Obama finally apologizes for murder by drone strike... since it was an American

[Mudhammam]

....and the civilian casualties are just "collateral damage" (That has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?).

No, they are people's lives. But I suppose we can do nothing and just let IS and the other groups strike whoever they want, because our hands are so pure we're forbidden to act in defense of the civilized world if someone gets hurt. I don't see IS sharing this nice value; they kill their own fellow Muslims for not being zealous enough, and have no compunctions about women or kids.

You believe the United States is involved in the Middle East to protect the lives of some Muslim people? 



C'mon. No one can really believe that. If you think we're over there to prevent terrorist attacks against ourselves or our allies, you can't honestly say our perpetual bombing has proven or will prove conducive to that goal.  There will be more of an Orwellian oligarchy in place than there already is before that happens... wait until they can read your thoughts, and not simply the posts and documents you type on a computer, in real time, as they already can... that's not what you're hoping for, I hope? As abaris correctly pointed out, all wars and slaughters involve a primary motive of wealth and power. Enough is enough should have been the public's conscience years ago. 

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I really don't think that apologizing for a death four months after the fact merits a 'finally'.  For heads of state who apologize at all, that's pretty damned quick.

It took the British government 150 fucking years to apologize for and acknowledge their responsibility for the deaths of a million Irish. 

Boru

I was more or less speaking about the numerous victims the Obama administration pretends don't even exist. 

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Um...we did that and the whole region went to shit.  Saddam's Iraq is looking pretty good right now.  That shithead Bush, notwithstanding.

I think ATT is onto something, though. The real reason Iraq flew apart wasn't that Saddam was overthrown, captured and killed, I don't think. The real reason is that with both the army and the police disbanded, the only forces for maintaining stability were American, who were obviously hated and distrusted by all parties except perhaps the Kurds ... and the American forces had zero experience policing a foreign population riven by schism.

I think assassination might have turned the better trick if it was really important to us. A better solution would have been to let the Iraqi resistance handle its own business.

Parker, Parker... that's practically what we did, or oversaw, in Libya. How is that working out? Assassinations have been quite common in the CIA playbook. There always is blowback.