighbor’s house earlier in the day. This was not the first time. There always seems to be trouble coming from that house.
I don’t know the neighbors.
Our interactions have been confined to neighbor waves from a distance and my peeking through closed blinds when I hear a commotion over there.
Headline news rarely comes from our rural Pennsylvania community, so the locals tend to notice a visit by the police.
I reach across the table for some bread and my daughter playfully pulls the basket away. Our laughter is cut short by the explosion.
The pile of rubble that used to be our home is barely mentioned in the AP summary of the drone mission that leveled three houses and killed ten people. The target of the attack was one of the dead. The Canadian Defense Minister took no questions as he briefed the press on that evening’s successful mission.
“We’ve eliminated the third highest ranking terrorist on our watch list.”
When the press briefing ended, reporters called out, but their questions were ignored, except for one.
“What about the other homes that were damaged by the bomb?”
The Minister paused as he stepped away from the podium. Returning to the microphone, he said, “Of course, we regret the loss of life.”
He went on to emphasize the importance of these missions to Canada’s national security, and promised that they would continue, until the war on terrorism had been won.
“Because of our efforts, the world is a safer place.”
Many of the reporters were seen nodding in agreement.
——————–
This fictional account of a Canadian drone attack on a target in the United States is intended to illustrate the absurdity of one nation allowing another country to bomb “terrorist targets” within their borders.
Statistics on the effectiveness of the Predator drone program in Pakistan vary greatly, but there is no doubt that innocent people are being killed by American drones in our pursuit of terrorists.
IF… Osama Bin Laden himself was thought to be hiding out in a house in Detroit, would the CIA dispatch a drone to blow up that house?
Of course not!
Would the United States ever allow another country to drop bombs on our soil for any reason?
Of course not!
So why is it okay for America to do what we are doing in Pakistan?
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Ray } – 
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Excellent question.
(Yep, I’m STILL trying to catch up on things, and I’ll be leaving again in a few weeks.)
I’ve often wondered just how many do we have to kill to even the score for 9-11.
Yours is a better question than mine, Ali. I wonder if the need for payback is what drives the supporters of all of this carnage. I could better understand the warmongering if we were actually killing the persons who were responsible for the attack.
Enjoy your upcoming trip! Ray