The CIA is often in charge of designating drone targets.
Not everyone who is targeted is an “insurgent commander”
Even “insurgent commanders” have families who might not have much choice about their proximity.
US military prisons like Abu Ghraib and Gitmo were famously filled with victims of grudges and bounties. Basically the US pays informants for targets, and informants just point at whoever they want. Military “intelligence” has a lot of holes in it to rely on it as an authority on who lives or dies-- and that’s before we even get into “collateral”.
Speaking of “collateral”, yes that is a weasel word, much like “terrorist”. Don’t allow the perpetrator to define the terms for you. If there was one US general in the twin towers, would that have made the other 3k victims “collateral damage”?
Military “intelligence” has a lot of holes in it to rely on it as an authority on who lives or dies-- and that’s before we even get into “collateral”.
And that is why Germany’s kill lists had juridical oversight, and collateral damage was not measured in civilians but “people who at least look like they’re probably fighters”. The Taliban also once sent the Bundeswehr an apology letter, saying “Some idiots of ours thought your convoy was a US one hope you’re not mad”.
You seem to be under the impression that I’m defending the US approach, I’m not. What I am doing is contrasting it to the IDF while you’re engaged in trivialising IDF actions by insinuating the US is even half as bad. Even in Vietnam it wasn’t as bad as the IDF is right now. US military intelligence blindly believing random accusations? The IDF doesn’t even need those accusations to target you. Stochastic terrorism is part of their strategy.
Can you get it into your head that this isn’t a simple, binary, “good” and “bad” thing, that there’s degrees to everything?
I’m not saying they are all “just as bad” as one another. I’m trying to move us beyond the word “terrorism”. IDF is worse than Hamas because of the context. IDF is an occupying force.
Hamas very much is an occupying force, too. They’ve been brutalising Gaza for quite a while and are very very happy with the result of October 7th. It got the exact response they wanted it to have, what’s luckily missing is the reaction among Palestinians they wanted it to have, those accelerationist fucks. “Make Israel crack down harder to make the population madder”.
Can you please stop that campism it’s brainrot. Just because fascists happen to be on the underdog side doesn’t make them in any way worthy of supporting, fascists love fighting other fascists as they can reinforce their respective holds over their own population.
Hamas and the variety of militias comprise the Palestinian armed resistance to Israeli occupation. They are made up mostly of orphans. They are not “the big bad”, they are Palestinians. I’m not going to justify everything they do, but neither will I condemn them. What is Palestine’s alternative?
Hamas and the variety of militias comprise the Palestinian armed resistance to Israeli occupation.
No. Generally speaking, that’s the role of the PLO, a bunch of secular lefties and also Palestine’s representative to the UN, which Hamas very much is not a part of. Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, rabidly Islamist, very much more interested in martyrdom than liberation, more interested in making sure that male hair dressers don’t serve female customers for whatever fucked-up reason, and also very much funded with the at least aid of Israel. Because the PLO has too much foreign goodwill.
Note that I’m saying here “Hamas” as in the organisation. Individual fighters might indeed have better motives, and individual paramedics definitely have better motives. But the middle to upper levels of the organisation, the strategists, the mullahs? Islamofascist, the lot of them. Not a single bit better than the Kahanites on the other side. They love each other, as the existence of the other means their war indeed can be eternal (see Umberto Eco). There can be no Israeli security without Palestinian freedom, and there also can’t be Palestinian freedom without Israeli safety. The rest of Palestinians generally understand that, Hamas refuses to acknowledge it.
You know what you’re doing right now? You’re applauding the Mujahideen because they can be used to fight against the Soviets, blind to the Taliban you’re creating. You’re using the same fucked-up US doctrine that you slammed a few comments earlier. As said: Stop that “enemy of my enemy” campist bullshit.
Is the PLO offering any armed resistance to the genocide occurring right now? Does it offer any armed resistance to Israeli occupation generally? I cannot find any evidence that it is, but I would be happy to read anything that says otherwise.
So that’s a no then? I thought you said that armed resistance to Israeli violence was the job of the PLO. Now you dodge and call it bloodlust to understand the impulse to resist occupation.
