{"id":8343,"date":"2013-03-22T08:41:09","date_gmt":"2013-03-22T13:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?p=8343"},"modified":"2015-03-13T16:44:52","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T21:44:52","slug":"president-obama-stop-the-drones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2013\/03\/22\/president-obama-stop-the-drones\/","title":{"rendered":"President Obama, Stop the Drones!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

I am a supporter of the president. However, the ever-increasing use of drone warfare has got to stop. It\u2019s gotten out of control, and the president seems virtually unaccountable for it.<\/p>\n

This week, the highest ranking official yet voiced concerned over the use of drones<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Gen. James E. Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a favored adviser during Mr. Obama\u2019s first term, expressed concern in a speech here on Thursday that America\u2019s aggressive campaign of drone strikes could be undermining long-term efforts to battle extremism.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing that blowback,\u201d General Cartwright, who is retired from the military, said at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. \u201cIf you\u2019re trying to kill your way to a solution, no matter how precise you are, you\u2019re going to upset people even if they\u2019re not targeted<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Go back and re-read that last sentence. Let\u2019s take one issue at a time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re trying to kill your way to a solution<\/strong>.\u201d Do you get that a military general<\/em> is accusing a (Christian) civilian president<\/em> of being too violent?!? That alone should take our breath away.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to upset people even if they\u2019re not targeted<\/strong>.\u201d Huh, no shit. When people get mistakenly bombed by virtually invisible, silent, unmanned aircraft, it tends to piss them off. Good to know.<\/p>\n

I am no peacenik. But I am damn sick and tired of neverending wars<\/strong> in places where we have so little to gain and so little chance of success. The Obama administration continues to use a hazy definition of being \u201cengaged in combat<\/a>\u201d to use drones against \u201cenemy combatants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some have blamed the media for not asking enough questions; media critic David Carr blames Congress<\/a>\u00a0for being \u201cremarkably incurious\u201d about the drone program. I blame the American people. I blame myself<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It is time for those of us who share the faith and the politics of the president to demand that he order a moratorium on drone strikes. Then he should engage in a transparent conversation with the American people \u2014 primarily through our representatives in Congress \u2014 about the use of drones.<\/p>\n

Then let\u2019s get out of Afganistan, and stop making up wars to fight.<\/p>\n

This week I re-read one of my favorite novels, The Things They Carried<\/a><\/em>\u00a0by Tim O\u2019Brien. I was once again reminded about the unwinnable shithole that was the Vietnam War. You\u2019d think that we would have learned our lesson on that one. It seems we haven\u2019t.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am a supporter of the president. However, the ever-increasing use of drone warfare has got to stop. It\u2019s gotten out of control, and the president seems virtually unaccountable for it. This week, the highest ranking official yet voiced concerned over the use of drones: Gen. James E. Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[72,831,766,791],"class_list":["post-8343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-barack-obama","tag-potus","tag-tim-obrien","tag-war"],"yoast_head":"\nPresident Obama, Stop the Drones!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I am a supporter of the president. However, the ever-increasing use of drone warfare has got to stop. 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