The CIA is often in charge of designating drone targets.
Not everyone who is targeted is an “insurgent commander”
Even “insurgent commanders” have families who might not have much choice about their proximity.
US military prisons like Abu Ghraib and Gitmo were famously filled with victims of grudges and bounties. Basically the US pays informants for targets, and informants just point at whoever they want. Military “intelligence” has a lot of holes in it to rely on it as an authority on who lives or dies-- and that’s before we even get into “collateral”.
Speaking of “collateral”, yes that is a weasel word, much like “terrorist”. Don’t allow the perpetrator to define the terms for you. If there was one US general in the twin towers, would that have made the other 3k victims “collateral damage”?
And that is why Germany’s kill lists had juridical oversight, and collateral damage was not measured in civilians but “people who at least look like they’re probably fighters”. The Taliban also once sent the Bundeswehr an apology letter, saying “Some idiots of ours thought your convoy was a US one hope you’re not mad”.
You seem to be under the impression that I’m defending the US approach, I’m not. What I am doing is contrasting it to the IDF while you’re engaged in trivialising IDF actions by insinuating the US is even half as bad. Even in Vietnam it wasn’t as bad as the IDF is right now. US military intelligence blindly believing random accusations? The IDF doesn’t even need those accusations to target you. Stochastic terrorism is part of their strategy.
Can you get it into your head that this isn’t a simple, binary, “good” and “bad” thing, that there’s degrees to everything?
I’m not saying they are all “just as bad” as one another. I’m trying to move us beyond the word “terrorism”. IDF is worse than Hamas because of the context. IDF is an occupying force.
Hamas very much is an occupying force, too. They’ve been brutalising Gaza for quite a while and are very very happy with the result of October 7th. It got the exact response they wanted it to have, what’s luckily missing is the reaction among Palestinians they wanted it to have, those accelerationist fucks. “Make Israel crack down harder to make the population madder”.
Can you please stop that campism it’s brainrot. Just because fascists happen to be on the underdog side doesn’t make them in any way worthy of supporting, fascists love fighting other fascists as they can reinforce their respective holds over their own population.
Hamas and the variety of militias comprise the Palestinian armed resistance to Israeli occupation. They are made up mostly of orphans. They are not “the big bad”, they are Palestinians. I’m not going to justify everything they do, but neither will I condemn them. What is Palestine’s alternative?
No. Generally speaking, that’s the role of the PLO, a bunch of secular lefties and also Palestine’s representative to the UN, which Hamas very much is not a part of. Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, rabidly Islamist, very much more interested in martyrdom than liberation, more interested in making sure that male hair dressers don’t serve female customers for whatever fucked-up reason, and also very much funded with the at least aid of Israel. Because the PLO has too much foreign goodwill.
Note that I’m saying here “Hamas” as in the organisation. Individual fighters might indeed have better motives, and individual paramedics definitely have better motives. But the middle to upper levels of the organisation, the strategists, the mullahs? Islamofascist, the lot of them. Not a single bit better than the Kahanites on the other side. They love each other, as the existence of the other means their war indeed can be eternal (see Umberto Eco). There can be no Israeli security without Palestinian freedom, and there also can’t be Palestinian freedom without Israeli safety. The rest of Palestinians generally understand that, Hamas refuses to acknowledge it.
You know what you’re doing right now? You’re applauding the Mujahideen because they can be used to fight against the Soviets, blind to the Taliban you’re creating. You’re using the same fucked-up US doctrine that you slammed a few comments earlier. As said: Stop that “enemy of my enemy” campist bullshit.
Is the PLO offering any armed resistance to the genocide occurring right now? Does it offer any armed resistance to Israeli occupation generally? I cannot find any evidence that it is, but I would be happy to read anything that says otherwise.
They are following their strategy, not yours. Your bloodlust doesn’t matter.
So that’s a no then? I thought you said that armed resistance to Israeli violence was the job of the PLO. Now you dodge and call it bloodlust to understand the impulse to resist occupation.